By admin Addicted Ex 9
As long as Leonard gave a “yes” or nodded, Alyssia would have won. With that crucial piece of evidence, she could humiliate the arrogant Leonard in court and overturn his words.
Alyssia lifted her chin, her eyes filled with a kind of quiet courage she didn’t even fully understand. If there had been any other way out, she wouldn’t have ended up in this confrontation with him.
But she didn’t get the answer she expected from Leonard. Instead, he suddenly stepped forward, gripping her arm and dragging her into his embrace.
“You-” Alyssia instinctively resisted.
“Shut up.” Leonard’s cold voice came from above her.
At the same time, he pressed her head down, forcing her face into his chest, wrapping his arms around her tightly. He dragged her out of the stairwell, slamming the door shut behind them.
Alyssia became unnervingly obedient. She heard hurried footsteps behind her and caught a glimpse of bright flashbulbs.
Fortunately, Leonard acted quickly enough to prevent anyone from getting a clear shot of her face.
Alyssia wasn’t the first reporter to think of going upstairs for information, nor was she the only one with a membership card.
Above the tenth floor, the Halston Hotel enforced strict access control. Each floor’s key card only granted access to that specific floor.
The fifteenth floor was likely already reserved by Leonard and Milena, so other reporters who managed to get cards for different floors could only sneak up through the fire escape and hope for a lucky break.
Unexpectedly, they had indeed managed to find something. Fortunately, each floor’s fire escape could only be accessed with a key card for that floor.
Leonard yanked and dragged Alyssia to his room, locked the door, and threw her onto the bed. He stood above her, nearly gritting his teeth. “Did you send those reporters?”
Alyssia hadn’t even begun to explain when he leaned down, gripping her chin tightly, forcing her to look up. His gaze was cold, sending a chill through her.
“I warned you,” Leonard said, “not to make any moves to make our relationship public. Did you just ignore everything I said?”
Alyssia’s lips parted, but she couldn’t speak. After a moment, she finally pulled herself free from his grasp. “Mr. Rivera, don’t worry, I won’t.”
If she had entertained such thoughts in the past, now that they were broken up, she figured there was no need to humiliate
herself further.
Leonard straightened up. He casually adjusted his collar and sneered down at her, “You better not. Don’t cause me any trouble, understand?”
Alyssia loosely gathered her slightly disheveled hair behind her head and met Leonard’s gaze again. “I understand. I won’t interfere with your relationship with Ms. Johnson.”
The atmosphere in the room immediately grew tense and icy. Alyssia composedly asked, “Milena is your ideal match, right? She deserves a public acknowledgment, doesn’t she? When do you plan on making it official?”
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But Alyssia remained calmer than ever. All the passion she once had had turned to ash, and all the affection she’d felt toward him had crumbled away. Her heart felt empty, no warmth left within her.
Her calmness only seemed to ignite Leonard’s fury. He ground his teeth together, taking a long moment to force his anger down. He pulled out his wallet, tossed out a new bank card, and glared at her. “Take it.”
Alyssia paused, and then heard him coldly add, “Keep that mouth of yours shut. I told you my grandfather’s 80th birthday is next month. Before then, you better not cause me any more trouble.”
Alyssia thought, ‘I’m the one causing trouble? Leonard is the one who went public with Milena, picked out the engagement ring with her, and made a media sensation with her in Elmbrook. And now, he says I’m the one causing all the trouble?‘
Alyssia didn’t quite understand Leonard’s logic. Then a deep blue jewelry box was thrown in front of her with a sharp snap.
This time, Alyssia froze for a long moment. In the heavy silence, she slowly reached out and grabbed the box.
When she saw the logo on the box, her hand paused in mid–air for a moment. She thought to herself, ‘Brightmoor Jewelry.
This was a jewelry box from Brightmoor Jewelry. Alyssia tried to quiet her heartbeat as she opened the box. Inside, there was a delicate, sparkling dragonfly brooch with colorful diamonds.
“Keep it,” Leonard scoffed coldly. “Don’t lose it and then cause a scene, making a fool of yourself.”
Alyssia picked up the dragonfly’s wing. With a soft motion, she let it fall back into the box.
She smiled. Honestly, from the moment she left Rosewood Manor yesterday until now, she thought she had kept her composure well. But now, she really wanted to laugh out loud.
Both the dragonfly and the butterfly were insects with wings. Both pieces of jewelry were brooches, featuring large colored diamonds. In terms of product quality, the prices shouldn’t be far apart, assuming there was no inflated pricing. So, in Leonard’s eyes, they were the same.
Alyssia thought, ‘He carefully picked out an engagement ring for Milena, and then casually tossed me a dragonfly brooch, as if I were some charity case.
‘He thinks this is enough to make up for everything I lost, that this brooch is enough to shut me up, to make sure Milena no longer bears the guilt of stealing. Leonard’s so good at humiliating people.‘
Alyssia’s lips curled into a smile so dazzling it could outshine anything. “Mr. Rivera, thank you.”
It had probably been a long time since Leonard had seen her smile like this. He was momentarily stunned. He suddenly took a step forward and pulled her up from the bed.
“Mr. Rivera.” Alyssia placed both hands on his chest, her whole demeanor shouting refusal.
Leonard grabbed her waist with one hand and pinched her chin with the other, forcing her to tilt her head back. “Seven hundred thousand dollars and a diamond brooch are still not enough to buy you for one night?”
Alyssia bit her lip slightly, thinking, ‘So, there’s seven hundred thousand dollars in the bank account. To Leonard, I’m just something to be bought with money!
But in the next moment, she raised her head, smiling, “The lobby downstairs is packed with reporters, cameras pointed straight at the fifteenth floor. If they catch anything, it won’t be good, right?”
Leonard had never admitted that Alyssia was his fiancée, refusing to make their relationship public. So, if he knew that so
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Chapter 9
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many reporters were downstairs, he would surely think she called them to force him into acknowledging their relationship. Even now that they had broken up, Leonard would still view her intentions in the most negative light.
As expected, anger and disgust flared in Leonard’s eyes, and his grip on her tightened. The coldness in his gaze was like an icy wave. “So you’ve dropped the act now, huh?”
Leonard thought, ‘She’s been pretending to be so gentle and patient all this time, and now she’s finally ready to show her
true colors?‘
Alyssia tilted her head back in response to his pressure. “Yeah, even if I keep pretending, I’ll never become Mrs. Rivera, so why bother?”
Leonard shoved Alyssia aside with force, throwing her down. “Alyssia.” He thought, ‘Damn you‘