The Substitute Bride

"You'd better kill me now. Or I'll break your neck when I get a chance!" Bernard hissed, despite his head being pressed against the ground by one of Ferry's henchmen. His mind was consumed by wrath, but he had no intention to beg for mercy or give Tom and their organization away. It was not because he was loyal to Tom, but because it might draw fire against Rachel. He would surely sacrifice his own life to gain a slim chance for her to live.

"Fine. Since you're asking for death, I suppose I shall do you this favor," spat Ferry with a deliberately arrogant tone. He had never taken this hit man seriously from the very beginning and really had no interest in knowing who sent him.

As soon as Ferry finished speaking, he signaled his men with a nod, and they quietly stepped forward and dragged Bernard away. A few seconds later, a deafening gunshot echoed in the villa.

Actually, Ferry had instructed his henchmen to follow Rachel after they dumped her on the street, and they soon found out that she and Bernard were living together. However, they weren't able to learn the connection between Bernard and Tom.

At the same time, Rachel was getting antsy. She had been placed by Bernard in a house at the outskirts of the town. Consumed by worry, she was unable to sit down or stand still for a moment.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Suddenly, she heard urgent knocking on the door.

She trotted to the door to answer it, hoping it was Bernard.

"Is that you, Bernard?" Rachel shouted impatiently before she got near the door. She opened it full of expectation that the one who knocked was Bernard, but the enthusiasm in her eyes died within the next second. It was not the man that she expected but a gang of strangers!

"Who are you?" Rachel hesitated in even speaking to them. She had the urge to turn around and run away instantly, but her feet felt rooted to the spot.

At the same time, the strangers burst out into laughter. Some of them were running their eyes over her mischievously to scare her more. "It doesn't matter who we are. Our boss is missing you already and can't wait to see you, ma'am!" one of them shouted confidently while the rest of them began whistling from behind him.

They grabbed her and dragged her until she was thrown into a car despite her screaming for help.

They drove as fast as they could to reach their destination as fast as they could. Shortly afterward, Rachel was brought to the house where Ferry was.

Rachel almost collapsed to the ground when she realized where she had been brought. She shook with frustration and fear as she looked at the henchmen in desperation. Finally, she pitifully accepted her fate.

"Please, don't! I don't want to go in! Please, let me go!" She resisted with tears flooding her face. She struggled with all her strength to get free, but all her efforts were in vain.

One of them scooped her up and carried her on his shoulder. Rachel's head went completely blank. She felt she was the cat among the pigeons, and decided to stop struggling. But she began shivering when she spotted Ferry and the lifeless body lying beside him.

"No!" she yelled with all her might as they threw her onto the ground. Rachel gasped for air as she saw Bernard lying motionless in a pool of blood.

"Bernard!" She crawled to him, praying inside that he had just passed out and would smile at her as soon as he felt her presence.

Rachel fell apart when she put her ear onto his chest and realized that he already stopped breathing. S

pt. There was not even an indication of whether she knew what had caused her coma.

"Please, think harder, Cassie. Can you remember anything before you passed out?" Cora asked, trying to guide Cassie's memory, with her brows knitting together.

But Cassie couldn't provide an answer. All she could do was stare blankly ahead and then helplessly shake her head.

Nick and Cora realized they were bombarding her with stuff she was yet to remember, so they decided to change the topic. They began chattering about a variety of things while avoiding touching on Cassie's coma. After a while, they were certain that they couldn't get any answers from Cassie. Cassie remembered that she saw Leila come up to the rooftop with a weird expression, and to find out what Leila was up to, she followed her up there. However, she couldn't recall what happened next. She only found herself lying on the hospital bed when she woke up.

Thus, the clue seemed useless right then. Even Cassie herself couldn't remember whether her coma had something to do with Leila.

"What happened to me? My head is aching! Did Leila push me down?" Cassie was terrified and cupped her head with her hands.

"Calm down, Cassie. Take it slow. I'm going to talk to the doctor now. Maybe he can explain what this means!" Cora rushed out of the room and headed to the doctor's office without any delay.

"Take it easy, Cassie. It's no big deal. It's just a fragment of your memory," Nick tried to calm her down and held her protectively in his arms.

Cora accompanied the doctor to Cassie's room. He first asked a few questions before giving them an explanation.

It was because Cassie had been in a deep slumber for too long. Some nerves in her brain had been pressed on too hard, thus resulting in a heavy feeling in her head and the loss of some recent memories.

"Can I regain this memory later?" Cassie asked worriedly as she wouldn't want to permanently forget anything that had happened.

The doctor had a pretty good impression of this pretty nurse from before. Seeing the nervousness on her face, he cracked an assuring smile and replied, "Relax. You will. It will only be a matter of time, Cassie. I've had several patients similar to your case before, and they all regained their lost memories later. It may take a few days or a couple of years."