Billionaire Lawyer's Secretary - Chapter 159: Chapter 159

Janice froze. "What?"
"Alex got married to someone else last month. Are you happy now, Mom?" Elara said.
Janice's eyes widened in disbelief. 'No way!' she thought. She remembered how Alex had sworn he'd wait until Elara finished college.
'How could he suddenly get married?' Janice wondered. 'Wait, didn't Elara just say not long ago that Alex bought her a wedding house?'
"We're over, Mom. Are you satisfied now?" Elara said.
"Impossible. He promised me he'd wait until you graduated from college. And at the end of August, he even called to ask for my blessing. I agreed to let you two be together," Janice replied.
Elara's face was emotionless. "It doesn't matter anymore, Mom. As long as you're happy." None of that mattered anymore, because now there was someone else who truly mattered to her.
"Elara, I..." Janice stammered. Just then, the doorbell rang.
Alarm bells went off in Elara's mind. 'No way... Could it be Adrian?' She rushed to the door, but standing outside was another unexpected guest.
Elara froze. "Alex? What are you doing here?"
Alex smiled faintly. "Elara."
"I called him. Come in," Janice said.
Elara's mind was in chaos. She thought, 'No way, why did she call him here?'
When Janice got home earlier and saw everything packed up, she thought Elara was moving in with Alex.
So, she called Alex, saying they needed to talk about his marriage to Elara, and told him to come over to Flowery Apartments right away. Alex had canceled an important business meeting to rush over.
Janice had heard from Elara that Dylan was wrongly imprisoned, but she didn't know he was now in a vegetative state. Her original plan was to wait for Dylan to be released and then have Elara and Alex get married.
But Elara had just said Alex was already married to someone else. Of course, Janice was going to confront Alex about it.
She stood up, walked over to the sofa, and sat down with her legs crossed and arms folded. Her eyes locked onto Alex as he walked in, and her commanding aura made the air tense.
"Alex, is it true what Elara said? Did you really marry someone else?" Janice demanded.
Janice was in her fifties, but looked barely over forty. Her eyes gave her a striking allure, and back in her youth, she had no shortage of admirers. But Janice set the bar high and was more than capable herself.
Back in Marisiton, she was a project manager at a publicly listed company. Word on the street was that she was a force to be reckoned with in the business world, pulling in over 3 million dollars a year.
After moving back to Veritasiton, she taught finance at Veritasiton University, where she was outstanding year after year and was once one of the most popular professors on campus.
Then she lived overseas, dabbling in investments and the stock market for fun. She had been financially free for years.
Alex stood in front of Janice, not sitting down, his head slightly lowered. "Yes, Ms. Langton, I..."
Janice stood up and slapped Alex hard across the face, clearly putting all her strength into it. Alex's head snapped to the side from the force of the blow, but he stood his ground.
Elara was stunned. "Mom, you..."
Janice pointed at Alex. "Do you remember what you told me on the phone not long ago?"
Alex replied, "Yes."
Janice continued, "So, what's the deal with you marrying someone else?"
"Ms. Langton, it's a bit complicated. Just give me some time. Once I sort things out, I'll explain everything to you and Elara," Alex said.
"Complicated? So, who did you marry?" Janice pressed.
"Joseph's daughter, Nancy," Alex replied.
Janice had been in the finance world for years. Of course, she knew who Joseph was. She let out a cold laugh. "So, you finally made it to the top, right? Dumped Elara for a richer family?"
"No, Ms. Langton. I would never let Elara suffer. I'll make it up to her," Alex insisted.
Elara, standing off to the side, was completely dumbfounded. 'Make it up to me? Please, just leave me out of this!' she thought.
Janice snapped, "Make it up to her? How? Are you planning to keep her as your mistress behind the scenes? Make her your side chick? What do you take my daughter for?"
"Once everything is settled, I'll take Elara abroad with me. I'll treat her twice as well, Ms. Langton..." Alex said.
Elara was speechless at Alex's nonsense. 'What on earth is he talking about? He's making it sound like there's actually something between us.' She quickly grabbed Alex to stop him from saying anything else. "Mom, Alex and I..."
A heavy slap landed on Elara's face, and her cheek immediately started to swell.
Elara's head was still buzzing from the blow when Alex quickly pulled her into his arms. "Ms. Langton, why did you hit her?" he demanded.
Seeing the two of them so close only made Janice even angrier. "Elara! I can't believe you'd sink like this. Willingly become someone's mistress."
Elara's face throbbed with pain, but her heart felt like it was being stabbed over and over. Her tear-filled eyes glared at Janice. "You didn't even bother to ask before hitting me. How did I end up with such an unreasonable mom?"
Alex reached out to wipe away Elara's tears, but she angrily slapped his hand away and put some distance between them.
