The Substitute Bride

"So you're pretending to be good friends now? Are you serious?" Laura was steaming mad, and her laugh was cold. "As far as I'm concerned, you're all tarred with the same brush. You're both unwanted, and you both deserve it."

She shoved Sheryl aggressively as she taunted her. Shirley was little, but the child was so determined to protect her mother that she rushed towards Laura and gave her arm a strong bite. "Bad woman, don't bully my mom," she glared up at Laura visiously as she yelled.

The pain was sharp, even if it was a child's attack. Laura was so enraged that she didn't think twice before pushing the Shirley with full force. Seeing his mother's actions, Anthony ran to Shirley to help her up and reassured her, "Shirley, are you hurt?"

"Don't touch me! Go away!" Shirley started thrashing about in Anthony's arms when she saw his face. She struggled against his hold. "You bad egg, let me go!"

"Shirley, what's the matter? It's me, Tony…" Anthony tried to calm Shirley down as he stared at her, dumbfounded and helpless.

With great effort, she finally broke away from him and rushed to hit Laura as strong as she could. She was still a kid, though. It barely affected Laura physically, but it did get her fuming. When Laura moved towards the kid in an attempt to hit her back, Sheryl intervened and stepped forward threateningly close to Laura. Her voice was dangerously low as she said, "If you dare do anything to harm my daughter, you are going to pay."

After giving her a long glare, she took Shirley up in her arms and widened her eyes at Anthony. "Anthony, I've been controlling my temper for your sake this whole time, and I'm done with it. I've called the police. I'm not tolerating any more of this. We should put this to a close, so just deal with this with the authorities."

"Sher, don't you think calling the police is a bit much?" Anthony heaved in resignation. He tried to pacify Sheryl's anger. "After all, she is my mother. If you really can't handle her anymore, then we can deal with it in confidence. Do you really need to go so far as calling the police?"

Sheryl smiled sardonically and scoffed, "You talk as if all you did was bump into me on the street. I've given you so many chances, Anthony, but you haven't truly done anything about your behavior, and it has brought too much mess into my life. I've had more than enough of all of you, and I'm no

ny and Sue could only stand to the side, too shameful to utter a word.

Some of the officers knew Andy, and called him up. A little later, Arthur arrived huffing his breaths, followed by Carlson. A loud slap against Laura's cheek echoed in the room.

Laura's eyes were wide. "How could you slap me?" She covered her face and stared at Carlson in disbelief.

"What the hell kind of mess have you created this time?" Carlson scolded the woman. When Carlson picked up Arthur's phone call, he was informed that his family was in some mess at the police station. He was furious. He couldn't believe Laura was still going after Sheryl, making one mistake after another.

He stared at Laura with cold eyes and interrogated, "What are you even trying to accomplish here? Why can't you just let Sheryl go? She has already broken up with Anthony. What more do you want?"

"You don't know anything!" Laura raised her voice in extreme indignation. She responded to Carlson's glaring by yelling, "You dare slap me? Do you also have feelings for her, then? Otherwise you wouldn't be treating me this way."

"You're ridiculous!" Carlson threw his hands in the air out of frustration. He was so enraged that he lifted his hand up, ready to slap her again. When he looked at her face though, he caved. "What do you really want to do, Laura?" he asked, feeling helpless.

"I just want this bitch to stay away from our son. Am I wrong?" she yelled back with anger.

At almost the same time, Arthur walked over to Sheryl and asked in heavy concern, "Sheryl, Are you okay? Did Laura do anything to harm you?"