Becoming Alpha’s Personal Caretaker
Chapter 72

Lauren's

POV

"It's been a long time, alpha Morgan." It was Mr. Morgan, the organizer of the Moondance Ball. He gave me a gentle smile and said, "I'm glad that you're here and I wanna thank your mother and you for your support on behalf of those orphans." "It's my pleasure." Ever since my mother was gone, I had been donating money in her name because I knew she had been sponsoring the children who became orphans because of rogues. I continued, "And I'm glad that you have been doing this for so long." Charity wasn't something that could be done in a day but alpha Morgan had been doing it for such a long time, from which I could tell he was a warm-hearted and kind person. And I admired him for that.

Alpha Morgan held out his champagne glass and gave me a toast. Then he reached out his hand to me and invited me to dance with him, "I'm honored to have you attend the ball and if you don't have a date, could you do the opening dance with me?" Before I could say anything, Manuel suddenly said behind me, "It's her honor to be invited by you, alpha Morgan."

Seeing Manuel was here, Morgan stopped smiling and didn't respond to him. He just looked at me, waiting for my answer. Manuel seemed a bit awkward but he didn't leave. He just stood next to me calmly as if we were still a loving family. But I could feel someone staring at me viciously.

Bella reminded me, "It's Janice. She saw that alpha Morgan invited you. She wanted to mock you for not having a date and show off her fiancé in front of everyone. But now she's jealous as hell because alpha Morgan asked you to dance with him." Based on how much I knew Janice, there was a good chance that what Bella said was real.

"Lauren?" Manuel nagged me quietly, "you don't have a date anyway. Doing the opening dance with alpha Morgan is a good choice for you, isn't it?"

I ignored him.

But then I got a message on my phone and it was from Victor, "Hope I'll get to do the opening dance with you next time."

Clearly, Victor had noticed what was going on here.

I instinctively looked around to find where he was and saw him in a luxuriously decorated box on the second floor, surrounded by prestigious people from different tribes. He was too far away and I couldn't see the look on his face. All I could see was that he was sitting in his wheelchair. All kinds of people were surrounding him but somehow he looked a bit lonely.

So I turned alpha Morgan down, "It's very kind of you to invite me to dance with you, alpha Morgan, but I think you'll find a better dancing partner than me."

Hearing that, alpha Morgan wasn't offended at all and said, "What a pity. Hope you'll have a good time at the ball tonight. If there's anything you like in the auction, just let me know and I'll give it to you as my gift for my friend's daughter."

Alpha Morgan's words moved me a little and he was such a gentleman. I smiled at him sincerely, "Thank you so much, alpha Morgan."

"I'm like your uncle and it's just a little gift. Also, I like you, kid," alpha Morgan chuckled. Then he nodded at Manuel distantly and left to greet other guests.

The look on Manuel's face didn't change but he said condescendingly, "Lauren, you're being rude. How could you turn alpha Morgan down?"

What made him think that he got to lecture me?

But I didn't want to waste my time on this subject and said indifferently, "Alpha Manuel, why can't I do that?"

Alpha Manuel froze and then scorned me, "Lauren, I'm still your father. You smiled at strangers but treat me like this. You're too stubborn."

"The obedient daughter you've always wanted is right there," I looked at Janice who wasn't far away, replied to Victor's message, and then continued, "and...I won't be your daughter anymore pretty soon."

Manuel's face distorted at my words and I could see his rage flaring in his eyes. He squeezed his champagne glass harder and if we weren't at the ball, he would've started yelling at me. Too bad that he had to suppress his anger and said, "Lauren, no matter what happened, we're still family! My blood is running in your veins!"

I said coldly, "So what?"

Manuel was all riled up but couldn't get it out. He took a deep breath and softened his tone, "Never mind. Lauren, let's have a talk. The box Alpha Morgan prepared for us is on the second floor."

"Okay." This was one of the reasons why I promised him to go to this ball. I glanced at Janice and Lola who wanted to tag along and said wryly, "But I won't want irrelevant people to be there."

Manuel frowned but then he said yes. He turned around and gave Lola and Janice a look. They instantly stopped walking and seemed pretty upset. They must be very worried about our conversation and were afraid that Manuel would feel bad for me and make compromises.

Even though the properties had nothing to do with them in the first place.

In the box.

The opening dance was about to start and most of the guests were on the first floor. Alpha Morgan had finally decided to invite his granddaughter for the opening dance and they started swinging at the center of the dance floor as the music began. They were dancing under the lights and became the center of attention in the crowd.

I thought of the text I sent Victor which read, "Next time, I hope I can dance with you in the moonlight."

I heard the sound of the door closing and couldn't hear the bustling noises anymore. The box became quiet.

"Lauren, my dear," Manuel sat right across me and coughed. Maybe it was because of the dim lights, he seemed to get a bit nostalgic and said gently, "We haven't sat down and talked like this in a very long time." My dear.

I hadn't heard him calling me that for so many years. When I was little, Manuel would carry me on his shoulders and run through the forest with me in his wolf form. He would call me dear fondly but then...

The one who sat on his shoulder became Janice.

And now he wanted to bring up our past.

I couldn't help but chuckle. However, he mistook my laugh as a smile of relief and said, "I know you've been wronged in the recent events and you got so mad that you even said you wanna leave our family. But we're blood-related family after all." So he thought I was just too mad?

"I know you've never liked Lola and Janice and thought they tore apart our family. But at that time you were still too young to understand us grownups' problems."

I interrupted him, "Then what about my mother's death?"

Speaking of my mother, Manuel's face became pale and he couldn't go on anymore.

"Stop trying to impress me by bringing up our history, alpha Manuel, just tell me how you wanna split the properties," I added coldly, "no matter how you're trying to put this, Lola was the one you cheated on my mother with and Janice has stolen my fiancé from me. Those are solid facts so you can cut the crap."

Manuel frowned and said in a deep voice, "Fine. Lauren, even though you're the heir of the Fullmoon Tribe, I honestly can't trust you with the tribe and the group. In addition, you've never learned about management and you have no idea how to run a company. Since you wanna leave, I have to change the heir."

"I'm doing this for your own sake. You're a doctor and never have any interest in running companies, right? Then just give up the inheritance and I'll give you a lot of money. That's a good choice for you," Manuel said condescendingly as if he was doing me a favor, "and Janice and Michael won't treat you badly. They'll continue to give you dividends when I retired so don't worry."

That was the most ridiculous thing I heard today.

But strangely, I wasn't pissed or sad at all. Instead, I was extremely calm. Maybe it was because I stopped expecting anything from Manuel because I couldn't be more disappointed in him.

"Alpha Manuel, get off your high horse and don't get cocky," I said frigidly, "the Blanco Group wouldn't have existed if it weren't for my mother's help. Please know that before you continue your speech." Manuel grimaced.