Claimed by the Crown Heir novel Chapter 10

Inside the hotel's fine dining restaurant.

Vanessa handed him the menu to order.

"Ladies first."

He was surprisingly a gentleman.

She casually picked out two light dishes, while Alistair added a few of the restaurant's signature plates.

It was only then that she suddenly realized something, looking at him with suspicion.

"Mr. Howard, do you know me?"

Otherwise, how did he know her last name was Grant?

She was certain she hadn't introduced herself yet.

Alistair sidestepped the question entirely, a faint smirk playing on his lips. "We know each other now, don't we?"

She didn't press the issue. They were just passing strangers, and once she left Savannah, they would never cross paths again anyway.

"Thank you again for today. I'll have your jacket dry-cleaned tonight and return it tomorrow."

Alistair simply smiled, saying nothing.

Parked outside the restaurant, Lucas hadn't actually left.

After finishing his aggressive phone calls, he looked up and spotted a man and a woman sitting right by the floor-to-ceiling windows. The man was the bastard who had interfered earlier, and the woman was Vanessa.

Bathed in the warm lighting, they looked like an impossibly perfect couple, chatting and laughing together with sickening ease.

Lucas's face turned to absolute ice. His dark eyes clouded over with a violent, suffocating jealousy that he couldn't even recognize.

How the hell did Vanessa know that guy?

Or had she been screwing him behind his back all along?

Was staying at this specific hotel not a coincidence either?

She was using his money to treat some random guy to dinner.

Well played, Vanessa!

Alistair acutely sensed the hostile stare. His sharp, predatory gaze flicked over to the window, locking straight onto Lucas's seething eyes inside the car.

He raised an eyebrow slightly, then calmly looked away.

"Hold still."

Vanessa froze mid-bite, looking up at him.

"What's wrong?"

Alistair leaned across the table, his thumb gently brushing the corner of her soft lips.

"You had some sauce there."

He was just a delusional clown.

"Fresh breakup?"

"Yeah."

She despised talking about her personal life with strangers, especially since this was the one massive, humiliating mistake she had ever made.

It was embarrassing just thinking about it.

"Looks like he's still pretty hung up on you. Doesn't seem like he's going to let it go."

Vanessa gave a self-deprecating laugh.

Oh, he was hung up, alright.

Hung up enough to cheat on her for years while keeping her entirely in the dark. If Chloe hadn't lost patience and texted her to expose them, she would probably still be playing the oblivious fool.

She had truly believed she had found true love, only to become an absolute joke.

She obviously didn't think Lucas stuck around because he missed her or wanted her back. He only cared because she was selling half of Vortex, which directly threatened his core assets, and he desperately wanted to stop her.

Lucas couldn't believe Vanessa had completely ignored him and audaciously continued her dinner date. This utter loss of control drove him completely insane.

He was just about to march inside and confront her when his phone rang.

"Luke, I'm pregnant."