"Mom, you're dead wrong!" Erica looked up to face her mother. Blair was changing the bed sheets, never missing a beat. Her daughter corrected her earnestly. "Mom, I apologized to Matthew every time it was my fault. What more do you want?"
But Blair didn't see it that way. "I really don't believe you."
Erica felt helpless. "I'm telling the truth, Mom. Just like last time when we were on a business trip to South City, I followed him all the way and apologized endlessly. He finally forgave me because I was sick!"
Blair denied her explanation right off. "Matthew's not an unreasonable man. I'm sure your apology was less than sincere."
'What? Mom, how could you say a thing like that?' Erica rolled her eyes when her mom was looking elsewhere.
Carlos and Debbie stayed in the Li family's house for a couple nights. On the last day of their visit, Erica came back to the hospital for a checkup. After making sure that the baby in her belly was safe and sound, the four of them took a private plane back to Y City.
In Y City
Debbie had floated the idea of letting Erica live in the Huo family's manor, but Matthew nixed that idea. He took Erica back to their own villa. He'd hired several maids to take care of her.
He didn't want anyone to disturb him or his wife. Even his parents couldn't promise that. The maids could sleep on the first floor. A skeleton night crew was put in place as well. If anything happened, they could be upstairs at a moment's notice.
Two days after returning from her parent's place, Erica resumed her studies.
Matthew's original plan was to hire tutors for her to learn at home, but she turned him down. What fun would that be, staying home every day? That would be too boring, so she decided to attend classes like a normal student.
The pregnancy didn't change Erica's basic nature, though maybe she was a little less stubborn than she usually was.
Yes, just a little.
She still did many of the same things she always did. She continued to stop by that little snack shop and bought spicy and sour rice noodles. Matthew would never approve, so she wouldn't tell him. She also still got into it with this or that classmate, so she'd spend time humiliating them.
When Matthew finally trusted her enough, she grabbed Hyatt and visited a fellow student.
In the school library
The three sat at a round table, all face to face. The girl opposite Erica and Hyatt was understandably nervous. What did Mrs. Huo want with her?
This girl was a senior, and was an art major.
Without beating around the bush, Erica showed her some pictures on her phone. "These pics look familiar?"
After a short pause, the girl nodded and answered honestly, "Yeah. I worked on those last year. They were supposed to be homework and I was going to turn them in, but all of a sudden they were gone. I don't know what happened."
Erica smiled and showed her some more pictures. "And what about these?"
"Those paintings... Hey! I painted those myself. But what's this? That's not my signature! Who signed these? Phoebe Su? Those are my paintings! The backdrop here is my hometown. What's going on?" She was now visibly upset.
Erica took back her phone and said, "To put it bluntly, she took your paintings and put her name on them. You mad?"
"Of course! Those are mine, not hers! Why in the world wouldn't I be pissed?" Her fair face flushed with anger.
"Then sue her!" Erica suggested.
"Sue her?" The two words stunned her. "It's a major pain in the butt to take someone to court and I don't think I have the cash for a lawyer..." She was just a struggling student. She did have a part-time job, but she might not be able to afford these fees.
With her chin in her hands, Erica smiled innocently and offered, "Don't worry about money or a lawyer. As long as you're willing to sue her, you can just testify in court on the day of the trial. Don't worry about anything else. I got this!"
"Why do I not need to worry about money? Are you fronting me?" The girl really didn't have money, but she still wanted to sue Phoebe for art theft.
"Yeah, sort of. Just consider it a permanent loan. All I need is for you to collect the evidence that can prove they are your paintings. We'll appear in court together!" Erica said.
Her words seemed to give the girl a charge. She grabbed Erica's hand and exclaimed, "Wow, Mrs. Huo, you're the best!"
Erica smiled sheepishly, "It's not like I'm doing this for nothing. I get something out of this, too!"
In order to put Phoebe at a disadvantage, she had someone investigate the skeletons in her closet.
"Okay, I'll go back home and find everything I can!" The girl let go of her hand, turned and left the library.
As soon as the girl left, Erica's phone rang. It was Matthew. "Where are you?" he asked.
"At school!" she said in a relaxed voice. Obviously, she was in a good mood.
The man chuckled. "Don't strain yourself too much and ask Hyatt to carry your camera. Call me if you need anything."
"Well, there is something you can do..." Erica adjusted her tone to sound sweet and innocent. It did wonders for Matthew's mood.
"Name it," he said, confused.
"Have you heard of the Ninth Photography Competition of Y City?"
Matthew nodded, "Yeah. You entered, right?" He had noticed it before.
"Of course I did. But the deadline is in two weeks. I've been so busy I haven't had any time to get anything prepared." The girl's voice sounded very pitiful. She had been busy gathering evidence to use against Phoebe, then Yvette was getting married, and then she got pregnant, not to mention her homework. When did she have the time to plan out the perfect piece?
She was so depressed that she couldn't even find any inspiration until now.
The man had a bad feeling about this, and answered quickly, "I'll take you to..." He trailed off. 'The North Pole? No, the best time to shoot the northern lights is in the winter time. But now it's spring. Since I can't control time, there's no way. So that's out...'
Thoughts were buzzing through his brain. Settling on an idea, he offered, "I know a beautiful beach. The sea water there is half pink and half green..." 'I think she'll like that, ' he thought.
"No way!" The girl refused decisively.
Rubbing his eyebrows, Matthew said, "Then what do you want to photograph?"
"I want to use you as a model!" This idea had already taken root in her heart.
'I knew it!' He felt helpless. "Honey, I'm not real comfortable with that. Find a different idea, please..."
"Why should I? If Phoebe can sketch you, why can't I get a few choice shots?" She had to take some pictures of Matthew.
"Didn't I tell you she did it behind my back?" Speaking of Phoebe's sketch, Matthew suddenly remembered one thing. The sketch was gone, and Erica hadn't mentioned anything about it recently.
Was it because that Phoebe was afraid of telling on Erica, or was it because that Erica was biding her time until she could truly unleash hell on Phoebe?
"Fine! I won't force you. After all, you're a pretty busy guy," she said. It was rare for Erica to stop pestering him. So what was really going on?
"Thanks, honey."
Erica pretended to be thinking out loud. "There is another option," she murmured. "They're having a showcase of male models at the convention center in a couple days. I thought I might head down there and snap a few pics. They shouldn't mind. They're paid to be comfortable naked..."
"Erica Li!" The man's cold voice came from the other end of the line.
The girl pretended to be surprised. "Oh, you haven't hung up yet? You've been so quiet!"
'Why would I hang up?' he thought angrily. "Fine. Meet me in my office!"
"No. Like you said, you're busy. I'll just go with the models at the showcase!"
"My office! Now!" The man gritted his teeth and wanted to strangle his wife.
Erica decided to lay it on thick, just to make absolutely sure he wouldn't back out at the last minute. "I really think that's a bad idea. You never let me snap a pic of you, so I won't waste your time!"
"Okay, okay! I'll do it!" The man had to compromise again and again.
"Okay! I'll be there soon! Love you!" Erica was so happy! Her plan worked! Now to gather the equipment she needed.
'My loving husband, your dearest wife is on her way!' she thought happily.