Chapter 863 The Risk of Being a Driver
Alexander stopped his actions as his gaze turned dark and gloomy. His usual noble and cold temperament was now replaced with viciousness. Wherever he looked, the paparazzis would bow their heads, afraid to meet his eyes.
The whole place was silent, and the atmosphere was tense and suffocating; only the bold lake breeze was bold enough to mess with Elise’s long hair mischievously.
After a long silence, Alexander’s low but magnetic voice finally sounded. “I’m flattered that all of you here are so concerned with my private matters.”
His tone was flat and there was no apparent emotion on his face, so no one could tell what his current emotion was. Hence, no one dared to reply to him.
“Since you’re all so passionate about your jobs, I shouldn’t make things hard for you. Tell you what, I see that most of your equipment is quite worn, so later, please leave your things here and follow my assistant, who will bring you to get your new equipment. Take it as a gift from me to all of you. Everyone here is entitled to receive the gift, so don’t worry and just receive it.”
After saying so, he turned to look at his assistant, who then led the bodyguards to remove all the equipment from the paparazzis.
Furthermore, to prevent them from spreading unwanted rumors, he warned them again, “What happened today is not something worth sharing. If word gets out, it will cause me to lose my reputation. So, please do a thorough check and make sure that you leave nothing behind. If I find that any of you are purposely hiding something in order to leak what has happened today to the public, you will leave me no choice but to personally visit all of you one by one to find out the truth.”
He intended to put them all in the same boat and emphasize that if any of them caused a problem, all of them would be implicated. That way, no one would dare to try anything behind his back.
As expected, the moment he said that, he saw two among the crowd obediently taking out the phones they kept hidden in their sleeves and adding them to the confiscated equipment pile.
Wearing a fake smile, Alexander commented, “Very good. Now, you may all head over to Smith Co.’s mall to do some shopping.”
The leader of the paparazzis gulped and looked at his companions. After hesitating for quite a while, he took a step toward the exit to test the waters. Then, he noticed that none of Alexander’s subordinates came forward to stop him.
Once everyone else saw the scene, they immediately followed in the leader’s steps and dashed out from the scene.
After they had exited the cafe, they all stood by the roadside and heaved heavily to calm their nerves.
“I used to think that others were merely exaggerating when they said Alexander was the devil on earth. Now it seems that those rumors are true.”
“You don’t say. Who was the one who dragged me here? I almost lost my life!”
“Did you guys notice that ever since the devil arrived, he kept protecting Anastasia White. Besides his original partner, Anastasia is the only one with such treatment.”
“Are you saying that Anastasia White might become the next Alexander Griffith’s lover?”
“Might? I say she will. Do you want to bet on it?”
“…”
Back at the open-air dining space, Alexander tightly held Elise’s tiny hands while standing shoulder-to-shoulder with her, which was an act of declaring his feelings openly.
After they exchanged a few affectionate glances, he turned to look at Jessamine with cold and distant eyes. “Jessamine, can you tell me what happened?”
“Are you questioning me?” Jessamine was so sad that she turned her head to the side. “I don’t know anything!”
When he arrived earlier, she was already kneeling on the ground with bright red cheeks. Yet, instead of showing concern for her, he helped Anastasia get out of the jar of pickles she was in. More importantly, he did all that in front of the press. Did he ever consider what kind of position I’d be forced into?
“This is your third and last strike. You better not challenge my bottom line.”
Once he voiced his warning, he left the cafe while holding Elise’s hand.
After the car had sped away from the cafe, Alexander was playing with Elise’s hand while absentmindedly saying, “You didn’t have to agree to meet her.”
“What’s the matter? Are you blaming me for causing trouble?” She deliberately made fun of him.
“I don’t mind you causing me any trouble, but I’m worried you’d be disgusted by these losers and hate me because of it,” he explained weakly.
“I like everything that involves you and wouldn’t blame you for what you didn’t do.” Elise laughed and consecutively took out a black pen from her bag. “Actually, I didn’t come unprepared. Even if you hadn’t come to my rescue, I wouldn’t have suffered any losses.”
“A pen recorder?” Alexander was shocked at first but then smiled knowingly.
Of course. My Ellie would never let anyone take advantage of her that easily.
“She’d aroused my suspicions when she deliberately got injured during my book-launching event, so of course, I had to take precautions when she suddenly invited me to meet her here. I’m not called ‘Elise the Troublemaker’ for nothing!” Her lively attitude reminded Alexander of the time when they first met each other.
While looking at her affectionately, he suddenly had an epiphany. He leaned in, pecked the spot beside her lips, and quickly returned to his previous position.
“Ellie, thank you.”
With her by his side, his life felt so beautifully complete that he finally felt like he was alive and not a walking robot.
The satisfaction and happiness he felt at this moment were like the feeling a child had when receiving their favorite cotton candy; they could not wait to eat the candy but were also afraid of dropping it.
Elise was Alexander’s cotton candy. He adored her so much that he would do anything for her.
“Why are you suddenly so polite?” Elise was not used to his modesty.
“Am I?” he asked with interest.
“A little.” She nodded.
Then, he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her again.
While frowning slightly, she found it both hilarious and annoying. “What’s the matter with you?”
“Am I no longer polite because I stopped thanking you?” A mischievous glint appeared in his eyes.
She felt her breathing hitch and quickly shoved him away. “The driver is still here!”
Alexander carressed the spot she pushed and angrily glared at the driver’s seat.
Meanwhile, the driver felt a chilling gaze from behind him. He looked into the rearview mirror and met Alexander’s gaze, and he immediately withdrew his gaze. Then, he gulped while silently raising the partition between the driver’s seat and the back seat.
When has being a driver become a high-risk job?
Hearing the hissing sound of the partition rising into place, Elise used her hands to cover her face.
Alexander made fun of her by saying, “You didn’t cover your face when you should, but you’re covering it now. Isn’t your guilty conscience showing?”
With a glare, Elise reprimanded, “Stop talking!”
It was rare for the two to be alone and every move of hers was like a feather tickling at his heart. Even when she wore a fierce expression like how she was now, she still looked cheerful and beautiful to him.
As he was smiling, he suddenly fell into a daze while looking at her.
The intense gaze made Elise a little uncomfortable as she instinctively touched her face. “Do I have something on my face?”
“No.” He narrowed his eyes and cupped her face in his hands again. After he finished speaking, he kissed her deeply.
She quickly accustomed herself to his momentum and gently reacted to the kiss.
Time passed without them realizing it and Alexander reluctantly let go of Elise.
He leaned his forehead against hers. The burning passion in his eyes was still fiery as he looked at her affectionately. “I love you, honey.”
Smiling, Elise leaned into his embrace and spoke softly like a kitten, “I love you too.”
