The Substitute Bride

"George…" Holley darted an embarrassed glance at Charles. She felt her unease sticking around. She knew that she had caused some trouble, and George carrying on like that wouldn't go well. She didn't want Charles to talk about it. Pulling one of George's sleeves, she murmured, "George, stop it. Let's go."

Though she kept her voice low, Charles still heard all of it. He had no intention of letting Holley leave. She still owed him. "Go?" His tone was full of derision. "We still have things to discuss. I can't let you go just yet."

As Charles wouldn't let her go, she again attempted to convince him to let her leave, so that George wouldn't get wind of what she had done. "Mr. Lu, I've said everything I wanted to say. Keeping this going is a giant waste of time. Go home and console your cute wife. Bet she misses you a lot."

"Honey, what's going on here?" George asked with a frown on his face. He was so concerned about his beloved Holley that even if Charles stopped, he'd still make sure she wasn't bullied and all the facts would come out.

All he could tell was that Charles was mad at Holley, but he didn't know why.

"George, just pipe down. Tell you when we're back home." Holley tried to persuade this insistent man to give it up. She didn't really care about how Sheryl was now, or whether Charles would forgive her. All she wanted right now was to leave this place.

"No," Charles jeered, "I think Mr. Han would be very interested in what was going on. It's not a small thing. Go on, tell him.

Tell him how Chuck beat you. You can't just let him go like that." Charles tried to trigger George's curiosity—and his anger.

With George around, Charles knew she wouldn't be able to just run off so easily. He was determined to reveal everything to George, so that he would understand that the person behind all the trouble was his beloved wife, not Charles. Holley crossed the line. He had to let George know that if anything like that ever happened again, no one would be be able to save her, not George, not anyone else.

"Can someone tell me what's actually going on?" With growing impatience, George continued, "I need to know. What happened? Te

on't forget…" Holley nervously looked at George, afraid of him saying yes. If George agreed to this, she wouldn't have anything on Sheryl anymore. And that was what her plans depended on.

George completely ignored Holley's request, and replied firmly to Charles, "Mr. Lu, I agree to your terms. She'll have to sign some papers, of course. And you won't even need to pay the termination fee. Proper procedures will be undertaken as soon as possible to transfer that apartment to Mrs. Lu as well. I sincerely apologize for Holley's absurd behavior."

"You can't do this! George!" Holley again tried to assert her power over Sheryl. She was so desperate and you could hear it in her voice. "Don't forget, this is my department. I'm the department manager. I decide who stays and who goes."

"Does it sound good, Mr. Lu?" George attempted to strike a deal with Charles again, completely turning a deaf ear to Holley's crazy demands.

Charles smiled meaningfully back to George. "But… It doesn't sound like Miss Ye likes it. And she says that she's the department manager, not you."

"Mr. Lu, don't worry about that," George reassured Charles. "Yes she's the department manger, but I'm the owner of the company. Whatever I say, goes."

"Sounds good." Charles nodded and agreed to this deal. "Then we're done here."

Delighted that Holley would finally be free of Charles' revenge, George thanked the generous man. "Thank you so much, Mr. Lu."