The Substitute Bride

After Nancy left, Leila helped Melissa sit down. She poured her a cup of tea. Once she made sure that Melissa was feeling relaxed, she said, "Aunt Melissa, I understand it's important to look for Charles. But we can't forget that the company is more important at the moment. The news of Charles being missing has spread by now. Unless the stakeholders get the assurance that the company is in safe hands, they will pull out their support from the company. At this moment, the first thing we should do is to take control of the company in our hands..."

Leila sounded concerned and sincere as she tried to convince Melissa. Her mind was constantly at work. So what if she could not own Charles? At the moment, she had a fair chance of owning Shining Company. And for that, all she needed to do was to handle the brainless Melissa, who was much easier to deal with than Charles.

As soon as Leila returned to Dream Garden, she started to execute her plan. After investing so much time, energy, and most importantly, tolerating the half-witted Melissa, she couldn't just settle with being left empty-handed. She had to own Shining Company.

Before Leila came back from Malaysia, she had leaked the news to some of her reported friends to make sure people knew that the president of Shining Company, Charles, was missing.

This news was sure to wreak havoc in business circles, as well as among the employees of Shining Company. To keep the goodwill of the company intact, it would require a strong and capable person to take charge. It was a good opportunity for Leila to take action.

In Shining Company

David had not been able to get in touch with Charles for the past two days. He was worried and prepared to go to look for his boss in Malaysia after finishing the tasks at hand.

"Tap-tap..."

"Come in."

David looked up from the file. It was one of the company's secretaries.

"David, I have bad news. It is rumored that something has happened to the boss." The panic in her voice sent a chill down David's spine. Not having heard a single word for the last two days had already made him concerned about Charles' safety. Now his worries seemed to have been justified.

"Don't panic. Tell me what is the matter?" David's face fell, and all sorts of uncalled for thoughts started clouding his mind.

The secretary told David everything she had heard. David's face turned grim. He remained silent for a while and then waved his hand, gesturing for her to leave.

It was indeed hard for him to accept the fact that Charles was gone. He refused to believe it and continued to call Charles just to prove the news wrong. But his calls were not answered.

After a while, he closed his eyes and tried to get over the desperate feeling that wa

er pondering over the matter, Nancy finally called Sheryl. She was growing restless out of concern for Charles and Sheryl. She knew she could not rest her mind until she talked with Sheryl.

Sheryl had just put the kids to sleep. As soon as she saw Nancy's call, she heaved a sigh. She knew what Nancy wanted to ask. She hesitated for a while and decided to ignore it in the end.

She was aware that Nancy was nice to her and took Charles as her family, but she also knew that she wouldn't have the words to explain to her. Hence, she didn't want to face it.

After the first time, the call went unanswered, and Nancy dialed Sheryl's number once again. With bated breath, she waited for Sheryl to pick up the phone. But to her utter disappointment, Sheryl didn't answer it. Nancy stared at the blank screen of her phone and started to wonder, 'Is what Melissa said about Sheryl true? Did Sheryl push Mr. Lu into the sea?'

At this thought, Nancy shook her head and told herself, 'No, that can't be true. Sheryl would never do that. No way!'

In the living room, Melissa started to call the major shareholders.

The shareholders had been in talks with each other before they received Melissa's call. It was unexpected and surprising for everyone to see that Melissa had taken action so quickly.

On second thoughts, if she didn't call them, how could she bear to see that the business created by her husband and son being grabbed by others?

"Mrs. Lu, long time no see," Mr. Zhang greeted her, before Melissa could speak.

"Mr. Zhang, sure it's been a long time. How have you been recently?" Melissa replied to Zhang politely, and she had a big smile on her face. Her voice did not bear any trace of the sorrow of her son being drowned in the sea, as if the person who fell into the sea was not related to her in any way.