Sonia pursed her pale lips and said, “I did fall down by myself, but I feel like things weren’t as simple as they looked.”
“Do you suspect something, baby?” Charles asked as he looked at her.
She nodded. “I fell because I stepped on something slippery as I came out from the stall. When I was on the floor, I smelled something fragrant, like body wash.”
“Why would there be body wash in front of your stall?” His eyes widened in astonishment.
“I have no clue either.”
Stroking his chin, he mused, “Could it be that someone dropped their body wash as they passed by and it spilled right on your doorstep, and you were unlucky enough to step in it?”
Narrowing her eyes, she answered, “Maybe, but the chances don’t sound too high.”
“Why do you say so?”
Tilting her head slightly at him, Sonia answered, “Because I didn’t hear the sound of anything falling while I was taking a bath.”
Which was to say someone stealthily and deliberately placed the body wash in front of her door.
Instantly, Charles stood up. “Then it has to be Tina. She and Toby are our only two enemies at this resort and since he couldn’t possibly enter the ladies’ room, that leaves only her.”
Sonia’s hand that was resting on the blanket clenched. “You’re right. When you called me last evening, she happened to be nearby. She must have heard me say that I was hitting the showers and followed me in.”
As Charles’ chest rose and fell dramatically with rage, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, snarling, “What a poisonous snake that woman is! We have to make a police report. We must! We can’t let this go just like that!”
However, Sonia stopped him and she pointed out, “There’s no use. It’s not like there’s surveillance in the shower room. We have no way of proving that she planted the body wash. Even if tests revealed that the body wash on the floor is the kind she uses, she could lie and say she spilled it by accident. She wouldn’t be found guilty at all.”
Frowning tightly, he grumbled, “So, if this isn’t an option, what should we do?”
After a moment of thought, she proposed, “Unless we can get a recording of her admitting to deliberately harming me, all of our efforts will amount to nothing.”
“That won’t be easy.” With a sinister smile, he continued, “But I can have someone threaten her while wearing a wire. She’ll fall for it.”
Sonia’s eyes brightened but right as she was about to reply, the doorbell rang.
“Who is it?” Charles grumbled as he went toward the door.
Upon opening it, he discovered Toby and Tina standing outside.
“Mr. Lane,” Tina greeted with a slight smile.
Instantly, Charles’ face fell and he asked without ceremony, “What do you want?”
Meeting his gaze squarely, Toby explained, “We’re looking for Sonia. Is she here?”
Given the fact that Charles’ outfit was the same as the previous evening, that proved he spent the night in Sonia’s room.
At the thought of Charles and Sonia alone in a room together, Toby’s gaze darkened and he felt inexplicably irritated.
“Who is it, Charles?” Sonia asked a little weakly from inside the room.
Having no intention to lie to her, Charles stared at the couple in front of him and called back in a raised voice, “It’s Miss Gray and President Fuller. They say they’re looking for you.”
The room was silent for a few moments before Sonia finally said, “Let them in.”
Charles then stepped aside, albeit a little reluctantly.
“Thank you,” Tina said with a smile and a nod before leading Toby in with her arm around his.
Rolling his eyes, Charles shut the door and followed behind them.
Wearing a loose pair of pajamas, Sonia was seated against the head of the bed and her head was bandaged. Her face was pale and she looked extremely fragile.
For some reason, Toby felt his heart ache faintly at the sight of her. Subconsciously, he gentled his voice and asked, “How are you?”
After giving him a curious look, Sonia smirked in amusement and asked, “Are you concerned about me?”
Tina instantly tightened her grip around his arm.
As if prompted, he realized that he was acting a little strangely toward Sonia and pursed his lips before continuing in a cold and detached voice, “There’s nothing odd about asking how the injured are doing while visiting them. It’s only polite.”
His meaning was that he was asking out of politeness and not care.
Satisfied, Tina loosened her grip on his arm and gave Sonia a smug look.
Before the latter could react, Charles stepped forward in a broad stride and blocked Tina’s view of her, miming a digging motion with his fingers and saying, “I’ll gouge your eyes out if you look at her like that again.”
Tina bit her lip. “You wouldn’t dare!”
With a chuckle, he answered, “Try me!” And then, he acted like he was about to chase after her.
Instantly, she paled and hid behind Toby, clinging to the hem of his suit jacket and begging in a quavering voice, “Save me, Toby!”
Putting one arm around her behind his back, Toby held up the other in a ‘stop’ motion in front of Charles and glared coldly. “Don’t go too far,” he warned.
As if he had heard something funny, Charles snorted. “Since you’re being so kind as to warn me, I’ll give you some advice as well—you’d better watch your double standards. You only pay attention to what I’m doing to your fiancée and not what she is doing to Sonia. Given how blind you are, you might as well give your eyes away.”
Watching on from the bed, Sonia couldn’t help cackling and giving him a thumbs-up.
As Toby noted her motion, he frowned uneasily and he thought to himself, Does that mean that she, too, thinks I am blind?
After yawning with her hand covering her mouth, Sonia finally said impatiently, “Alright. This is my room and I’m still recovering. Whatever you’re here for, say it and leave. I want to rest.”
Pursing his lips, he said, “We’re here to apologize to you.”
Apologize?
She exchanged glances with Charles.
Pulling Tina out from behind his back, Toby explained, “You fell last evening because Tina accidentally spilled her body wash on the floor.”
“I’m very sorry, Miss Reed.” With a guilty expression, Tina gave her an apologetic bow.
Coldly and quietly, she watched Tina. “Was it truly an accident?”
Straightening, Tina met Sonia’s piercing gaze abruptly and panicked internally. Instantly, she lowered her eyes and pressed through her teeth, “It was.”
Charles sneered. “Bullsh*t! You spilled it on purpose!”
Tearing up, she protested, “I didn’t! You have to believe me, Miss Reed. I really didn’t!”
“Save it. We’ll never believe you.” Casting her a disgusted look, Charles continued, “What I want to know is why you didn’t mention Sonia’s fall was connected to you last night. Why are you only admitting it just now?”
As her eyes flashed, she explained with her head still lowered, “Because I didn’t realize last night that Miss Reed fell because of me. It wasn’t until you carried her away and I saw body wash on the floor where she was that I figured out what had happened, which is why I’ve come here to apologize as soon as possible.”
“You would have to, or things would end badly for you,” Sonia remarked with a scornful curl of her lip.
Tina’s expression froze. “What do you mean by that, Miss Reed?”
Similarly, Charles and Toby both stared at her.
After sweeping a careless glance over Tina’s increasingly uneasy gaze, Sonia answered cynically, “You know what I mean by that. You knew you would be my first suspect after I woke up and were afraid things would get out of your control if I threw a fuss about it, which is why you’re hoping to sweep everything under the rug by calling it an accident.”
“So, you mean to sweep everything under the rug?” Charles roared with laughter. “Let me tell you now that that’s not going to happen.”
Previously silent, Toby suddenly became aware that things weren’t going to be so easily solved, so he stepped forward and asked in a low voice, “What do you intend to do, then?”
