The Substitute Bride

The two women went out after washing their hands. The sound of heeled shoes click-clacking on the floor reverberated in the washroom long after they had left.

Lost in thought, Rachel followed the two out of the washroom.

She always had the impression that Lance was in good terms with his wife. After all, Miranda had been determined to marry him even when he was still a penniless young man.

If, as the two women said, Miranda was indifferent to Lance's death, Rachel couldn't help but doubt if the woman truly loved her husband.

She seemed to recall something relevant but ended up being confused later. Rachel didn't quite know how to sort things out.

The day for the public trial finally came. Rachel got up early and headed off to court.

It was only a few days since she last saw Holley, but Rachel found her looking very haggard when they met again. Holley's face was sallow, and her eyes were dull; she looked like a different person.

She felt sorry for Holley, but at the same time, she felt a little relieved she was not in her situation. She was slightly worried that Holley would suddenly reverse her confession in court.

At the moment, it was quite hard for her to express her mixed feelings.

The formal atmosphere in the courtroom made Rachel feel involuntarily depressed.

The lawyer she hired for Holley did everything possible to defend her, but the woman was still sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment of ten years.

As the judge was about to announce the verdict, Rachel felt extremely nervous. And when she finally heard the decision, her heart sank.

On the other hand, Holley just accepted everything very calmly. She didn't offer any explanations, nor did she complain about her fate. Perhaps, she had already accepted the outcome.

Before she was brought out of the courtroom, she gave Rachel a grave look.

In her gut, Holley believed she had completely gained Rachel's trust this time. As for the rest, Holley could do nothing for now but make gradual plans.

When she remembered the way Holley looked at her before leaving the courtroom, Rachel was more determined to get her out of jail.

If Holley hadn't taken the fall for her, she would have suffered all this herself.

Although it would take a while to prove Holley's innocence, Rachel thought she could use her social connections to help spring her out of jail. Saving Holley from being tortured in prison was the least she could do.

But at this point, who should she turn to for help? The truth was that her social ties weren't great.

After careful consideration, Rachel decided to call Dustin. He knew people from various trades and might come up with a good idea to help her.

"Hello, is this Mr. Zhang? I'm Rachel. I want to apologize for offending you the last time. I hope y

Leila's safety, she didn't mull over clues that would help explain what happened.

When she finally calmed down, Sheryl realized that there were so many doubts about Leila's alleged poisoning.

The doctor's words as he treated Leila in the emergency room kept replaying inside her head.

"The patient was poisoned. She fell unconscious and has not woken up. Can you please see what's wrong with her?" Sheryl told the doctor.

"She was poisoned?" the physician repeated. "How can you be so sure? Did you see her take anything poisonous?" he rattled off. His questions flustered Sheryl, and confusion was all over her face as she failed to answer them.

Replaying everything that transpired, Sheryl couldn't help but ponder about the events that took place. When Leila fell unconscious, what made Melissa so sure it was due to poisoning?

What Sheryl knew for sure was that Leila was not sick before she arrived at her house. And when she sat down and talked to Melissa, she was in high spirits and didn't look ill at all.

Not long after, Melissa asked Leila to go upstairs to get some medicine. 'So what happened in the living room before I went back downstairs?' Sheryl wondered.

Then Leila took a sip of tea without eating anything else. Within half an hour, she was unconscious and didn't respond.

So, if she lost consciousness at that time, there was probably something in the tea. But how could that be?

If that tea had been poisoned, Sheryl would know about it. When Nancy was boiling water and making the tea, Sheryl was almost with her the entire time during the process. She certainly didn't poison the tea, and neither did Nancy.

The only thing that made sense was that the tea contained something poisonous, which caused Leila to lose consciousness after drinking the beverage. Was there some other reason for her losing consciousness?