Alex indicated his parents with his head and said to Justin, "Take care of them for me, please."
"Of course! But we're not giving up on you. You'll be back in the family someday," Justin said confidently.
After Justin finished speaking, the atmosphere went cold. They all knew no one had ever returned to the family after a scandal like this.
"Mr. Stokes, Mr. Stephens, thanks for come to see me off. I'm really sorry." Alex looked at Ken and Mark.
In the competition between Alex and Nathan, they had taken Alex's side from the beginning. Now that Alex had left, Ken and his colleagues would surely be hit hard by Nathan.
Ken and Mark shook their heads. They really liked Alex and were willing to follow him.
"Everyone is here except for Nelly. He was so nice to her," muttered Celeste. The Moon girls weren't particularly sad. In their opinion, his family was too strict. They thought Alex was better off getting some distance from them.
"Nelly is with Uncle Tristan. They haven't seen each other for twenty years, so there must be a lot to talk about," Justin explained.
Alex nodded and said, "Thank you all. It's been great to see you, but it's time for me to leave. Goodbye."
He waved to everyone, turned around, and walked toward the helicopter with the four maidens.
They climbed into the helicopter. Soon it started and slowly rose into the air. Alex smiled and waved to his relatives on the ground. He saw that Gideon held his mother as she covered her face and sobbed. Justin turned his back, so he couldn't see if his brother was also in tears. Mark and Ken looked sad.
The people on the ground gradually became smaller and smaller. Alex turned back from the window. He couldn't hold it in anymore, so he put his head down and began to cry.
From that point forward, it would be very difficult for him to see his family again.
**
"Mr. Alex."
The women began to whisper to each other. They had not realized that Alex was only pretending to be okay with how things had turned out. Now they saw how upset he truly was. They were uncomfortable and concerned for him.
The four women surrounded Alex and gently comforted him.
"Mr. Alex, you still have us. We will never give up on you."
"Yes, it will be much better to have the four of us help you than to be in the Ambrose family."
"If you have any problems, please tell us. We'll listen quietly and help you feel better."
Celeste and Selene gently patted Alex's back. Callisto took his hand. Luna knelt in front of him. Alex was all they had.
With these four confidants around him, Alex felt better.
"Thank you," he said as he slowly straightened up. He leaned back into his seat and slowly closed his eyes. He was very tired and wanted to sleep to forget about his troubles.
Soon, he fell asleep, and the four girls relaxed slightly.
It was midnight and very cold. The helicopter was an older model with a leaky window. Alex shivered in his sleep.
"Mr. Alex is very cold," Luna said as she discovered him shaking.
"Let's embrace Mr. Alex together," Celeste said as she slightly frowned. Celeste and Selene hugged his upper body to help warm him up.
"You two have a rest first. We'll hold him for a while, and then we can trade places," Celeste said. Callisto and Luna rested in their seats.
To help him warm up, Celeste held Alex tightly. She opened her coat and covered as much of his chest as she could. Selene did the same on the other side.
The maidens looked at each other, and then they looked at Alex. They felt very close to him, which brought them a sense of joy and excitement. When they each saw the other's smiling face, they blushed.
Celeste and Selene closed their eyes, relaxing slightly. They both had the bold idea that they could always rely on Mr. Alex to help them. But they remembered that they were only maidens and not worthy of him.
After the seven-hour flight, the helicopter landed at the airport. They were back in D.C.
**
When the helicopter landed, the seats shook slightly. Alex opened his eyes and felt very warm. He noticed that Callisto and Luna had been hugging him and had covered his body with their coats.
Alex was deeply moved by their gesture. Callisto and Luna also woke up. Their heads had been resting on his shoulders. They stood up right away, and their hearts were pounding with excitement.
Looking at the women, Alex felt slightly happy. He had already regarded the Moon girls as his family, especially since he no longer had other relatives. Celeste was the closest one to Alex.
"Let's get out of here," he said as he looked at the four smiling women.
Alex and Celeste stepped out of the helicopter. It was seven in the morning, and the morning air was chilly. They had been flying all night, so they all felt cold and hungry.