Alex said, "Ms. Langton, Elara isn't anyone's mistress. She hasn't been in touch with me at all."
Janice snapped, "No contact? Then why is she packing up to move? And what about that men's outfit on the sofa? If it's not yours, whose is it?"
She continued, "My daughter has always listened to you. Whatever you said, she did. So, you just took advantage of how easy she is to manipulate and married some rich girl. And now you expect her to just sleep with you, is that it?"
"Mom! Are you seriously slandering your own daughter like this?" Elara shouted.
That outfit was actually Adrian's. He changed out of it when he left yesterday, and Elara hadn't had a chance to put it away yet. At that moment, things were really hard to explain.
Janice turned to Alex. "Alex, my daughter values you more than she values me. And what do you do? You treat her place like a hotel. Just crash here for the night and then leave like nothing happened?"
Alex recognized the outfit. Elara had sent him a photo of it when she bought it, asking if he liked it. He thought it looked good, so she bought it. But she never ended up giving it to him.
Alex had a pretty good idea who had worn it, but he stayed silent.
Janice pressed, "What, cat got your tongue now?" She turned to Elara. "Elara, why aren't you arguing back now? Weren't you so righteous just a second ago?"
Elara let out a bitter laugh. "What's the point? Would you even listen? You're just insane!"
"Yeah, I'm crazy! But even a crazy person like me is better than the two of you. One of you is a top graduate from Veritasiton University, and the other from Westbridge University, and yet you have no shame at all," Janice shouted.
Elara replied, "Yeah, I'm the shameless one. You're just so virtuous, aren't you?"
"Elara, cut your sarcasm. You two need to end things right now. You're coming abroad with me tomorrow," Janice demanded.
"I'm not going abroad," Elara shot back.
"If you're not going, then what? Planning to stay here and keep being some well-educated side chick? Elara, have a little self-respect," Janice shouted.
Elara snapped, "What, were you a mistress yourself or something? Why do you have to see your own daughter that way?"
Janice suddenly snapped. She shoved Alex aside, who was shielding Elara, and lunged at Elara. Alex quickly blocked Janice's hand. "Ms. Langton, this isn't Elara's fault. It's all on me. If you want to hit someone, hit me."
"Alex, how many times have you stepped in for her since she was a kid? Look at her now. Your protection has only made things worse," Janice yelled.
Elara fired back, "Worse? I'm doing great! Way better than you, the woman who ditched my dad."
"You!" Janice grabbed a fistful of Elara's hair. "You really have no respect for anything anymore."
Elara bit down on Janice's arm. "Just because you gave birth to me doesn't mean you can control my life. You!" Janice yanked her hair even harder.
Alex hurried to calm things down. "Elara, just stop. Ms. Langton, please let her go. This is all a big misunderstanding."
"A misunderstanding? Look at her. Does she look misunderstood to you? With that attitude, she won't learn until she gets burned. I have to teach her a lesson myself," Janice snapped.
Elara shot back, "Maybe you should teach yourself a lesson first. You never bothered raising me when I was little, and now you want to butt into my life?"
"Butt in? You're out there being someone's mistress. As your mother, it's my job to yell at you and smack some sense into you. If I don't, you'll end up completely ruined!" Janice shouted.
Elara's eyes were red with anger. "Like you or Dad ever cared about me anyway. So, what if I end up ruined? That's probably what you two want."
"Elara, don't be so clueless. You can't be a mistress. And that's the Hartley family we're talking about. Do you have any idea who they are? They're not people we can afford to cross," Janice warned.
"So what? I'll cross whoever I want," Elara shot back.
Alex said, "Elara, just stop, okay? Listen to your mom."
Elara snapped, "I'll mess with whoever I want. Janice, you ignored me when I was a kid, and now that I'm grown, you can forget about controlling me."
This wasn't the first time Alex had seen Elara and her mom go at it. Fighting was basically their default mode.
Back then, Alex could always get Elara to back down; if he told her to cool it, she'd listen. But at that moment, he realized he couldn't talk her down anymore.
Janice glared at Alex. "Alex, is this how you've led my daughter astray? Making her someone's mistress? Teaching her to go against her own mother like this?"
"Ms. Langton, Elara's just upset and saying things she doesn't mean. She's not a mistress. Please, trust her," Alex said.
"Not a mistress? Then what's that men's outfit doing in her place?" Janice shot back.
"That outfit is..." Alex began.
The unlocked door was shoved open hard, the loud crash snapping the three arguing people to attention.
A man in a tailored suit, cigarette held between his fingers, strolled in, his leather shoes making a sharp clack on the wooden floor.
Adrian's eyes, lazy and indifferent, drifted over to Elara, still with her hair pulled, and he spoke in a slow, unhurried tone. "Ms. Langton, that outfit is mine," he said.