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“Let me go. I’m fine,” Alan muttered and then was hugging me. “I know it’s been too much, but now your father’s handled. He won’t come near you again. It’s better to just—you’ll be okay,Ellie.” He cleared his throat when it was clear I was lost in my distress. “We’ll review what this says and file additional charges. Please tell the chief to hold Mr. Reed until then.”

“Yes, Dr. Carpenter,” the officer said.

“Ellie, don’t you dare,” Kenneth growled. “Get your hands off of me. Ellie, don’t be stupid. I know things about you too! I can ruin your career and make the owner realize how stupid he was to hire you and—”

I burst out laughing. “Please, telleveryone. I’m sure they’ll believe you after you blew any last shred of credibility you had with this sad attempt. I wouldenjoyseeing the show of that. Hell, I maybe could find my mother then. Assuming she’s not dead which I fully believe and that’s why you never got far using that knowledge as a bargaining chip with me and—”

I was grateful when Alan moved his hand over my mouth and turned me away from being able to see Kenneth. He undoubtedly gave some sort of signal to the police because I heard less shouting over the ringing in my ears.

However, it put me to be directly in front of the people he’d come with and they were both looking at me like I was prey they were about to pounce on.

Fools.

“Are you all right?” Alan asked me quietly, kissing my hair when I snorted. “Let’s get you out of here.”

I went to thank him when he removed his hand—for not letting me ramble on and handling things—all of it, but the woman spoke first.

“While this situation was unfortunate—how we were brought here and your station given your mother is unknown, a match could still be made. We would be willing to overlook that given how you’ve raised your—”

“Your son has nothing to bring to the table,” Ha-joon drawled. “You had to buy him a mate to stealherjob because he’s a moron.”

“You better watch yourself, dog,” the man bit out.

“Oh, no, I think you better,” Ha-joon chuckled darkly as he moved in front of Alan and me, plainly making the fight now with him. “Don’t bite off more than you can chew here. You’re showing how stupid you are right now.”

“Am I? I don’t think I am,” he argued.

“I’m Dr. Ha-joon Clark.”

“So?” he pushed.

The woman cleared her throat though. “Son, he’s—”

“Quiet, Mother,” he snapped. “You’ve gotten us into enough of a mess.”

I looked at the woman. “Funny how fast it’s all your fault, right? I bet when I press charges against him for signing a fraudulent contract you will be thrown under the bus too.” I could see enough that Ha-joon had to push the man back from trying to reach for me.

“Your mother doesn’t recognize my name specifically, but I bet she knows Clark and Korean first names to know I’m one of the children of the London Alpha,” Ha-joon told him, bringing the focus back to him.

“Their youngest is a respected doctor,” the woman said. “I know who you are, Dr. Clark.”

He nodded he heard her, his attention on the man. “So again, don’t bite off more than you can chew because it’s a fight you can’t win. You bring nothing to the table. She’s the head of ASH and you… What? Got your mommy to find a monster who was willing to help buy you a mate? You’re that pathetic? If I was that sad, I would never be able to show my face—”

I gasped when the man tried to throw a punch.

Triedbecause Ha-joon easily caught it. He crushed the man’s hand in a way that brought the man to his knees, screaming in pain as Ha-joon whispered something in his ear that I couldn’t hear.

Mostly because the ringing was still going on in my own ears, so there was that.

I felt like I blinked and I was being carried out of there.

“Are you back?” a deep voice asked. “Don’t freak. I’m helping. Trust me.”

“I know you,” I whispered, my voice sounding distant.

“Yeah, you know me, and I’m not taking advantage of the situation.”

It hit me who he was when we reached the elevator. “No, you wouldn’t, Gerald.”