The Substitute Bride

The past few days, Isla had been nothing but worried about Sheryl. The last thing she expected from Sheryl for the first time they spoke to each other again was for her to make fun of her. Nonetheless, she was still glad to hear Sheryl's voice.

"Stop joking with me, Sheryl. I had to clean up after your mess when you left so you better keep that in your head. I thought I was going to die over here!" Isla complained. She seemed whiny, but the tone in her voice said differently.

Sheryl let out a loud laugh and thought of Isla. She knew Isla well enough to know that when it came to business, Isla had no trouble at all. Isla must have been exaggerating or referring to something else.

"Isla, I'm giving you 30 seconds to tell me what's up." She had left to clear her mind and get her personal life back in order, but that didn't mean that she was going to abandon Isla.

Isla held her breath—she knew she wouldn't be able to hide anything from Sheryl, even if she wanted to.

She hesitated for a good second, shaking her head as if she knew that what she was going to say to Sheryl would upset her. After a while, she finally told Sheryl what Holley had done.

It took a while for Sheryl to pull her thoughts together. It seemed as if a century had passed since the last time she'd heard about Holley. She was wondering why Holley wouldn't just leave her alone. She sighed, inwardly, and then after a while, put on a knowing smile.

"So, that's why you're upset?" Sheryl asked, holding the phone closer to her ear.

"More than that...It's Leila too. She can't be stopped..." Isla's voice trailed off. She was acting as if she'd said something she shouldn't have.

She recalled how Sheryl had finally fought back against Leila over the internet. She'd gone through so much with Charles—it couldn't be easy for her to just move on like that. It would definitely take a while, maybe years, before that happened.

"Go ahead," Sheryl urged. She already knew what Isla was referring to. However, Leila wasn't the one who hurt her. She calmly told Isla to tell her what she knew.

It was Charles, who had hurt her because he was the one she loved, and he was the one she thought she was going to spend the rest of her life with. Sadly, things didn't go as planned. She had to accept the fact that Charles had already moved on. Soon, there was going to be another woman, and she had to force herself to accept that and be okay with that. If it was Leila or not, that didn't matter to Sheryl.

"Please, don't be sad anymore, Sher! Just move on. Soon, you'll find the perfect man for you," Isla cooed. Her tone was anxious as she spoke.

"I am moving on. I'm not sad or upset. Relax!" Sheryl said easily. It would definitely take a while before she got over this, but that was her business and not Isla's.

"Are you okay? You really don't care about all that

asking again, are you sure you want to do it this afternoon already?" he asked nervously. What Charles had planned was uncharacteristic of him—that was why David was a bit worried.

"I've already informed Rex. It's up to him if he wants to believe it or not. He just needs proof, or he won't end up doing what we need him to do," Charles explained slowly. He could tell what David was thinking, so he took this chance to explain himself.

David nodded his head, seemingly understanding what Charles' plan was.

Charles' plan was going to ruin the Hu family's image and, at the same time, beat the Tarsan Corporation for the bid and, ultimately, destroy Holley.

"Mr. Lu, may I ask? Does this have anything to do with Ms. Xia?" David asked again, smiling meaningfully.

David hadn't had a better day in weeks. He enjoyed seeing the old Charles back. He was extremely glad that everything was back to normal again.

Everything that Charles had done before in honor of Sheryl suddenly came rushing back to him. Charles was always protective of Sheryl, and he always made sure that anyone, who tried to mess with Sheryl, would be taught a lesson. Holley was the mastermind behind everything that Charles and Sheryl had gone through that led them to divorce. He needed to show Holley that she was going to get what she deserved.

"Please, go get everything ready. I don't want to forget anything," Charles said, instead of answering David's question. He smiled as he gestured for David to get going.

David took Charles' deflection as an affirmative answer. He lowered his head as he left Charles' office. 'Even if Charles and Sheryl have already gotten a divorce, I don't think he'd still want to be with Leila. All I can do now is wait, but I'm pretty sure they're going to get back together, ' he thought to himself.

As he thought of this, he beamed to himself. Tomorrow was going to be a great day.