Kris stared at Karen incredulously, his lips curling with rage. "How dare you?! How dare you try to involve my mother in this?"

"But I'm not lying. She was the one who suggested the plan to me," Karen insisted.

"My mother didn't even know anything about the pictures until you gave them to her on my wedding day to pass on to me!" Kris hissed.

"That's what she told me to tell you. She wanted you to believe that," Karen said bitterly.

Looking back, she realized Linda Miller had made her do all the dirty work so that if the plan failed, she wouldn't be implicated.

She sniffed. "I didn't want to do it, but Linda convinced me. You know she never liked Thalassa and always thought she wasn't good enough to be her daughter-in-law. That's why she hatched the plan."

"Keep my mother's name out of your fucking mouth!" Kris snarled, his voice ringing with a savage warning. "If you tell another lie about her, you're going to be even sorrier."

Thalassa felt bitter as she listened to it all. She knew Karen was telling the truth for the first time, but Kris was never going to believe that his mother was a monster.

Kris turned to the officer. "Take them away."

"No! No! You can't do this! I'm your wife, Kris. I'm the mother of your child!" Karen continued pleading, and when that didn't work, she turned her hateful eyes to Thalassa and screamed, "I hate you. I hate you! Why do you always have to take my happiness away from me?", Her screams died as she, along with the stripper, was finally led out by the officer.

After they were taken away, the restaurant fell as silent as a graveyard. No one said a word or made a sound for several seconds as they all needed time to collect themselves after the intense exposé.

Finally, Alden moved away from Thalassa's table and headed to where Kris was standing. He knew that none of this could've been easy for Kris.

Clasping his best friend on the shoulder, he asked in a low voice, "Are you okay?"

Kris nodded, his eyes traveling in the direction of Thalassa, who still hadn't said a word. He immediately pulled out his phone and opened the cursed pictures. Selecting every one of them, he was about to hit the delete button when Alden cautioned him. "I don't think you should delete them. They can serve as evidence at the trial."

Kris's nostrils flared. "No judge or jury is going to see Thalassa like... like this."

And with that, he hit the delete button. The pictures were backed up, so if it was required, he could retrieve them, but only if it was strictly necessary. For now, he wanted nothing to do with those pictures on his phone.

Luisa made her way to Thalassa and instantly engulfed her in a hug. Millie joined in, and they had a group hug that went on for several seconds.

"How are you feeling?" Luisa asked softly when they finally broke the hug.

How was she feeling? Thalassa didn't even know the answer to that. Her emotions were mixed and all over the place-from resentment, to anger, to disappointment, to relief. She couldn't settle on one, so she chose the simplest answer.

"I'm fine."

"I'm so glad that evil is finally going to pay for what she did. We didn't know how long it was going to take, but Kris did it so quickly," Millie mused.

Thalassa stiffened but didn't say anything. Zeke, on the other hand, frowned deeply, wondering why Millie was singing Kris's praises.

Turning his head, he noticed how Kris had his eyes fixed on Thalassa. Zeke gritted his teeth. He was damned if he was going to give the man a chance to speak to Thalassa.

Immediately, he cleared his throat. "Uh, I hope I'm not being presumptuous, but I believe all of us have lost our appetites to eat anything here."

He looked at Thalassa. "Would you like me to take you home?"noveldrama

Thalassa nodded. One of her targets had finally been arrested, and she was supposed to be happy, but for some reason, she only felt tired and just numb. Food was the last thing on her mind.

"Yes. Let's go."

• Realizing that the group had already begun heading toward the entrance, with the exception of Millie, Alden hurried to catch up with them and gently grabbed Luisa by the arm. "Luisa..." he breathed, feeling her tense in his hold.

"What is it, Alden?"

Alden pursed his lips. "I hope you understand my reasons now, Luisa. We didn't have much of a choice. It was the only way to set Karen up and get Thalassa here."

"Yes, I understand," Luisa said, but her voice was still curt and her expression didn't have much warmth.

Frustrated, Alden bit his lip so hard that it nearly drew blood. "Luisa, please, I don't like that you're upset with me. I... I can't stand it."

Luisa was taken aback by the earnest emotion and desperation in his voice. "Alden, you have no reason to care so much about what I think of you. You and I don't even know each other."

"No, you're wrong," Alden shook his head. "I do have a reason to care about what you think of me, and that reason, Luisa, is that I really li-"

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