The Substitute Bride

Jordan winked secretly at Cora.

Cora immediately understood his hint. She nodded slightly at her brother to let him know that she knew what to do.

She had to find out who Cassie was about to meet later.

After a while, Cassie had to go, so Jordan couldn't do anything but drive her home first. A gentle breeze accompanied their silent ride.

Soon enough, they arrived at their destination. Cassie turned to Jordan and her lips curved into a slightly guilty smile. "I'm sorry Jordan. It should've been my treat. I feel bad that I let you pay the bill."

Of course, Jordan didn't mind, but he took the chance to ask her out again and said, "That's okay. We can do this again. And you can pay next time."

However, Cassie immediately regretted expressing her guilt when she heard Jordan's words. It wasn't that she didn't want to pay the bill; it was because she wasn't interested in seeing him again.

However, she still answered politely, "Okay. Next time it's on me." After a while, they bid each other goodbye and Cassie headed home.

Jordan's eyes looked stern as he watched Cassie's receding figure. He thought about who Cassie was about to meet. Was it a man?

A voice suddenly cut Jordan's thoughts. "Jordan, you're really into Cassie, aren't you?" Even though Cora probably knew the answer, she couldn't help but confirm.

Even then, her question was met with a long silence, but Jordan's breath hitched and his eyes avoided hers.

When Cora saw the way Jordan reacted, she believed that she had gotten an answer of "yes."

Thus, Cora said, "Jordan, I'd like to help you. How about this? Tomorrow when I'm at work, I'll ask Cassie who she met. I promise to tell you the truth when I find it out." She decided to help Jordan out to make up for accidentally being the third wheel in her brother's date.

"Well, that's a way to go." Jordan gave her a gentle smile. Slight relief flooded Cora when Jordan grinned at her. Hopefully, she'd get something out of Cassie soon.

At Holley's house

The bed was where Holley was confined for now as she had to stay home and recover.

Her body was so weak that she couldn't even manage to open the front door when the doorbell rang. Her low energy level only allowed her to send Black a voice message on WeChat, which told him the door's pass code.

The voice Black heard in the message was weak and hoarse, which prompted him to worry about Holley before he even saw her. "Holley, are you okay? Are you sick?" he called out a

ny. Black was contented when Holley needed him, and they had grown closer more than before. He thought that what they had now was beautiful and valuable, and it made him feel happy and at peace. All he wanted was for this to last forever.

"Thank you for taking care of me, Black," Holley said gratefully. She truly was touched by his tenderness that night. She looked into his eyes as she said those words, then burrowed in his chest.

No words came out of Black's lips, but he tightened his arms around her. His heart was full of love for this woman he held.

Black spent the whole weekend at Holley's place to take care of her, which made the couple feel closer to each other more than ever.

However, when Holley felt better and went back to work on Monday, she found that some nasty rumor about her had spread in the company. There were talks of Holley sleeping with other men to get business opportunities.

"It's hard to believe that Miss Ye had done those things. She's being slutty instead of putting the business first."

"So she was. Why would she be willing to do that with those raunchy men? It's disgusting!"

"Who knows? Maybe she's good in bed, and it's the only thing she could use to make up for her lack of management skills."

The people at work kept talking about Holley like that. Everywhere she went, she was bombarded with those sneering, judgmental words and the disdainful, contemptuous eyes.

All of those drove her crazy.

She truly had no idea where those rumors came from and how it had spread around this quick. Her eyes glinted dangerously. She wanted to know who was behind all this, and they would pay the price.