Substitute for The Alpha King
Chapter 19: The Protective Husband

After the entire scene at the party, Shawn beats Mike to a pub and he is rushed to the hospital. The damage that he had done had gone deeper than anyone had expected and Mike couldn't come back to the Company.

He was placed in the ER and moved to the recovery room for constant observation. While he was still in the hospital, that didn't stop the rest of his employees from going to work and trying to better at it. Though most of them had taken their time to visit him while he was being confined in the clinic, Hannah didn't bother at all. Not after what Mike wanted to do to her, he was still the same old brute that she knew back then, she just didn't want to imagine what would have happened if Shawn hadn't come for her.

However, she wondered how he knew where she would be, he knew that she was going to a party but Hannah did not think that he would find her so soon in that crowded place.

While the rest of the people visited Mike with flowers and chocolates, she didn't bother to do any of those and just stayed back in her office doing her job and minding her business. The only thing that she could do was very good at her job so that no one can take her place or try to beat her. Despite all of this, Hannah was a very courageous and competitive person, she loves giving it her all which is what she did at her workplace.

However, her good efforts in carrying out her task didn't really go well with some people in the company, one of whom was Ashley. She hated Hannah already and after the scene at the party, her hatred for her had skyrocketed but this time it wasn't really wasn't just about Mike. It was about everything. As Hannah got better in her job, she got worse in hers, and that made her jealous. Hannah took her spot when she was hired by the company and now she was taking away everything that she worked so hard to build over the years, it just wasn't going to happen, she needed to do something about it.

Ashley thought about this as she sat in her office staring at Hannah's desk, she saw how engrossed Hannah was in her job, and that got even more furious. She hated that and felt that she was showing off her skills and that she was better than her and vowed to destroy her hard work. Standing up from m her set, she strode towards Hannah, she was working on some documents to send to a client when Ashley graced her desk.

"I don't suppose that invites you over, did I?" Hannah asked as she paused and looked at the woman wondering what she was doing there, no one wanted to be there, and no one requested that she should come over.

"I have been in this office longer than your lifeline so technically I am your Boss"

"Mike is my boss" She doesn't like Mike but in times like These, he is more useful and a resource than any other thing. She just wanted her to get that through her skull. This was only temporary since Mike was out after having received that beating of his life, and was going to be stuck in the hospital for the next couple not weeks or days at most. Someone had to be in charge and it had to be her boyfriend, Mike.

"Well Mike Isn't here but I am and So you are going to listen to everything that I have to say, you will question my decision. or will you try to overrule my judgment"

Hannah couldn't quite get her, she didn't know what she meant by those words, she had been the woman like a plague. The only thing that she knew was that she was going to do her job and get better at it day after day.

"What's this about? I don't remember overruling your judgment"

"It's about the work that you submitted on my desk"

"What about them?"

"There are typographical errors, didn't you go through your work or run some soft check or so"

"I double-checked my work and the version that I have right now with me which is what I submitted for you is free of grammatical errors so you should have it rechecked"

"What? You insolent brat, are you saying that my eyesight isn't good, are you saying that I didn't get it right? You are out of your mind to think that way, I get it now, you think that you will climb the ladder so quickly just because you whore yourself to men, Isn't it, you think you will reach anywhere by throwing yourself so shamelessly at them flirting with men everywhere you went, isn't that what you are doing?" She yelled loudly gaining the eyes of people around. Everyone of Hannah looks at her whispering as Ashley humiliated accusing her of sleeping around with Many men.

"You are out of your mind, I am not one of those women who throw themselves so shamelessly at men, I wouldn't even do that even if I am not married"

"Married?"

"Yes, I am happily married so before you even accuse me of such a thing next time you better make sure that you get your facts right else I won't take it lightly with you, a disciplinary will be set up, and you be forced to issue a proper apology so don't ever forget that. "You are out of your mind, if truly you are married, why are you not wearing your wedding ring, you think. You can deceive us and make us believe that crap of a story. You are obviously not married, you are still one of those women who are trying to claim what they are not and think you can fool anyone. Even if you everyone in here you can never fool me" she sneered at her.

