Chapter 226
226 I Don’t Need Your Approval
The young woman sat alone in a cafe, just a hundred meters away from the city jail. She ordered a cup of coffee latte that had long turned cold from a long time of waiting. Other people took off their jackets as soon as they entered the cafe, but not Lily Brenston.
It was not because she was cold. It was because she could not wait to leave.
The young woman kept stealing glances outside of the window, her eyes searching for a familiar figure that had yet to make his appearance.
In her heart, she kept praying for Lucien to arrive soon. Hopefully, the man did not lie to her. Hopefully, he would come just like he promised.
When a black Porsche stopped in front of the cafe, everyone in the cafe made big eyes, their jaws dropping open in awe.
Out stepped a man with red-blonde hair and another with dark hair before the car drove off right after. As soon as they showed up, Lily stood up from her table and rushed to the cafe entrance to greet them.
“Mr. Clearwater!” She shouted ecstatically. When she looked at his companion, though, her smile faded away within an instant.
Ronan Silverback took off his sunglasses and looked Lily up and down haughtily. Lucien gave him an earful in the morning. When Ronan insisted to come along, Lucien told him not to talk unnecessarily.
The Alpha had to be satisfied with shooting daggers at Lily. It was enough to make the young woman shiver, so Ronan was quite happy about it.
.....
“We contacted our lawyer and asked for the case to be dismissed. You can pick up Neena and Helene now,” Lucien said without preamble.
Lily gave a small shriek.
“Thank you,” she cried. “Thank you, Mr. Clearwater. Um, would you... Would you come with me?”
“Only until they come out of their cell,” Lucien said.
He was not in the mood to exchange words with the two other young women whatsoever.
Ronan scoffed at Lily’s shamelessness. Lucien grabbed him by the elbow and whispered, “Come, don’t make a fuss.”
A stroll across the road was all it took to reach the building. The surrounding fence was made of double-layered bricks with pointy spikes on top. The building itself was made of concrete. Thick walls separated one cell from another and guaranteed maximum protection.
Even the entrance looked grim with the first door made of black iron bars and the second door made of impact-resistant glass.
Lily led their little group at first, but the closer she got, the slower she became. Eventually, she ended up standing behind Lucien and Ronan at the jail entrance.
Their presence was already expected.
“My name is Lucien Clearwater,” Lucien identified himself.
“You are here to release the two prisoners,” the warden in charge said right away after reading from a note.
“Correct,” Lucien confirmed.
“Bring out Neena Evans and Helene Bradford,” the warden shouted at a guard. The burly man nodded and disappeared to the backside.
Not long after, Neena and Helene were released and ushered to the prison entrance.
The three young women used to be bright and bubbly, always laughing and chatting happily together at work and outside of work. Who would have thought that two of them would look so miserable in their orange prison attires while the other one had black circles all around their eyes out of concern for the first two?
“Neena! Helene!!!”
Lily launched herself at her two friends. The three young women hugged each other, bawling into each other’s shoulders loudly.
Although it nagged at Lucien’s heart to see Neena and Helene, he felt somewhat at peace. He was done. The man thus tugged at his mate’s sleeves. “Let’s go,” he said softly.
Ronan nodded with a little smile. “Ok.”
The three young women looked up and saw the two men retreating together without a word of farewell.
Neena opened her mouth to say something, but Helene pulled at her elbow and shook her head vehemently.
“I asked Mr. Clearwater for help,” Lily confessed.
“Why would you do that?” Helene hissed. “Look at him, not a single shred of remorse after he stole another woman’s husband!”
Lily sighed. “Helene, maybe it’s the other way around,” she said.
“What do you mean, the other way around??” Helene snapped.
“Yesterday, the Silverback Corporation announced that Mr. Ronan Silverback and Mr. Lucien Clearwater were engaged to be married more than a month ago. Way before Miss Lillian Woodland came forward with her pregnancy.”
Helene scoffed.
“So what. The baby is still a result of sexual intercourse between Mr. Ronan Silverback and Miss Woodland. Just because they did not know about the baby, it doesn’t mean that they can act as if the baby doesn’t exist.”
Lily’s face was crumpled from frustration.
“Then what about Mr. Clearwater? Should he just back off because his fiancé impregnated another woman before they got together?”
“Uh, yes?” Helene raised an eyebrow. “Otherwise, what should Miss Woodland do?”
The sound of a man clearing his throat almost made their hearts jump out of their ribcages.
The three young women whipped around in fear and found Lucien behind them, his gaze icy cold.
Helene clamped up immediately while Lily shouted in fear, “Mr. Clearwater!!!”
Lucien wordlessly handed over a release statement that was signed by him and Ronan while his gaze drifted between Neena and Helene.
“Keep this document. In the future, I do hope that you won’t do anything else to land yourself in jail.”
Lily extended her hand to take the document from Lucien’s hand but Helene grabbed her wrist to stop her.
“Wait a second,” she said with a stern tone. “Mr. Clearwater, if you think that you can win my sympathy just by giving me this release statement, you are sorely mistaken. I will never approve of your and Ronan Silverback’s relationship.”
Lucien narrowed his eyes at Helene. The young woman glared at him with judgmental eyes. Clearly, she believed that she did not do anything wrong.
Lucien stuffed the document into Lily’s hand nonetheless, but this time he did not plan to just leave.
“Interesting,” the man said with an unhurried tone. “What makes you think that I need your approval to be with anyone?”