CEO's substitute bride (Alyssa)

Alyssa has finally arrived at the villa. Seeing that the living room was empty, she glanced at the

bodyguard standing by the corner. “Is Justin here? Or has he left?”

The bodyguard tilted his head in her direction before slowly nodding. “He’s upstairs, Young Madame.”

Now, even the bodyguards had trained themselves to address Emmett as Justin rather than his birth

name.

She smiled, holding the bag in her hand as she went upstairs. “Justin,” she called out. There was a

certain skip to her steps as she strode down the corridor. Obviously, whatever happened a few hours

ago had set her in a good mood.

She gazed at the different doors surrounding her. Which room was he in again? She turned her head to

see a majestic double-doored room waiting for her at the other end of the hall. Her lips pursed as she

moved towards it.

She did come from that room yesterday morning, so that was obviously Justin’s room.

Now that she thought about it, even the doorway itself made it seem like the Master bedroom. No

matter how hard she looked at it, it was the only room that stood out among the rest. So what was

“Justin” doing there?

Did they really have such a good relationship that Emmett had lent him the Master bedroom? Was this

another arrangement that they had concocted? It was weird. Or was there another Master bedroom

that she wasn’t aware of?

Shaking her head, Alyssa knocked on the door. This wasn’t the time to think of this any further. Soon,

his voice sounded from the other end of the room, “What is it?”

His voice was cold, colder than what he’d normally use when they talk.

“It’s me. I brought you some tea.” Alyssa said

In the room, Emmett had taken off his shirt, checking at the wound. The afternoon light shone through

the windows, surrounding over his fit frame as he displayed the stitches in all its glory. His fingers

trailed down his skin.

That time, after he had asked Alyssa to take the bullet out for him, he headed to a private hospital for a

check-up. After all, his life was a reminder of his mother’s sacrifices, and he wouldn’t allow that to be

left forgotten. Death was the last thing he’d yield to.

The only reason he even asked her to help him retrieve the bullet was that there was no other choice.

Getting to the hospital would’ve triggered risk of severe blood loss, by which he may not be able to

survive.

Although his wound had healed up, it still left a scar.

Upon hearing her calls, he wore his shirt and opened the door. He saw her standing by the doorway

with a bag in her hands. “Yes?”

Alyssa raised her head to look up at him. Unlike most of their previous encounters, her face was clean

and white–free from any spots or blemishes. She didn’t look bothered as she passed him the afternoon

tea. “I brought it back for you as a thank-you.”

He didn’t need to look inside the bag to know that it was take-out from Golden Fountain Club.

Taking it, he asked, “Did everything go well?”

“It went well. Thank you,” she said sincerely, unable to hide the smile that had bloomed into her lips.

Her eyes were bright and beautiful, and it could render anyone silent.

Emmett had seen many other beautiful women around him, especially as he had created a clubhouse

himself. But none of them could move his heart as much as she could. Feeling his throat start to close

up, he struggled to say, “Okay.”

Without another word, he closed the door with a bang.

Alyssa blinked, feeling the course of wind bashing her across the face. Her eyebrows knitted together.

“Why do I feel like he’s trying to avoid me?”

She turned around and went back to her room. However, just as she was about to relax, she received a

message from “Justin”. “Spicy fish.”

Next thing she knew, she received a few more texts.

Each one of them stated a certain dish she should cook.

Alyssa frowned. If he had something he wanted to eat, couldn’t he have just said it out loud? After all,

they had just met about half a minute ago, didn’t they? Would it really hurt him to talk?

Even then, she wasn’t really surprised. Rich people had always been known to spend money, even her

siblings were this way.

Back when she was poor, she remembered how hard it was to drag by every month because she

couldn’t afford to pay her phone bill. To send so many text messages so easily? Her past self would’ve

died from a heart attack!

But when she went downstairs, she realized that rich people had even more extravagant ways to spend

money.

…

Alyssa originally planned to go to the kitchen to see if there was any food left in the fridge to make all

the dishes that he had asked for.

What she didn’t expect was to see two bodyguards taking out the food from the fridge one by one.

They didn’t seem to pay attention to her as they removed the leftover stock.

Walking closer, she peered at the plastic bags beside them. “Why are you taking them out?”

“Young Madame,” one of the bodyguards said in greeting before explaining, “These are the food that

was delivered yesterday at noon. That’s why we need to change and refill it today.”

“What?” She blinked. “What do you mean we have to change them? It’s not even rotten yet! We can

still eat them.”

Even at a closer look, the vegetables still looked pretty fresh!

The bodyguards looked at each other. “We always do this every day.”

