The Substitute Bride

Sheryl was impressed to find Melissa speaking in a more civilized manner. 'Wow, she seems to be a changed woman now who has learned to speak without cursing!' Sheryl thought to herself. She studied Melissa for a while as if she had developed a completely new impression of her. Then she said, "Haven't you ever given a thought to your own problems? It seems like, ever since you came out of prison, Charles has gotten into endless trouble. These weird things that Charles would never have imagined in his wildest dreams have turned into daily events for him! Haven't you ever reflected on your role in it?"

When Sheryl was living in Dream Garden, she would be more careful when she spoke with Melissa, because Melissa was Charles' mother and they lived under the same roof. However, after she moved out of Dream Garden, Sheryl had shunned all of her former courtesy. Melissa had done a lot of things that Sheryl couldn't forgive. Melissa never acted like a real mother-in-law and had left no stone unturned to make Sheryl feel harassed. Hence, Sheryl had no respect left for Melissa in her heart. She no longer wanted to tolerate Melissa' humiliating words or pretend to be a good daughter-in-law.

Melissa hadn't expected Sheryl to point out her problems so blatantly. Hence she was at once dumbfounded.

At that point, Leila stepped in to support Melissa. "Sheryl, what are you talking about? How can you be so rude to talk like this to your own mother-in-law? Aunt Melissa is Charles' mother. Hasn't anyone taught you to be polite to your mother-in-law?"

At first, Sheryl did not want to meddle with Leila. But since she had invited her attention by supporting Melissa, Sheryl couldn't let her go so easily. "Leila? Who do you think you are here? I'm speaking to my own mother-in-law. Why on earth is an outsider judging our relationship in our own family?"

Leila was rendered speechless. Initially, she fumbled as she tried to find words but became quiet after a while. Upon seeing Sheryl retaliate against her ally, Melissa lost her temper and reprimanded in a loud voice, "Sheryl! Stop it now! You are so mean! If anything happens to Charles, I will not spare you!" Her voice was trembling with anger; however, she knew that she couldn't argue with Sheryl because Sheryl was being very logical. Hence, she immediately left the hall with Leila after issuing her threat to Sheryl.

Melissa believed that she was just too tired to argue with Sheryl. However, she didn't want to admit that it was out of fear of losing face.

After they left, Sheryl slowly turned and walked towards Charles' room. She stopped at the glass barrier from where the visitors could see Charles. As she looked through the glass, she could see Charles sleeping peacefully with all of his life support system and monitors hard at work.

The sharpness of her tongue and presence of mind that she had exhibited not so long ago in front of Melissa and Leila just disappeared into thin air the moment her eyes fell on Charles lying in his hospital bed. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she blamed herself even harder than what Melissa did. She could only blame herself and no one else for Charles having ended up in the hospital. At least, it was partially her fault.

However, she knew that she couldn't just break down at the moment. She had to stay strong and

achel disappeared out of his sight, the smile on his face suddenly disappeared.

Just a day before, Bernard happened to meet up with Tom again.

Bernard was shopping when Tom found him, and he hadn't expected Tom to appear in front of him all of a sudden.

"Tom! How come you are here?" Bernard said as he saw Tom. Then, Bernard looked around nervously, trying to see if there were any other people around them. A moment later, he gathered all his strength and staying calm he managed to look back at Tom.

A smile slowly appeared on Tom's face. He studied Bernard all over and sneered, "I had thought that you must have forgotten that I still exist in this world."

"Oh, that's impossible, Tom. Don't make fun of me. I will never forget you. How dare I forget you?" Bernard remarked nervously. Bernard knew that Tom must have come to look for him because of Ferry. 'I haven't completed the task Tom assigned to me. He asked me to kill Ferry, but I have not been able to do it yet. It's been a long time, and I have not made any progress towards it. He must be losing his patience, ' Bernard thought to himself.

"Oh, really? But your actions betray your words, Bernard. If you haven't dared to forget me, then why on earth is Ferry still hale and healthy?" Tom said provocatively. Then he suddenly stepped closer to Bernard after he finished speaking.

He looked straight into Bernard's eyes with a cold and threatening glare.

Bernard could feel Tom's eyes piercing into his own eyes. He couldn't help but feel nervous and terrified, like a deer caught in the headlights.

After he managed to calm himself down in front of Tom, he responded slowly, "Don't worry, Tom. I will complete my task very soon. I will definitely complete it since it has been assigned by you. Recently, I've been gathering all the information about Ferry, so that I can create a foolproof plan to kill him. I need to be careful about it so that I don't miss the target.

I want him dead in only one attempt."

Luckily for Bernard, Tom was apparently in a good mood that day, so he bought Bernard's explanation. He patted Bernard on the shoulder and smiled. "I know you and what you can do. You will complete the task for me, won't you?"