Early on, Erica had been able to see that the guy Julianna was seeing was a punk. Repeatedly, Erica had tried to convince her friend to break things off with him. But Julianna hadn't listened, and after they'd had one too many arguments over it, she and Erica fell out.
Later, Tam moved back to Y City because of his career, taking Julianna with him, and the two women hadn't seen each other since.
Still on the phone with her friend Rhea, Erica thought back on those old wounds until it twisted her stomach into a knot.
Finally she said, "Forget it. I'll just ask for my brother's help!"
Gifford was good at locating people, just as much as Wesley.
But Rhea suggested, "Why don't you just ask your husband for help? It will be quicker that way."
"No, Phoebe is still in his office," said Erica quickly. "I guess he is busy comforting her. I'd better not disturb them." The more she thought about it, the more wretched she felt. Here she was, stuck in a marriage that, more often than not, seemed loveless. Yet in some ways this man actually was very good to her. Not to mention, he was a source of financial stability, so Erica was reluctant to leave him.
She was a bit startled by what Rhea said next. "What nonsense! Have you forgotten you're the legal wife here? Why are you acting like you're the mistress? Stand up for yourself! You should go back to that office right now and kick Phoebe out of it. No matter how good their relationship was before, he is your husband—not hers! There's no reason at all for you to be accommodating yourself to them."
Erica winced, and her fingers tightened around her cell phone. Deep down, she thought her friend was right. But Matthew didn't even like her, let alone love her, and her feelings toward him were no warmer. Why should she go back there and make a scene over Phoebe?
"No, forget it," she declared. "I'm going to try Gifford. Besides, we haven't talked in a while. I should see if he has found a girlfriend and forgotten his little sister."
"Okay. Call me if you need anything," Rhea said.
"Okay. Bye!"
Still sitting on the curb, Erica took a few minutes to let her mood get back to normal before calling Gifford. The phone rang for almost a full minute before he finally answered. Gifford took the first word—and sure enough, it was a barb. "Matthew doesn't strike me as a stingy man. Why are you calling?"
Erica rolled her eyes. It seemed like his opinion of her hadn't changed much. "Brother, do you think I would only call you to ask for money?"
Gifford didn't miss a beat. "Yes, that's exactly what I think."
"Oh, come on! I don't need money. I'm calling for something else."
His tone softened just a tiny bit. "Well, go ahead. I'm all ears."
"Can you help me find out where Tessie's home is?" Gifford and Tessie had met several times, so Erica thought he should remember her.
"Why do you want to know?"
Erica bit her lip, then decided to just go with the truth. "Tessie's sister said that she's not dead. I want to see for myself if it's true or not."
"She's not dead?" Gifford hesitated; he sounded genuinely surprised. "Why don't you ask Matthew for help instead? He should know more about this than I do..."
After all, Matthew was friends with Tessie's sister, Phoebe. And the way Gifford saw it, Matthew would be faster than him in investigation.
But now Erica was annoyed. This day had already turned into enough of an emotional ordeal. She wasn't happy about having to tell Rhea that her husband was with Phoebe; she didn't want her brother to know about it too. She decided to show some teeth. "Hey, Brother, why are you acting like a sissy? Will you help me or not?"
Gifford was caught off-guard by her tone. "Erica, I'll remember what you just said," he snarled. "You'd better not call me again!" Erica was definitely the first and only person who dared to call him a sissy!
"Bye!" she said sweetly, then immediately hung up. She never doubted that she'd get what she wanted; she knew how to push Gifford's buttons.
Sure enough, within a few minutes, Gifford sent her an address.
Without wasting any time, Erica called a taxi and headed to the Su family's house.
She didn't bother small-talking with the driver; she was too wrapped up in the unpleasant questions that haunted her. If Tessie was really alive, then why had the doctor said that she died of difficult labor? Had Tessie run away from her whole life—and from her own son, Ethan? If so, why? If she'd been in trouble, why hadn't she gone to Erica, her best friend?
It was all too much to puzzle out, and she had no answers.
Half an hour later she was there.
Erica stepped out of the taxi at the entrance of a detached villa. She double-checked the number on the mailbox with the address her brother had provided. They matched—Number 36.
A thick stone wall surrounded the property. Spying a sturdy-looking iron gate, Erica went up to it, found the buzzer, and rang it.
Presently there were footsteps, the rattling of a lock, and the gate half-opened with a creek, revealing a clean, prim figure who was obviously a maid. "Hello. What can I do for you?"
Erica had thought about what to say on the way there. "Hello. Is
Mrs. Su home?"
"Madam is not here. Who are you?"
"I'm Tessie's friend. Is Tessie home?"
Before the maid could answer, there was the low hum of an approaching car engine, followed by the blare of a horn.
Erica turned around to see a black Benz coming to a stop behind her.
Inside, she could just barely make out the silhouettes of the driver and of a lone passenger in the back seat.
"Excuse me, miss," said the maid, pulling the gate open all the way to admit the vehicle.
Erica stepped out of the way and the car started to glide past.
To her surprise, it stopped beside her. The back window rolled down, revealing a well-dressed, middle-aged woman. Her delicate face regarded Erica with guarded dispassion. "Mrs. Huo?"
Although Erica had never met this woman before, she recognized her at a glance—Phoebe and Tessie looked so much like her. "Hello, Mrs. Su. I'm Erica Li."
Fanya Dong nodded slightly, and her next words were dripping with sarcasm. "There's no need to introduce yourself. Everyone in Y City knows that you're Mrs. Huo now."
Erica didn't take the bait; she hadn't come here for an argument. Not wanting to wait for answers, she simply blurted out the question in her heart. "Mrs. Su, is Tessie still alive? Where is she now?"
Fanya Dong's reaction to this subject was remarkably similar to Phoebe's—the look on her face changed immediately. "Mrs. Huo, are you here to make trouble just because you think your husband will back you up?"
Although she had never liked Tessie very much, the girl was still her own daughter. Having this woman show up, asking these questions, instantly kindled her anger.
"Of course not. Please understand. Back then, Tessie—" Erica stopped herself before she could say that Tessie had died in childbirth; she had promised her friend not to tell anyone about the child. Taking a breath, Erica started over. "Something happened to Tessie in A Country. Some medical complication—the doctor told me that she died because of it, so I came to find out the truth."
"Which quack dared to talk nonsense like that—spreading rumors about my family?" Fanya Dong snarled. "Who did you hear this from? Tell me so I can sue him into oblivion!" She was a strong woman who had spent half a lifetime in the business world. It was a frightening thing when she lost her temper!
However, Erica was not intimidated. All she cared about was learning what had happened to her friend. However rich she might be, Fanya Dong meant nothing to her.
"So is it true?" Erica pressed. "Tessie is really alive? Where is she now? Is she home? I want to see her!"
Had her life been saved? If Tessie was really alive, why hadn't she contacted her and Ethan?
To Erica's surprise, Fanya Dong seemed to get even angrier. "Mrs. Huo, don't you know better than anyone else why Tessie was transferred back from A Country?" If Erica weren't a member of the powerful Li family, and if she hadn't married into the even more powerful Huos, the Su family wouldn't have let go of her!
"I?" Erica hesitated, not sure what to say. She guessed then that Tessie had transferred to another school because she was afraid of what would happen if anyone found out she'd had a child.
"Mrs. Su," Erica said. "Can you give me Tessie's phone number? Or at least tell me which school she goes to?" She just wanted to see Tessie and get the truth for herself.
Fanya Dong's face didn't soften a bit. "Why should I tell you anything? Haven't you made Tessie suffer enough?" With that, she turned to the driver. "Take me inside!"