The Apple of My Eye

"Sheryl, how dare you come to me alone?" Rachel changed her tone and pulled her face the moment she saw Sheryl. She almost closed the door to block Sheryl outside. Instead, she tamed the anger in her heart and glared at Sheryl.

Sheryl knew that she had accomplished her goal. She used those words to provoke Vicky, and she did it.

"Well, how come you think that I am not capable of doing that?" Sheryl asked Vicky with a calm face.

Vicky had always hated Sheryl. She hated Sheryl the most for her calm and complacent attitude as if she didn't care about anything in front of her.

"You have taken away everything I have. Why does God still stand by your side and let you have your way all the time? Why?" Vicky screeched in frustration, glaring at Sheryl's face for a while.

"I didn't take anything away from you. You did it. You are responsible for losing everything, and you deserve it," Sheryl grinned and explained in a determined, yet calm voice.

"Shut the fuck up!" Vicky's emotions surged in her heart in such a way that they made her tremble. Pointing her finger at Sheryl, she shouted, "It was you! It's entirely your fault! You are such a demon! I should say an ill omen who robbed me of all my happiness. Had it not been for you, Charles would never have abandoned me! If it wasn't for you, my career would not have been devastated. If it wasn't for you, Bernard wouldn't have died like that. Oh! My Bernard..."

Vicky's voice trailed off in choking sobs. She lowered her head as she did not have the strength in her voice to shout at Sheryl anymore.

Sheryl shook her head and sighed as she kept her gaze fixed at Vicky. "Rachel, did I really cause all of this? Ask yourself, who caused all this to you? Does Bernard's death have anything to do with me? Don't you think that Ferry should be the one to be held accountable for all of this? I am also a victim like you who has been harmed by Ferry!"

"Ferry?"

Vicky raised her head. Her face was soaked with tears. It seemed that her heart clenched at the very mention of Ferry's name. She took out all the resentment in her heart as she screeched again, saying, "I'm going to kill Ferry!"

"But that is not possible anymore. Because he's in prison now. You can't kill him," Sheryl informed Vicky.

"Prison? Why is he in prison?" Vicky asked, looking frantic.

"Because Ferry deserves to be punished for his misdeeds. Still, the bitter truth is that he was just sentenced to life imprisonment, not the death penalty, so he is still alive." After that, Sheryl began to reveal the whole story to Vicky.

After hearing the entire account, Vicky shouted out angrily, "That damnable man shall pay with his life for the murder. Why didn't Ferry face the death penalty? Why?"

Sheryl remained quiet till Vicky had calmed down. Then she said, "Rachel, we have a common enemy now. Why can't we cooperate even for once?" Sheryl said in a suggestive tone.

"Cooperate with you? What makes you think that you deserve it?" Looking at Sheryl fiercely, Vicky refused without even giving it a moment's thought.

Sheryl didn't mind her attitude at all; instead, she said, "But you can't kill Ferry without my help."

"It doesn't matter. I will kill you first! And then go after him!" As Vicky spoke, her eyes became vicious. She fixed her gaze at Sheryl as she approached her slowly.

Sheryl stepped back calmly and added, "Do you even know who is behind all this? And who is Rob? You don't even know that you are being used. It's so ridiculous that you even say you want to take revenge.' Hearing Sheryl's words, Vicky halted her step and looked at Sheryl fiercely and asked, "Who? Who is using me? Who is behind Rob?"

Sheryl let out a sardonic smile at Vicky and said, "It's none other than Ferry! Ferry had sent Rob to save you. He is the one who funded you to have facial surgery. But actually, he is just using your hatred to set you against me and Charles. He is using you to lurk by Charles' side, and you are just a pawn in the hands of the same man who you want to take revenge on. The same man who killed Bernard. And then what do you think he will do with you? Once his purpose is served, you will be abandoned. Do you understand?"

"No, it's not true. It can't be..." Hearing Sheryl's words, Vicky's face had turned pale. She seemed to be freaking out. She looked around in horror with disbelief in her eyes. She felt terrified. She could not bring herself to agree to the fact that she had been used by Ferry throughout.

Although she verbally denied what Sheryl was telling her, her mind gradually started to come to terms with the truth. The old memories of when she had been tied up in the basement kept flashing through her mind. Surely, she knew that the one who rescued her from the dark place just wanted to use her as a pawn.

However, she had never thought that the person would turn out to be Ferry, the man who killed her boyfriend. She felt so stupid for she hadn't even realized that Ferry was behind all of it!

Now she believed the man in prison that Rob kept contacting was none other than Ferry. Rob had been in touch with him!

Everything was crystal clear in her mind now. By the time Vicky brought herself to accept the truth, her head felt so heavy that she couldn't bear the shock and fainted.

"Rachel!" Sheryl called out. Before she could do anything, she saw Vicky falling to the ground.

When Vicky woke up, she saw Sheryl sitting in front of her bed and looking at her anxiously. At that moment, she suddenly felt warm in her heart. Her hatred for Sheryl softened a little. "You..." Vicky said.

"Are you feeling better?" Sheryl asked. Both of them spoke almost at the same time.

A little embarrassed, Vicky replied, "I'm fine." Her voice sounded feeble as she spoke.

Sheryl could feel the embarrassment in Vicky's voice. She said, "In fact, I didn't mean to provoke you in this way, because I know that your emotions are unstable. But if I didn't say those words, you would only be more radical and insist on your wrong ideas."

"I know." Vicky lowered her voice and said, "It's entirely my fault. I shouldn't have believed in Rob."

"It's okay. It's still not too late." As Sheryl spoke, she suddenly held Vicky's hand tightly, and urged, "As long as you are willing to do me a favor, and I beg you, please do it for me."

Vicky was surprised. She had never seen Sheryl behave like this ever before. It made her wonder at that moment, what could it be that made Sheryl act out of her composure. "Just say it. I'll help you if I can," Vicky said.

"Clark is missing. It's Rob who kidnapped him!" Sheryl said in a hurry. "I hope you can help me find Rob. We will be able to save Clark only if we can find Rob."

"Rob kidnapped your son?" Vicky also found it hard to believe. As far as she remembered, although Rob was a cunning and insidious man, he still looked like a man who would never do things of such a demeaning manner as kidnapping a child. How could he lay his hands on a little kid?

"When did you lose your son?" Vicky thought of an important thing and asked.

"It was about 3:00 pm this afternoon. When the kindergarten was about to close, my house servant went to pick him up but couldn't find him," she answered.

"Then how do you know it was Rob who did it?" Vicky asked.

Sheryl was caught in a fix as she didn't know how to answer that question. She didn't want to tell Vicky that Charles told her. After all, she was still uncertain whether the woman was her friend or enemy now. She couldn't tell her the truth.

Thus, she made up a lie and said, "Rob's image was taken by the surveillance camera in the kindergarten. Later on, I asked the police to identify the image, and sure enough, the police recognized him." "Is that so? Well..." It reminded Vicky of earlier in the day when she had called Rob, but she couldn't get through.

'Has Rob become so desperate to achieve his purpose? He even dared to commit a crime, regardless of exposing his identity?'