The Substitute Bride

"You can leave now. I know what to do." Burying his head back in his work, Charles didn't even spare another look for David.

Seeing that Charles was now busy, David immediately left his office

As soon as the door opened, Leila's eyes lit up. She had been waiting outside of Charles' office for a few minutes now. Seeing David coming out silently, she called out to him, "David, aren't you going to congratulate me?

"For what?" David replied, feeling irritated. He couldn't help but furrow his brow while she beamed with a self-congratulatory expression.

"Isn't it obvious? I have done what you can't. Weren't you looking down on me before? Now, look at me. I'm not worse than Sheryl. I can also be Charles' most capable assistant. And, I'll definitely be the wife of the CEO!" she whispered in his ear after taking one step closer to David.

Leila's words took David by surprise. He was dumbfounded for a second. When he came back to his senses, Leila had moved away and was no longer beside him.

Waving back at David, Leila smiled as she sat behind her desk, her meaningful expression irritating David even more.

He already knew this woman had her own agenda. Although he was eager to expose her, he was waiting for the right time. He needed concrete evidence to convince Charles.

With Leila in charge of all preparations, the banquet went smoothly.

Knowing that Charles disliked dinner parties, she found an excuse to leave with Charles shortly after it had started.

"Mr. Lu, why don't you go ahead? I need to go back to the company to finish working on a file," Leila immediately said to Charles when they were finally outside of the hotel.

Casting a brief look at Leila, who was dressed in an evening gown, Charles offered, "Let me drive you back to the company."

Considering Leila's contribution to tonight's event, Charles felt that it was the right thing to do. It was already late, and with her dressed like that, it wouldn't be safe for her to be roaming around the streets at this hour. The truth was, he didn't care about Leila, but he didn't want to see himself as being inhuman.

"Will you?" Deep inside, Leila felt pleased, but she projected he

.

"Mom, it's late. I think it will be better if you'll go to bed now," Charles said. It was not because he disliked her nagging, but because the things she talked about also touched his heart. He needed to change the topic altogether.

"Okay. I'll go to bed now. You should too."

Reading the sadness on Charles' face, Melissa knew that she had said enough for today. It was not appropriate for her to continue. She finally stopped talking and allowed Charles to go upstairs and rest.

Everything went exactly as she had planned. A few minutes after Charles had left, Leila came home.

"Aunt Melissa, how did it go?" Closing the door behind her, Leila immediately went to sit beside Melissa after she arrived. She was eager to know how her plan turned out.

Melissa didn't say a word. She only nodded her head with a beaming face.

This was enough for Leila to understand that everything went smoothly, just as they expected. She took a deep breath, feeling relieved.

Knowing it was really late and feeling tired herself, Leila said, "Aunt Melissa, let me help you go upstairs. It's time to go to bed."

Taking Melissa's arm, Leila told her the interesting things that had happened today as they walk up the stairs.

At the same time, Charles was still wide awake in his bedroom. For some reason, Melissa's words had affected him greatly, making him feel sad. He then secretly made up his mind that he had to do something for his mother.