Chapter 236

A knock at the door startled me. I pulled away from Noah and stared in that direction. I prayed to the Moon Goddess that it wasn’t who I thought it was.

“Were you expecting someone?” I asked.

“No,” Noah said, sounding as unnerved as I felt. “Could that be Jeffrey?”

“No, he would just walk in.”

Another knock resounded through the room.

Noah stood up.

“I’ll see who it is.”

“No,” I argued as I got up. “I’ll do it.”

I walked toward the door, and Noah followed closely behind me. A third knock pounded on the door. I startled enough to reach back and grab Noah’s hand.

Noah squeezed my hand reassuringly.

I took a deep breath. With another squeeze of the hand from Noah, I reached for the doorknob. My heart leapt into my throat when I saw who stood on the other side.

“Bob,” I said, my voice nearly breathless. “What are you doing here?”

Bob gave me a crooked smile.

“What’s the matter, Crystal?” he asked. “Aren’t you happy to see me?”

“What are you doing here?” I repeated.

“Always so impatient.”

Noah reached forward to stroke my cheek with the back of his hand. I smacked his hand away, and I heard Noah growling quietly behind me.

“What…are…you…doing…here?” I said again, pausing between each word for emphasis.

“I just thought that we would catch up,” Bob replied. “After all, we haven’t seen each other since you had me arrested at my own wedding.”

I did not miss the bitterness in his tone with that last sentence.

“The only person you’re going to be catching up with is Jeffrey,” I said as the guard stepped up behind Bob.

Bob lifted his head up, looking down his nose at me.

“No, I think that you and your new boytoy are going to invite me inside,” he said.

I crossed my arms over my chest.

“And why would we do that?”

“Because you two have enough bad publicity as it is, and if you refuse me that simple gesture after all the pain that you have caused me, it will only make things worse for you.”

“No one will know.”

Bob chuckled.

“You really are ignorant sometimes, Crystal. Paparazzi are everywhere, especially when your guard has his hands full watching me.”

I paused and took a whiff of the air. I smelled all the scents I expected to—Noah, Bob, Jeffrey, me—but there were a few extra that I did not…a few extra werewolves.

“Fine,” I said. “Come on in.”

Bob flashed me a broad fake grin.

“Well, thank you. That’s mighty kind of you.”

His voice dropped.

“The goon stays out here.”

My eyes narrowed.

“No.”

“Imagine how it will look if I’m followed by him.”

“Are you scared of him?” I asked with a slight hint of satisfaction.

“Are you scared of me?”

We glared at each other for several moments, then I relented.

“Jeffrey, stay out here,” I said. “Try and flush out the paparazzi if you can. I’d rather that this didn’t get out.”

Jeffrey looked between Bob and me before reluctantly nodding.

“And Jeffrey…”

“Yes?”

“Keep an ear out for us.”

“Of course.”

I stepped aside to let Bob into Noah’s house. Noah followed suit. Bob strutted over to the couch and plopped down, stretching out and making himself at home.

“That door doesn’t look original to the structure,” Bob said as I shut the door. “I bet that there’s quite the story behind that.”

By the smirk on his face and the glint in his eyes, I had a feeling that Bob had somehow already heard about the fight between Andrew and Bob. I wasn’t about to play his sadistic games.

“Tell us why you’re here,” I said. “Now.”

The smirk disappeared from Bob’s face, replaced by the darkest, angriest look I had ever seen contort his features. He pushed himself off the couch and sauntered over to me. He towered over me, looking down upon me with that evil expression.

“You want to know? Fine.”

He lowered his face until it was an inch from mine.

“It’s cute that you think you can stand up to me, but that stops now,” he hissed. “You will stop meddling in my affairs, or else. No more investigations, no more arrests, and no more trying to take Lisa away from me.”

His spittle rained down on my face, but I did my best not to flinch.

“No more playing the hero.”

My heart raced, pounding so hard against my ribs that I was certain that Bob could see it. I squeezed Noah’s hand so tightly that I probably cut off the circulation to his fingers. Yet with all my fear, I did not back down.

I kept my face turned up to Bob. I glared him down, doing my best to swallow back the knot in my throat. I would not show him the effect that he had on me.

“I don’t care what resources you have,” I said, letting my fury at his release to power me forward. “I don’t care what connections you have. You can threaten me all you want, but I swear on the Moon Goddess that I will make sure that you face the consequences of your actions.”

Bob’s eyes narrowed at me, but I pressed on.

“Even if it takes me the rest of my life, even if it costs me every relationship that I have, I will find a way to put you behind bars permanently,” I declared. “You do not deserve happiness, Bob, and I will make sure that you never hurt another person ever again.”

Bob’s face turned crimson by the end of my speech. His eyes darkened, and his evil expression somehow grew worse. It took all of my courage to not back away from him or fall to my knees.

“Listen here,” he said, his voice dangerously low and even, “I will silence you forever before I let any of that happen.”

To my surprise, Noah put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me behind him, putting himself between Bob and me. He puffed out his chest and held himself tall. Though he was not as big as Bob, this was still the biggest—and bravest—that I had ever seen Noah.

“You listen to me,” Noah said, his voice a growl. “I don’t care what your beef is with Crystal. You will not threaten her in my presence.”

Bob chuckled dryly.

“You think that you can protect her? Not even the Alpha King could protect her from me!”

Bob leaned in close to Noah’s face.

“If you get in my way, I will silence you, too.”

With that, Bob marched out of the house. Noah and I both flinched as the door slammed behind him.

I turned to Noah and placed my hand on his chest. His heart surged beneath my fingers. With a sad smile, I reached forward and kissed Noah lightly on the lips.

“Thank you,” I said. “That was very sweet of you to do.”

Noah smiled, but it wavered.

“You’re my fiancée. I’ll stand by you no matter what.”

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“I can’t believe you ever dated that man.”