Chapter 112

I saw it all over social media.

Andrew Dubois’s new girlfriend is a criminal! He needs to dump her ASAP.

Crystal Blanchard is a murderer! If that’s the kind of person Andrew Dubois decides to date, then we can’t trust his judgment. He needs to resign NOW.

That vixen lured Andrew into a relationship, but it’s his choice to stay. If he doesn’t dump Crystal Blanchard, Andrew Dubois needs to resign as Alpha King.

People were out for blood, either mine or Andrew’s, it didn’t matter. I could see it on the face of client and colleague alike at work as they snuck not-so-subtle glances at me and made not-so-quiet remarks to each other. With Lily still absent most of the time, the only ally I had physically in the store was Terri, and she could not protect me from all the judgmental glares.

Yet with all that I was suffering because of Lisa’s interview, I knew that Andrew was bearing the blunt of it. He tried his best to hide it around me, to maintain his smile and cheerful demeanor.

Still, I saw how often he checked his phone and how it made his neck and jaw clench. I saw how tense his shoulders were. The weariness in his eyes made my heart ache for him.

His own daughter had betrayed him, and now even his supporters were turning on him, just because of the woman he had fallen in love with. How could all this not take its toll?

As I sat next to him at the mansion’s table, watching him ignore his food for the phone that had become his constant enemy recently, I knew what I had to do. I didn’t want to do it, but I knew that, in the long run, it would be better, for both of us. At least, that was what I told myself.

I reached out and grabbed his free hand. He looked up at me.

“Andrew, we need to talk,” I said.

Andrew set his phone on the table and turned his full attention to me.

“What about?” he asked.

“Us.” I took a deep breath and squeezed his hand. “We need to break up.”

Andrew’s brow furrowed. His jaw set, and his grip on my hand tightened.

“Why?” he asked in a very controlled, even tone.

I thought about lying to him, telling him that I didn’t love him anymore, but I couldn’t do it. He deserved better than that. He deserved the truth.

“I think it would be best for you, for both of us, if we did, considering everything going on right now.”

“Everything going on?”

“You know, all the controversy surrounding my arrest record and everyone telling you to either dump me or resign…”

Andrew retracted his hand from mine and crossed his arms over his chest.

“So, that’s what this is about,” he said. “Well, I’m not letting those people dictate my life—”

“‘Those people’ are your constituents. You have an obligation to them—”

“Yes, to rule them fairly. To help them. Not to let them decide whom I will and will not love.”

He picked at the lamb chops on his plate, but it was clear that he had no intention of eating them.

“I love you, Crystal, and I’m not going to be made to feel ashamed of that. I’d rather resign than break up with you.”

This took me aback. I didn’t expect Andrew to be willing to give up his political career to be with me. It touched a part of my heart that had not been accessed since Bob ripped it apart that day I was released from prison.

Still, I bit back my tears and persisted. For Andrew.

“I won’t let you give up everything you worked for just for me—”

“And I won’t let you go that easily.”

“Are you saying that you won’tletme break up with you?”

Andrew’s hand froze over his plate, a piece of lamb chop suspended in the air.

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Then whatdidyou mean?”

Andrew did not respond, instead turning the piece of lamb chop over in his hand. Then he growled and threw the lamb chop back on to his plate. He stood up and began to pace the length of the dining room, his hands behind his back.

I watched him pace for a couple of minutes as both of our anger and frustration grew. My nails dug into my thighs, the silence growing to be too much for me.

“You know, this is hard on me, too,” I said at last.

“Really?” he asked. “Because it seems as though I’m the only one willing to make the sacrifices needed to make this relationship work.”

“I have made plenty of sacrifices! Do you know the sort of Hell that I’m going through at work—”

“Those are only the repercussions for your own actions! The second that this relationship got hard for you, you tried to bail.”

That remark stung my heart, and tears pricked the edges of my eyes.

“There’s been a target on my back ever since people started to suspect that we were dating!”

Flashes of the vampires came to my mind, even though I knew that they were not Andrew’s fault. None of those threats were Andrew’s fault, but in that moment, I felt like blaming something on him.

“You’re not honestly trying to blamemeforyourstalker, are you?” he yelled.

“Why not? You always seem to.”

Andrew opened his mouth, closed it, and resumed his pacing.

“We are not breaking up,” he finally said. “Those vultures out there are just going to have to deal with it, and so are you.”

I groaned in frustration and buried my face in my hands. Using my palms, I wiped away my tears, trying to regain a bit of my composure. I lifted my head again to stare at Andrew’s back as he paced away from me.

“Why don’t you get that I’m only doing this because I care about you?” I shouted.

Andrew stopped pacing and turned to face me.

“Why don’t you understand that I’m not letting you do it becauseIcare aboutyou?” he shouted back.

We stared at each other. Neither of us dared to look away. Then Andrew charged me, swooped down at my face, and kissed me hard.

I threw my arms around Andrew’s neck and kissed him back. I bit his lip until a drop of blood dripped from it and onto my tongue. Andrew moaned, scooping me into his arms.

“My room. Now,” he growled.

I pulled him back to me, forcing him to take us to his quarters by memory alone. We stumbled against furniture and the occasional guard as we made our way through the enormous mansion. When we finally reached Andrew’s quarters, he ran right through the sitting room and burst into his bedroom.

Andrew tossed me onto his bed and pinned my arms above my head. He straddled my waist, grinding his groin maddeningly slowly against mine. His face was but inches above mine.

“We are not breaking up,” he said in a deep, guttural voice.

He reached over and nipped at my collarbone. I gasped at the mix of pleasure and pain.

“You are mine,” he whispered in my ear.

“I am yours,” I whispered back, my voice breathy.

He gave me another hard kiss, knocking the wind out of me. When he pulled away, he slowly slid one of the straps of my scarlet dress down my arm.

“Let’s get this off.”