The Substitute Bride

As Bernard began reading the document, Tom noticed the temptation in his eyes and said, "This job came to us from the head of an underground gang, and it's one of the highest paid jobs I have ever come across. And while it's a tough target to deal with, I'm reluctant to send even one of us for this task. But since you're not one of us anymore, you're the most suitable person for this job. Okay then, take care and good luck."

"I'll take it. Please keep your word, Tom. After this, I don't ever want to see you again," Bernard replied confidently and looked into Tom's eyes with determination.

Tom threw back his head to laugh out loud. He stopped a few seconds later and said, "I will. Let me be clear, Bernard. If you fail to kill him, you won't make it out of there alive. Ferry, your target, is going to make sure that you are dead before anything else. So, please get ready for this fight and use every ounce of skill you have for this mission, because you will need it!"

Bernard hesitated for a few seconds to consider whether he had made the right decision or not. The target must have been someone very hard to deal with. Otherwise Tom wouldn't have given him all these warnings.

However, Bernard knew that he had no other choice but to comply. If he had turned down this job, Tom would have to kill him and as far as he knew, no one had ever gone up against Tom and lived to tell about it. With that thought in mind, even though the target was going to be difficult, his chances of making it out of this alive seemed easier than dealing with Tom.

"I will, and I have to," Bernard said, no emotion in his voice. With a curt nod, he then left with the document.

Tom watched him disappear into the dark, knitting his brows and clasping his hands behind his back.

A few days ago, Tom had received a phone call from Holley.

"Tom, please help me! I'll be dead if you don't!" she said on the other side of the line.

Tom was caught by surprise because she was not supposed to call him.

"How can I help you?" Tom then asked in no hurry, slowly tapping his fingers on the table.

"It's Ferry! I can't stand him anymore. Tom, I want him to die. Will you help me?" Her ceaseless sobbing and quivering voice was a clear indication that she was scared out of her wits.

Tom narrowed his eyes, wondering who this Ferry was and why Holley wanted to kill him.

All he knew for certain was that this man Holley mentioned must have been a tough guy.

Tom failed to kill Rachel, after he had promised Holley he'd do so, and he still received a payment from her for taking the job. Since he still owed Holley from the last time, he decided to do her a favor now.

Thus, he agreed to kill Ferry for her. However, to his surprise, he found that there wasn't much information on Ferry floating about for him to collect.

He had been constantly thinking about how to deal with his problem whe

ue to the past few days. She could barely sleep ever since she caught his father with another woman.

Never before had he felt such a strong urge to protect his mother. He swore to himself that he would never let Sheryl down. He pulled out a blanket from his cupboard and then put it over his mother.

After looking around and finding nothing do to, Clark quietly slinked to the kitchen to see what Joan was cooking for breakfast.

Joan almost jumped out of her skin when she spotted Clark standing beside her. She wasn't expecting him to be up so early, and besides, he snuck in without making any noise.

"Joan, relax! I won't eat you!" Clark was amused by her sudden reaction and he couldn't help making fun of her.

"You're up so early, my dear. Where is your sister? Still in bed?" Joan asked.

"Right. I was woken up by a bad dream, actually. Shirley always needs more sleep than me." Clark then shook his head and added, "Girls are troublesome indeed. Shirley refused to go to bed last night. She said that she missed our bedroom in Dream Garden and I had to read to her to help her sleep." He sounded like an adult.

Joan burst into laughter at the little gentleman.

"You're so sweet, Clark. You've even started looking after your sister, even though you're the same age as her," Joan praised.

Clark shrugged his shoulders, because this wasn't the first time somebody had told him that.

Sheryl was a light sleeper. Although, Joan and Clark had deliberately made less noises, she woke up not too long after.

"You're up early today, my little boy. What are you doing in the kitchen? Let me guess. Learning how to cook?" Sheryl teased Clark as she stopped in front of the kitchen door.

Clark, who was playing with a green onion, paused and cast a taunting glance at his mother. "Nope! I woke up early and I had nothing to do, so now I am playing here because I was afraid of waking you up in the living room."