Seeing that they were serious, she finally relented. “Okay.”

Every time she cooked, the fridge was always filled with food. She had assumed that the bodyguards

were just adding a few vegetables every day, just to make sure that nothing was missing. But she

wasn’t expecting this!

When cooking that night, Alyssa made sure to make a lot of dishes.

If these ingredients weren’t made into food, they’d likely be thrown away. Even the thought of that alone

made her feel nauseous.

“Does he even know how many people would die for those veggies?” She murmured to herself,

shaking her head.

Although she thought that changing the food every day was far too extravagant, she couldn’t help but

relent. After all, Emmett must’ve liked this kind of life more. And she didn’t have much of a say on that

matter.

While she was cooking, she heard noises coming from outside.

She had just finished cooking up another dish, so she stepped out of the kitchen for a while to take a

look. With every step she took, the voices she heard were growing louder and louder.

Other than “Justin”, there were two men in the living room

Xavier and Arthur!

Well, that wasn’t strange, after all they all knew each other.

Xavier had sharp eyes, so he saw Alyssa in an instant.

When Emmett was sick, he had already exposed his true nature. That was why he had already

dropped the glasses and aloof nature. After all, for him, the CEO lifestyle just didn’t suit him. He waved

at her with a smile.

He looked less like a gentleman now. Instead, he looked like a troublemaker with his ruffled hair and

his silly grin.

He was probably the most talkative of the trio.

Alyssa couldn’t help but smile back. Honestly, Xavier seemed much less intimidating to her now, as

they had gotten to know each other a bit better. Now, she couldn’t help but regard him as a bit childish.

“Mrs. Lawrence.” Xavier stuttered out, upon taking a closer look at the woman in front of him.

He glanced at Arthur. But the lawyer simply raised his eyebrows in smugness as a mockingly innocent

smile threaded across his lips.

That bastard!

Arthur’s smile was extremely hypocritical.

Just this afternoon, they had been arguing all day about Alyssa’s looks. That was why Xavier offered to

go to Emmett’s villa to see what he was talking about.

In the end, it turned out that the lawyer wasn’t wrong. She had really changed her appearance.

Xavier still appeared flushed. “Why do you look so different from before?”

“Do I? Maybe it’s because of the bangs. I wasn’t wearing pretty good makeup the other day too, so it’s

probably just that.” Alyssa said half-jokingly before turning to greet Arthur. Without another word, she

returned to the kitchen.

At first, he had his doubts, but what was there to object? Alyssa’s appearance had changed so much

that it was as if the goddess had blessed her from the heavens!

He was still so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t even notice she had disappeared. All he could do was

stare at her retreating figure.

Emmett walked over and kicked his leg. “If you’ve seen enough, then you should leave.”

“Oh!” Xavier cried out in pain, hugging his leg. “Emmett, you bastard!”

It was only then he realized what he had said. He quickly covered his mouth and ducked his head,

peering at the kitchen.

Fortunately, the kitchen was far from the hall, and Alyssa was cooking again. So she couldn’t hear

them. They were safe, at least, for the time being.

Xavier looked at Emmett in horror. “Your wife didn’t hear me!”

“You can go now.” Emmett walked towards the dining room.

Xavier had already smelled the delectable aroma of the dishes. Not bothering to listen to him, he

followed Emmett from behind.

“Do you want me to kick you out?” Emmett turned around and looked at him expressionlessly.

As soon as he said that, he realized that Arthur was also following behind him.

Sensing Emmett cold gaze, Arthur looked down at his sleeves as if nothing had happened and he

didn’t know that Emmett was asking him to leave.

Almost every single day, the two of them had eaten in restaurants and the like. Now that they had

home cooked dishes just waiting for them at the table, even Emmett wasn’t scary enough for them to

leave!

They could already smell the spicy fish coming their way!

Alyssa was already finished plating the last dish. However, just as she was walking towards the dining

room, she saw the three large men blocking the entrance. They weren’t making a move.

She wasn’t aware that these men had been in a childish statemate by the door for a long time. All she

thought was that Justin had invited his two friends to stay for dinner…At least, that was what she had

assumed.

If so, why weren’t they coming in?

“Do you want to go out with your friends? Or will you be eating at home?” Alyssa asked uncertainly.

“My dishes are quite simple.”

Xavier was the CEO of one of the largest companies in Herton City. Arthur also looked like a Young

Master, whose status as a lawyer, was most respected in the corporate industry. They must be very

picky when it came to food and would much rather prefer the dishes being offered at high-class

restaurants.

Ignoring Emmett’s glare, Xavier squeezed into the restaurant with a smile. “I like simple dishes.”