CEO's Substitute Bride

There were a lot of women in the marketing department. And as they say, if women were to gather together, if they don't talk about themselves, they'd naturally talk about other people. That small theory had been proven right today.

What had happened in the morning spread throughout the entire company in just a mere few hours. By the time they were having their lunch break, Alyssa was already the center of attention. She'd feel eyes following her direction everywhere she went.

Her face was still swollen from the slap, but she continued to keep her head high. Halfway to the washroom, she could hear a bunch of her female colleagues discussing their opinions as to what really happened.

"What's going on? I heard that only one woman applied for a leave today. There wasn't any man!" One of them whispered.

"Isn't it obvious?" One of them arched up an eyebrow. "Skylar and Dawson must've worked together to set Alyssa up! Why else would there be this mysterious male colleague that suddenly disappeared? Ugh, the nerve of them!"

"But she's just been here for a few days! How could she offend Manager Black?"

"Everyone knows what kind of bastard he is, feeling up the women whenever he gets the chance. If I know any better, I'd say this little matter had been addressed by Alyssa herself! That's why he had gone to the hospital." The colleague gritted her teeth in disgust.

"Could she really be that ruthless?"

"What are you saying? If anyone's ruthless here, it's Skylar," the other intercepted. "Have you seen the slap? I could hear it a mile away! They're sisters or stepsisters, but still! How could she beat her own family so mercilessly?"

Alyssa leaned against the wall, not bothering to say a word. It was only when they had left did she step into the washroom.

Standing in front of the wash basin, she gazed at the mirror.

Her reflection was awful. While the left side of her cheek was pale and pristine, her right cheek was dark blue. It looked like it had been painted on given the large splotches that danced across her skin. Her fingers slid down her cheek, and she looked scary.

Skylar really hit her hard.

It was even worse than the time Skylar had slapped her back at the Moore Villa. Skylar must've really wanted vengeance this time if she really thought of damaging her reputation just to get back at her. Alyssa slowly drew her hand away.

"Wait and see. Let's see who gets the last laugh."

While it was still lunch break, Alyssa went out to eat. This time, no one invited her for lunch, far too busy gossiping about her and staring at her from afar, but she couldn't care any less. After all, she wasn't exactly in the mood to socialize.

Just as she had gone out, her phone in her pocket rang out.

It was “Justin”.

Why he was calling her? She frowned and picked up. "What's the matter?"

"Let's eat together," Emmett responded, sounding as if he didn't hear the impatience laced around her tone. "I'll wait for you at the entrance of Moore Group.”

He didn't even wait for her to reply before he hung up the phone.

Alyssa gazed at her screen, tugging her hair in annoyance. "Great, just great," she murmured to herself as she sighed. Seeing as she had no other choice, she grabbed her phone and went out of the office. "Just what the day asked for."

After exiting the Moore Group’s entrance, she immediately spotted the black Bentley by the side of the road. In the morning, when she had gotten off that car, she secretly checked that model on the internet.

The starting price was about ten million dollars! And that was the base price! It's still dependent as to the owner's customization, and by the looks of it, “Justin” really spared no cent in beautifying his vehicle.

That was just too grand.

If Skylar wanted to buy a car worth ten million, Jason would've refused. That was how expensive and unreasonable it was!

There were already a few of her colleagues discussing Justin's car. Not wanting to garner any more attention, Alyssa ducked her head and moved towards the car's direction. Hopefully, nobody would notice her like this.

Just then, another car came by the road. She had planned to wait for the car to pass, only to see it stop right in front of her.

The driver stepped out of the car and opened the door to the back seat. Out came Aurora.

A long time ago, Alyssa tricked Aurora into the restaurant and she didn’t show up. Since then, they hadn’t seen each other.

"Take two thermal food boxes." Aurora instructed the driver. Looking up, she immediately caught sight of Alyssa.

She frowned and was completely shocked. She looked at Alyssa in disbelief and asked uncertainly, “Are you Alyssa?”

The corners of Alyssa’s lips inched upwards, but her eyes still remained cold. Her voice was filled with mockery as she spoke. "Do you think I'm Alyssa?"

They had lived under the same roof for more than twenty years, yet her own biological mother couldn't even recognize her! Was her make-up really that good?

Aurora only noticed how Alyssa’s looks had changed, but ignored the swollenness of her cheeks.

It was unknown whether it was Alyssa’s or Aurora’s sorrow.

"You had plastic surgery? Was that the reason you didn't come when I called you last time?" Aurora approached and looked at Alyssa carefully.

This time, the smile on Alyssa's face had faded completely. Bitterness appeared across her face as she glared at Aurora. "I looked like this ever since I was young. But you've always said that I shouldn't be prettier than Skylar. So the older I grew, the uglier I made sure I look."

"How is this possible? You’ve been so ugly all these years…" Aurora repeatedly shook her head. How could Alyssa have pretended to be so ugly for so many years? All under her watch?

Alyssa gazed at Aurora steadily and said in a voice filled with sorrow, "I wanted to be a good daughter. I wanted to make you happy, so I had been doing it all my life ever since I was young. Because that had always been what I did. Whatever you want...I'll always oblige."

Now, the old woman was at a loss for words.

Now, looking back, Aurora remembered how obedient her daughter has been all these years and how beautiful she was. Her grades had also been brilliant. Yet after she had scolded her, saying that she shouldn't be better than her older sister, her grades became worse. And her complexion became dark yellow. Back then, Aurora had thought that the fates were listening to her...unaware that her daughter was doing it all willingly.

"You've done that to yourself. You can’t blame me!" Aurora said defensively.

Alyssa blinked for a while, stunned by her response. After all these years of abusing her position, she was going to deny everything she did? Her eyes turned red as she looked at Aurora. "Mom, am I really your biological daughter?"

"You…"