Sarah felt confused. After all, Nicola was her mother-in-law’s mother-in-law, and she couldn’t refuse her. Plus, since Holden was busy with some male relatives from the family, she was bored at the Smith family estate, so she went along with Nicola.
In half an hour, Sarah had carried a dozen bags for Nicola.
Just when Nicola wanted to buy more, Sarah expressionlessly gave the sales associate the Smith family address for delivery, since she didn’t want to be a bag girl anymore.
Nicola was quite harsh. “Sarah, can’t you carry these? You’re so delicate; how are you going to be Holden’s wife?”
Sarah smiled and said, “My hands are full; if I take more, I’ll have to balance them on my head.”
At that moment, Nicola saw that Sarah had left the address for Holden’s place.
Sarah sweetly replied, “Grandma, you took me shopping, didn’t you want to buy me something? Thank you, thank you!”
Nicola’s face fell as she realized how much money had just vanished.
Just then, Sarah’s phone suddenly rang.
Holden called, “Come back.”
Sarah hurried to call a car.
Nicola immediately got anxious and tried to use her seniority to pressure her, “I still want to keep shopping.”
Sarah replied, “Grandma, you said I have to listen to Holden. Be good, he comes first. You can just carry your stuff and shop by yourself.”
Nicola, “……”
Nicola was left standing there, frowning.
She had already arranged for people to get rid of Sarah, but that was supposed to be in half an hour.
Nicola didn’t really believe Holden would ever fall for Sarah. Everyone could see that Sarah was just a tool for Holden to brush off the rest of them.
As long as Holden didn’t get married, Old Mr. Smith and Nicola, as his elders, had the right to point fingers at him and pressure him into marrying and having kids.
After all, the Smith family wasn’t just any ordinary family. This huge family business needed someone to carry it on in the future.
With Sarah as a wife to use as a shield, they couldn’t interfere in Holden’s marriage anymore.
So Sarah had to go.
Once Sarah disappeared, she and Old Mr. Smith could force Holden to marry Linda, and the Lewis family would have a steady stream of income.
Nicola’s phone rang, and a strange male voice came through, “Ms. Nicola, everything is set. They’re at the corner of Q Street.”
“Forget it.” Nicola hesitated again. “Cancel it for now.”
She had originally planned to send Sarah to buy things at a designated spot. Once Sarah went, a runaway truck would show up at the traffic light intersection.
She would bribe the police, and the truck driver would only have to serve a few years in jail before being let out, living large with a fat stack of cash.
Sarah’s sudden departure made Nicola even more fearful, especially since she had never arranged a murder before. This was her first time.
“Okay, when should we reschedule?”
Nicola took a deep breath.
This time, reason finally won over impulse, “Completely cancel it.”
The shadow Holden cast over them was too big. Nicola was a bit worried that Holden might actually like Sarah. If that happened, not only would she be unable to force him to marry Linda, but she and her son could end up suffering too.
Thinking of that, Nicola returned all the things she had bought today.
Although that amount of money didn’t mean much to her right now, what about in the future?
Who knew, one day if the old man passed away, Holden might throw them out to beg on the streets.
Nicola ground her teeth, her eyes turned cold as a new, riskier but potentially more profitable idea struck her-getting rid of Holden.
She was startled by the thought.
******
Sarah knew Linda liked to stir up trouble, but she never expected Linda to make such a huge mistake this time.
Holden was very cautious around Linda; under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t touch any food or drink she offered him.
Linda knew this perfectly well but still kept pushing all kinds of things on him.
Maybe it was the recent decline of the Lewis family that triggered her, or perhaps the long-standing failures had left her feeling frustrated.
She slipped some drugs into Holden’s drink again.
To make sure he would definitely drink it, she injected it into a bottle of unopened corked red wine.
This time, Holden actually drank it.
But besides Holden, the distant uncles and business partners from the Smith family in the room also drank the drugged wine.
Everyone started feeling hot.
One uncle, who had high blood pressure, fainted right away, which made the family’s maid rush to call a doctor.
The Smith family definitely had surveillance cameras. They captured Linda sneakily injecting something into the red wine on video.
The stuff Linda injected didn’t have any antidote, of course.
Luckily, everyone hadn’t drunk too much, so their bodies reacted a bit, but it wasn’t too noticeable.
Especially in this situation, compared to the subtle reactions, everyone felt more anger.
The Smith family’s private doctors were advising everyone to drink plenty of water to flush out the drug, handing out glucose water for everyone to drink.
The doctors checked everyone’s body and repeatedly assured the big shots that it wouldn’t affect any important functions and that they’d be fine in a few hours. If anyone couldn’t handle it, they could just go home and relieve the effects by making love with their wives.
Even so, the way everyone looked at Linda was still pretty cold.
Since Linda was their cousin, Samuel and Reuben were completely humiliated.
Just a moment ago, Samuel had been laughing and chatting with some relatives, and now his face was bright red, wishing he could kick Linda out of the Smith family.
Samuel blushed and said, “Come on, Linda’s just a kid, she doesn’t know any better. Kids mess around.”
One of Samuel’s uncles frowned and said, “In her twenties and still a kid? What a lack of manners. Thank goodness it was just this kind of drug; what if it had been poison? Would we all have ended up here?”
The relatives connected with the Smith family were mostly wealthy and powerful, either influential figures in politics or big shots in various industries.
They held immense power and wealth, and no one valued their lives more than they did.
Linda’s little stunt made the Smith family lose face entirely.
Samuel apologized to the elders; he didn’t want to offend any of them. His relationship with Holden had long since soured. He was counting on these elders to help him out in the future, after all.
Several of them had been eyeing the Smith family’s wealth, wanting to bring Holden down and get a piece of the pie.
Linda didn’t expect it to turn out this way. She thought once they felt the effects, they wouldn’t speak up, since a lot of people would just chalk up drunken impulses to the alcohol.
Then she would find a chance to be alone with Holden.
Sarah had been called out by Nicola and wouldn’t be back for a while; she might even get killed by Nicola.
As long as she could sleep with Holden, the Lewis family could start leeching off the Smith family and mingle in high society like before.
She sat on the floor, looking pitiful as she covered her face and cried.
Unfortunately for her, this crowd was used to seeing beautiful women; they couldn’t care less about her crying eyes. They were only worried about whether their bodies would be harmed.
Old Mr. Smith was pushed out by a servant, looking a bit serious.
When everyone saw Old Mr. Smith come out, they fell silent for a moment.