Hannah shook her head, she had no excuse for not wearing a wedding ring though, she couldn't tell her anything about her marriage to Shawn or the fact that she did not have much money to get herself a decent wedding ring and was only concerned about her mother and her little family that she had just started off with Shawn.

"So what now, you cannot talk, I bet you really aren't married, now I am going to web you to stop throwing yourself so shamelessly at men. What a whore you turn out to be"

Anger seeped through Hannah, she hated to be humiliated, no one had ever humiliated her the way that Ashley did. But then she could not do anything bad she watched her leave her office, she was the one who didn't have a wedding ring so things like that were meant to happen. Glancing around, she noticed her colleagues were throwing dirty looks at her as if she had acted as if she was married when she truly wasn't married. She wasn't the sort of woman who would make. It was such a ridiculous story but no one might believe her if she tried to about it so she decided to give it a rest.

For the rest of the day, Hannah just got busy with her work, not bothering to look at anyone. Not that she used to but she focused solely on her work before returning back home. When she got back home that day, she saw a jewelry box that Shawn had left in her bedroom. She smiled and picked it up only to find an emerald ring inside the box.

"Do you like it?".

"It's beautiful" Hannah' whispered aware that there could be only one person who was behind her and it was Shawn. "Shawn" She turned around bumping into him right behind her. "It's beautiful, this is really beautiful, I like it" "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes," she locked her lips and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She was really beautiful.

"I'm glad that you love it"

When he turned around and to leave, she was quick to hold him by the sleeve and he looked at her. "What is it?"

"Do you think that I can use this as a wedding ring?"

"Of course" That was what he wanted. He figured that she didn't have those giant locks around her finger and needed to have them so that insane men like Mike would keep off from her. They were not going to ever come for her, he was not always going to be around to protect her from certain and wanted that ring to serve as some sort of protection.

"I am glad you want to use it as that, I will leave you to get some rest" While he left, Hannah stared at the ring before kissing it and Falling on the bed. It was beautiful. She thought and slipped the ring into her finger, it fits perfectly into her finger and she smiled.

The glee on her face couldn't be contained as she went to work the next day. However, Ashley had seen the ring on her finger as they took the elevator together and wanted to make sure that she saw the rightly. As Hannah opened her email to reply to her emails, Ashley barged into the office.

"So you got a fake ring?"

"Fake?" Hannah scoffed. She could not believe the nerve of this woman. She tapped her ball Pen on the table trying so hard to control herself, but the motion did little to control her from reaching out and strangling the annoying woman. As if that wasn't enough, Ashley held her hand and stared at the Emerald ring.

"What a fool you are for wearing something so fake and doesn't even for your finger, you look so stupid in those, don't you think" she laughed mocking her. Everyone in the office had stopped what they were doing and was now looking at the scene as it unfolded right before them.

"Those are not fake" A voice suddenly said from behind.

"What?" Ashley was furious as she turned around wondering who had s Ed to interrupt them only to see that it was their Boss. She lowered her head a little.

"Ashley" The Boss walked closer and held up Hannah's hand, he had the eyes for a genuine collection and knew that Hannah wore something unique. "She is wearing something unique and real, it is not fake Ashley"

"I don't believe you, this woman is not capable of wearing anything real, she only wore that so that she could belong"

Hannah rolled her eyes. Was she going to result in that?

"I am going to bring in an expert for these sorts of things"

The boss Shrugged

"You can bring in whoever that you want and they are going to end up telling you the same thing"

"I don't believe your judgment, an expert should decide"

Ashley did not even bother to listen to him a she took out her phone and called up an expert. Everyone wanted to see how it all turned out and waited for the expert to arrive. When the expert arrived, he took the Emerald ring and examined it before handing it over to Hannah.

"So? It is fake, right? I knew it all along"

"No I am afraid not, what she is wearing on her ring is genuine, this is top-grade emerald"

"What?"

Everyone gasped staring at Hannah. The Boss shook his head, He knew that already, of course, it had to be genuine, he knew so much about Emerald so he couldn't have missed it.

"That's not even all" The expert ran his hand through his hair, his eyes not parting from Hannah.

"There is more?"

"There is one emerald ring like this in the entire world"