Chapter 138: Your answer!
Leonard.
I hadn’t been able to relax for even a second ever since Ella revealed her plan to us.
From that very moment, an unsettling feeling had settled deep inside my chest.
No matter how much I tried to stay calm, my mind kept drifting toward every possible thing that could go wrong.
What if someone exposed her plan?
What if Alex stopped her before she could finish?
What if everything fell apart at the last moment?
The thought of losing her...of watching her walk away forever...was enough to make every nerve in my body tense.
Because of that, every little thing around me irritated me—every delay, every mistake and every unexpected movement.
Nothing felt right while I waited for everything to unfold.
But now...It seemed I had worried for nothing.
A small smile tugged at the corners of my lips. No, it was more than a smile.
I felt proud—genuinely proud.
Ella had handled everything far better than I had imagined she would. She had completely destroyed Alex in front of everyone.
She had shoved him right back to the place where he truly belonged.
Watching the shock on Alex’s face was more satisfying than I cared to admit.
For the first time in a long while...he looked utterly powerless. I continued watching silently, enjoying every second of it.
But then, Nathan stepped forward.
The moment I saw him moving toward Ella, my expression darkened.
Nathan—a man whose reputation was known across the nation. A shameless womanizer, a man who treated women as though they were trophies to collect.
And now...He dared to approach my mate?
The audacity.
The sheer nerve of him.
A cold anger immediately surged through me.
Fortunately...I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
Without exchanging so much as a glance, my brothers and I moved at exactly the same moment.
Years of fighting together had made such coordination instinctive.
We stepped forward as one, placing ourselves directly between Nathan and Ella.
"Back off." Our voices thundered together in perfect unison, firm, cold and unyielding.
The sudden display immediately drew everyone’s attention. Countless pairs of curious eyes shifted toward us.
Whispers spread throughout the crowd.
Still...none of us cared.
Nathan visibly froze where he stood.
For a brief moment, even he seemed shaken by the pressure of our combined presence.
The intimidating aura surrounding us settled heavily over the area.
After several long seconds, however, he finally gathered himself.
He straightened his shoulders and frowned.
"Why should I?"
The question slipped from his mouth before he appeared to think it through.
Those four simple words only fueled my anger even further.
My eyes narrowed dangerously.
How dare he question me...No! How dare he question all of us?
Before I could speak again, Lurgard took one threatening step forward.
"You’d better step aside while we’re still asking nicely, Nathan," he growled, his voice dripping with annoyance.
A faint chuckle escaped me.
That sounded exactly like Lurgard. Unlike the rest of us, he had never been known for patience or restraint.
If Nathan pushed him any further, Lurgard wouldn’t hesitate to settle the matter with violence.
Nathan, however, remained stubborn.
"What?" he shot back, refusing to retreat. "She’s a free woman now." He lifted his chin defiantly. "Let her choose for herself."
Nathan completely ignored the warning we had given him. Instead, he slowly looked past all of us, his gaze settling directly on Ella as though none of us were even standing there.
A confident smile spread across his face. There wasn’t the slightest hint of hesitation in his expression.
"Ella Morrison," he called out smoothly, making sure his voice carried across the hall. "I am more than willing and ready to take care of you." His posture remained perfectly composed as he continued looking only at her. "Would you do me the honor?"
The smile on his face widened slightly, as though he genuinely expected her to accept.
The sight alone made my blood boil.
Every muscle in my body tightened.
How dare he openly court my mate in front of everyone?
The sheer disrespect was infuriating.
Before I could say anything, Lawrence suddenly stepped forward.
"It seems you don’t appreciate how calm we’ve been." He said, his voice unusually and dangerously quiet.
The words alone sent a chill through me.
I instinctively turned to look at him.
To my surprise, even I was caught off guard.
Lawrence rarely allowed his emotions to show so openly.
But the expression on his face now was enough to tell anyone exactly how furious he was—his jaw was tightly clenched, his fists had curled into hard balls at his sides and his eyes burned with restrained anger.
He looked as though he was only seconds away from exploding.
"You all are shameless!" Alex’s furious voice suddenly rang through the hall.
Everyone instinctively turned toward him.
"She is still my wife!" He declared.
I immediately scoffed.
The audacity of that statement was unbelievable.
I opened my mouth, ready to put him in his place but before I could utter a single word, Lurgard moved.
He lunged forward without hesitation and grabbed Alex roughly by the front of his collar.
The force of it made Alex stumble.
"After everything you did to her, Alex!" Lurgard’s voice echoed with pure fury. "You don’t even deserve to say the word ’wife’!" He added, as his grip tightened even further.
Alex let out a weak, bitter laugh. "I... I didn’t sign those papers..." He said, as his voice sounded far less confident than before.
But he never got the chance to finish.
"Then whose signature is on the documents?" I asked, unable to hide the amusement in my voice, and a faint smile tugged at my lips.
Lawrence let out a cold chuckle. "I suppose it belongs to him."
His sarcasm only made the situation even more humiliating for Alex.
Lurgard gave Alex’s collar one final shake before glaring straight into his eyes.
"Stay far away from Theresa, Alex." He said, his voice firm and cold. "She is no longer your wife."
"Exactly my point," Nathan immediately cut in, refusing to let the opportunity slip away, and he straightened his clothes before once again shifting his full attention toward Ella, as his confident smile returned. "Ella Morrison..." He spoke her name gently, almost as though nothing else around him mattered. "I’m still waiting for your answer."
The hall fell silent.
One by one, every gaze slowly shifted toward Theresa, waiting to hear what she would say.
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