The Substitute Bride

"Did that woman lose her mind? What the hell was she trying to do—get Charles killed?" Melissa's voice rose to a furious thunder. She took out her cell phone and called Sheryl's number, but the result was the same, no answer.

Driven mad with rage, Melissa threw her phone to the floor and growled, the muscles clenching around her throat. "I will make that woman regret she ever knew me!"

"Aunt Melissa, please, try not to be so angry. It's not good for your health. Charles will be okay." Leila patted Melissa's back and comforted her for a while.

She understood that Melissa's hissy fit was only a consequence of her being Charles' mother. Now that Charles was gone, who would indulge Melissa's arrogance, and her already incredibly bloated ego?

Leila was just as self-centered as Melissa. Without Charles in her life, it seemed as though she had lost everything.

The two returned to the hotel soon after. Melissa was stiff all over her body because even she didn't know whether she would be able to turn things around from such a major setback. All she could do was worry about her situation and pray that Charles would be fine.

Leila decided to stay with Melissa and look after her. Her supposed altruism, however, arose not out of concern for Melissa, but from her own selfish reasons. After all, Melissa was the key to securing her future with Charles.

Meanwhile, drowning in all sorts of negative conjectures, Melissa slowly started to lose hope as time went by. She dreaded the mere thought of what she would do if she had lost Charles.

"Aunt Melissa, stop crying. Charles wouldn't want to see you like this!" Leila grabbed Melissa's hand gently and looked at her with tears in her eyes. It was obvious to Melissa that Leila was only pretending to be strong.

"Leila, I know that you are also worried about him. Just cry if you want to. But I believe that Charles will be alright. I just feel sorry for my son for meeting a woman like Sheryl. She doesn't deserve him." Melissa was absolutely certain that Sheryl was the architect of this dreadful situation she was in. If it weren't for Sheryl, Charles wouldn't even have been in an accident.

"Aunt Melissa, I am very sad indeed. But let's face it, Charles doesn't like me. If he did, this would have never happened. In fact, I should take some responsibility for this accident. I am sorry, Aunt Melissa. I've let you down. I should have taken be

l had been heartless to Charles, he always forgave her. Although Leila stuck by his side, he still chose Sheryl over her in the end.

"Sheryl, I won't let you get away with this. If Charles lives, perhaps I will spare your life. But if something bad has happened to him, I will make you suffer immense pain!"

Leila looked at the family photo on the night stand beside Charles' bed with hatred. Charles and Sheryl's smiling faces suddenly felt so intolerable that it hurt her eyes to even look at the photo.

Meanwhile, at another hotel

Sheryl remained silent the whole time, even after Nick took her back to her hotel. Apart from breathing, she didn't make any other movement in his presence.

"Sher?" Nick called Sheryl cautiously and hoped that she would answer him.

Unfortunately, Sheryl didn't respond to Nick, as if her mind was elsewhere at the moment.

Since Sheryl had nothing to say, Nick could do nothing as well. He assumed that she must have had a bad night, so he poured a warm glass of water for her and put it in front of her.

The warmth of the hot water brought Sheryl back to her senses. She stared at Nick blankly with a pale face.

The entire night felt like a strange dream to Sheryl. She wondered if everything would go back to normal if she pinched herself to wake up from her dream.

However, Nick's presence was the undesirable proof that what happened last night was real. Charles really did fall in the sea, and nobody had been able to find his body since then.

The man she loved was suddenly taken away from her life. The feeling of emptiness was too hard to bear.