The Substitute Bride

"Mom said that you got Leila out of jail." Sheryl went straight to the point. Staring at Charles, she tried to see through his true feelings about the matter.

"Really? I didn't expect her to be released so early. But how did you know?" Surprise and confusion flooded Charles. It was his doing; since Melissa repeatedly asked him to get Leila out of prison, he had no reason to refuse her requests. Besides, he initially put Leila in jail because he wanted to teach her a lesson. Since she was in there for so long, Charles believed that she should have realized her own mistakes and turned into a better person.

Otherwise, he couldn't think of any reason for Leila to be so nice to a strange old lady in prison.

Since Leila wasn't completely irredeemable and his mother adored her, Charles didn't think it a bad idea to help her get out—he even thought that it would be a good decision if she could keep his mother good company and make her happy.

"So your mom wasn't lying. Explain it to me, Charles!" responded Sheryl, disappointment and frustration flashing through her eyes. As she recalled Melissa's and Leila's statements, Sheryl felt rattled inside—she was sure to keep her gaze completely focused on Charles. She didn't dare blink, making sure she missed none of his facial expressions as the topic of Leila was brought up.

"Sher, I don't know what Mom said to you…But I hope you can believe me. Here's the thing, Mom ended up being Leila's cellmate in jail so they became good friends. When Mom left prison, she kept telling me that she had a close friend who was still behind bars and she just asked me to help her out," he narrated. After a pause to gage Sheryl's reaction, he continued, "I guess you can sense that Mom is still rather unhappy with you these days. I thought maybe Leila would provide for a good distraction. If she has a friend to keep her company, she won't be so lonely anymore and will probably stop bothering you. What do you think?"

It wasn't news to Charles

sealed their mouths with a kiss.

Sheryl kissed him back fervently with a similar desire to share in their intimacy once again. It had been such a long time since she could be passionate with her beloved man—she didn't care if they were in his office where someone could walk in at any second.

All she wanted in that moment was him.

'We're married and we're not doing anything wrong. It's not a big deal if someone barges in and sees us. I don't even care if they hear us and gossip about us. I want everyone to know that Charles is my husband.

He belongs to me. No one can take him away from me." Such possessive thoughts ran through her head.

The two indulged in a wild kiss as they both felt their bodies burning up as if they both had a fever. Their passion filled the entire office.

Yearning for more, Charles swiftly lifted Sheryl up and strode to the couch before gently laying her back down on it. As if it was their second nature, the two began unbuttoning each other's clothes. Soon, their quick and heavy breaths resounded in the room. Just as Charles was about to make love to her, he came back to his senses.

"Sher…let's go home or to the hotel nearby. We can't do this here…" he proposed, almost in defeat.

It was his priority to find a comfortable bed so that he could enjoy the night with his wife.