“What do you mean? Erica is right over there, seeing that you're alive and well. How can you still want to keep Lying to her?"

Tessie crossed her arms and said, "I told everyone that Erica was vicious to me at school-that she bullied me, so I was forced to transfer somewhere else. It was the best story I could come up with.

Everyone knows she's always been a troublemaker anyway, so they all believed it. You have to pretend you believe it too. It's the only way we can get through this."

Despite himself, Tam cast a worried glance Erica's way.

"Tessie, you're kidding yourself. Who do you think the Leonard family will believe-you or Erica? Then there's Matthew. Even if you had evidence on your side,

I'm afraid that wouldn't make a difference. He'd still take Erica's side. What will happen then?"

“There's nothing to worry about. Erica is softhearted. I will beg her and ask her to give the child back to me. We can still be on good terms, like we were before. As for Matthew, he has a good relationship with my sister. Phoebe always wanted to marry him. She must hate

Erica's guts now, since she suddenly stepped in and married him instead. Phoebe's sure to take our side, which means so will Matthew."

This struck Tam as naive.

"Oh, come on. Who do you think is more important in Matthew's heart-Erica or your sister?"

“My sister! Matthew and Erica were like strangers before they got married. Phoebe may be married to Nathan, but Matthew still cares about her. As long as we work together, we can turn this situation around quickly!" It was unfortunate, but now that things had gotten this far,

Erica would have to continue to bear everything.

Tam was uneasy about this plan, but he couldn't think of a better one, so it seemed best to do as Tessie said. Still, there were more problems he could see.

“Then how are you going to explain to Erica why you're not dead?" he asked.

Tessie bit her lower Lip and made a choice.

After parting with Tessie, Tam walked towards his daughter. Julianna immediately grabbed his arm and pulled him to her side.

“Dad, stay away from Miss Troublemaker, okay? You don't know how much of a bitch Erica is. Look at Tessie and the state she's in. That's thanks to Erica!"

“Erica?” Tam glanced back at the car, where Erica was waiting, leaning against the passenger door.

“What did she do?"

“Erica got Tessie drunk, took her to the sink and tried to drown her.

She even took off Tessie's clothes and took pictures of her to blackmail her. Erica did even worse shit, but Tessie wouldn't tell us!

She said it hurt too much to remember!" Julianna said angrily.

Tam said nothing. He was listening, and mentally trying to poke holes in Tessie's story.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, Erica finally saw Tessie come over. She looked into Tessie's eyes, red from crying. After a tense moment between them, she broke the silence.

"I didn't do anything to you! Just what the hell is going on?"