Chapter 122

I drove to Bob’s apartment after work the next day. Jeffrey’s directions managed to keep me from getting lost in the heart of downtown searching for the building, but it still took me forever to find a place to park. When I did, I looked at my phone to find that I had missed a message from Andrew.

Where are you? he asked.

Running an errand, I replied. Be at dinner in an hour or so.

OK, love you.

Love you, too.

I hated lying to Andrew, but he and Jeffrey both had already warned me to not confront Bob. I couldn’t lie to Jeffrey with the man tailing me almost 24/7, but there was no reason for Andrew to know that I had ignored his advice.

I knew that I should listen to them, but I had had enough of Bob and Lisa’s manipulation. With the headlines that I had seen that morning, I could not stay silent on the election or the controversies that Bob and Lisa had been stirring up anymore:

HEARTLESS ALPHA KING THROWS DAUGHTER AND FIANCÉ OUT ON THE STREETS

ALPHA KING CANDIDATE CLAIMS RIFT BETWEEN ANDREW DUBOIS AND DAUGHTER CAUSED BY CRYSTAL BLANCHARD

WEREWOLF PRINCESS LEFT HOMELESS THANKS TO ALPHA KING’S NEW RELATIONSHIP

Color rushed to my face as the headlines flashed before my eyes. How dare they make up such lies about Andrew and blame the wedge between him and Lisa only on me?

I took a deep breath and calmed myself. I couldn’t let my anger get the better of me. If I wanted to accomplish anything, I had to remain in control.

I got out of my car, and Jeffrey was immediately by my side.

“Are you sure that you want to do this?” he asked as we walked to the apartment building.

“I have to. You saw the headlines.”

He opened the door for me.

“I still think that you should let Andrew and his advisors handle it.”

“Andrew tried to handle it, and now we have this mess.”

Jeffrey cocked his brow at me as we entered the elevator to head for the top floor.

“You think that Andrew handled things poorly? Or worse than you could have?”

I cringed. I knew the second I said that that it was a bad idea. I didn’t want to sound as though I were questioning the Alpha King, especially since I didn’t think that I would’ve handled it any differently.

“I think it was inevitable.”

We stepped off the elevator.

“So, why do you think you’ll have better results?”

We stopped in front of Bob’s door.

“Because I’m not ready to give up yet.”

I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

“Coming!” Lisa’s voice called from within. When she answered the door, her young, beautiful face contorted into a sneer. “Oh, it’s you.”

“Hi, Lisa,” I said, trying to remain as cordial as possible. “Is Bob home?”

Bob appeared at Lisa’s shoulder, his naked torso partially visible. I then noticed that Lisa’s hair was messed up, and her clothes seemed to barely be thrown on. I wanted to vomit as I put the clues together.

“Hello, Crystal,” Bob said with a smirk. “What can we do for you?”

I shook myself from the shock of catching them in the act of making love.

“I need to talk to you,” I said. “May Jeffrey and I come in?”

Bob shook his head and leaned against the doorframe.

“No. I think that whatever you need to talk about, you can do it right here.”

I gritted my teeth. Already, he was starting with the power games. I wasn’t going to fall for them.

I lifted my chin to him.

“Fine. You need to drop out of the election. Immediately.”

Bob huffed. Lisa’s eyes widened.

“You sure have a lot of nerve, showing up here and demanding that,” Bob said. “Does Andrew know what you’re doing?”

“Andrew does not control my actions,” I asserted.

“Maybe he should learn to keep his bitch on a shorter leash,” Bob hissed.

Lisa smacked Bob on the arm.

“Bob!” she exclaimed, but she did not protest any further.

“What else do you want?” Bob asked, ignoring Lisa.

“You need to retract your statements about Andrew kicking you guys out and me being the reason for the rift between Lisa and Andrew—”

“Why? The truth too painful for you to handle?” Bob snarled.

“You know that’s only half the truth,” I countered. “You also need to stop with the rest of the controversy that you’ve been stirring up.”

“And what ‘controversy’ would that be?” Bob asked.

“The Lunas, my criminal record, all of it!” I breathed slowly in and out of my nostrils, channeling my inner Andrew in an attempt to stay calm. “You’re ruining our lives, and for what?”

“Just because you’ve both made questionable decisions in your lives doesn’t mean that we’re villains for revealing them.” Bob’s eyes danced with amusement. I wanted to smack the grin right off his face.

“But you don’t get what it’s doing to Andrew—”

“Wait. What is it doing to Andrew?” Lisa asked, her eyes filled with concern.

I glanced at her, hoping that I had my opening for a listening ear.

“He’s really stressed, trying to put out all the fires that you two started. He’s having to divide his attention between his Alpha King duties and damage control. He might seem like he’s holding up well, but it’s tearing him up inside, especially what’s happening between the two of you.”

Lisa’s eyes cast downward. She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and bit on her lower lip.

“Andrew wouldn’t have to do so much damage control if he weren’t dating you,” Bob snapped.

I narrowed my eyes at Bob.

“And I wouldn’t have so much supposed controversy for you to dig back up if it weren’t for you,” I said, my voice low and threatening.

Lisa’s head shot up to look at Bob.

“What is she talking about?” she asked.

“Nothing, nothing,” Bob said, waving her off.

“No, I want to know what she’s talking about. Tell me what she means.”

“I said, we’ll talk about it later,” Bob said through clenched teeth.

“Bob—”

“I said, NOT NOW!” Bob nearly yelled.

Lisa’s eyes nearly bulged out of her head, and she lowered her head. The look on Bob’s face was ferocious, one that I had not seen him have in front of Lisa. It made me worry for Lisa’s safety.

Jeffrey stood at attention by my side and took a step forward. The expression on Bob’s face immediately disappeared, replaced by a penitent one. Jeffrey did not move any further, but he stayed tense, ready to strike.

“I’m sorry, Lisa,” Bob whispered to Lisa. “I just don’t want to talk about that right now, okay? We’ll do it later.”

Bob put his hands on Lisa’s shoulders, but she shrugged him off.

“Whatever.”

Lisa glanced up at me from under her lashes, for once looking like the 21-year-old woman that she was. Innocent. Lost.

“You want us to put an end to the controversy and to drop out of the race?” she asked, her voice unusually solemn.

I nodded, unsure of how to respond to this sudden change in Lisa’s demeanor.

“We’ll do all that, on one condition.”

I watched Bob tense up behind Lisa. His hand curled into a fist against the doorframe. I feared how he might react, but I let Lisa finish.

“Break up with my father.”