"Mr. Alex let's have something to eat first," Celeste said as she thought Alex must also be hungry.
"I want to see Debbie as soon as possible," he said, but he realized the women must be hungry. He said, "But you're right. We should get some food first."
"You're in a hurry to see Miss Debbie. We won't dare delay you," Celeste said. She saw a nearby breakfast shop and asked Callisto and Luna to buy enough for all of them.
They soon returned, and Celeste said lightheartedly, "We can eat on the way there."
Alex called for two taxis, and they left for Arlington Heights.
In the taxi, Alex dialed Debbie's number and told her that he would be arriving soon.
Debbie was worried. I don't know what to do when I see Alex, she thought.
**
At the same time, Reginald Drake finished his nightshift and returned to the Drake's home.
A few days ago, he had paid a million dollars in medical fees to the families of the security guards who had been injured at the wedding. He still had more people to visit and apologize to. It was becoming difficult to discuss the incident without mentioning the Ambrose family, but he knew it was important to keep their involvement a secret.
But with the support of the other powerful families in Washington, D.C., the matter was finally becoming resolved.
The government only knew that someone had sabotaged the Drake family's wedding. The Drake family had ended the violence as quickly as possible.
The public didn't know about these events. They all thought that the wedding between the Drake and Marvel families had gone well.
The twenty Washington, D.C. families kept quiet. They were afraid if some news about the terrible Ambrose family were leaked, they would suffer dire consequences.
Reginald went into the villa. He was very tired these days, but, fortunately, everything was done. He wanted to take a good bath and sleep.
"Dad, you're back! I called you all last night. Why didn't you answer?" Seeing that his father was finally back, David rushed to Reginald.
David's handsome face was full of panic and worry.
"Yesterday, I was having dinner with some important people and turned off my phone." Reginald's relaxed nerves tightened again. Why did his normally calm son look like this? He frowned and asked, "What's the matter?"
David wanted to blurt out that Leona had found out her old diary and remembered her old life as Debbie. But when he tried to speak, he swallowed his words.
After the botched wedding, Reginald had warned David to keep his distance from Leona. He had worried about the Ambrose family's interest in Leona and felt it best that David not get too entangled with her in case they needed to drop the whole marriage idea. But then Leona had come to David's room, wanting to spend time with him. He should have sent her away, but he was too tempted by her.
He had not only let Leona into his room, but he had also wanted to take advantage of his father's absence to finally consummate their match. If he had not left Leona alone in his room while he went to get prepared, she wouldn't have seen the diary.
"What's the matter? Just spit it out!" When Reginald saw David's mood, his uneasiness sharply increased. He was acutely aware that it might be related to the Marvel girl, so he asked in a low voice, "What about the Marvel girl? You didn't touch her, did you?"
"Dad, I'm sorry… Leona… she… she left," David finally said. His face looked even more depressed.
"What! Why? What did you do?" Reginald said angrily.
"No, Dad, I didn't touch her. She saw the diary, so she left," David said quickly. He felt uneasy and afraid of his father's anger.
"Diary? What diary?" Reginald couldn't understand, so he roared, "What's going on? Tell me right now!"
"Yes… the diary." His father's roar made David feel like an earthquake hit his heart.
He said in a frightened voice, "Darryl Brennan gave me Leona's diary, the one she wrote in before she lost her memory. I used information from it to get closer to her. But she found out, and now I'm not sure what to do."
David knew that if he went after her, she wouldn't listen to his explanation anyways. If Leona broke up with him, Alex might come back to take revenge on him too. When he remembered the battle at the wedding, David's heart shook with fear.
He was flustered, so he had decided to discuss what to do with his father when he returned home.
"You little bastard!" Reginald scolded.
He did not understand the particulars, but it was clear that David had played some kind of trick on Leona. Alex had warned them before that if David didn't take good care of Leona, he would come to the Drake family to set things straight. If David and Leona's entire relationship had been based on some lie, then Alex was sure to return to wreak havoc on them.
Reginald glared at David and said, "Do you have a head full of mush? This is a disaster! How could you have gone with such a stupid plan? If you weren't my son, I would kill you on the spot."