A Replacement Bride

Katherine laughed out loud at his words as if she had heard some funny joke. "So, you're blaming this

on me now? How on earth is this my fault? Jayden, I've never schemed against you from the

beginning. I don't think I've ever been unfair to you as a friend, but look at what you've done! You sent

mercenaries after me and ambushed me in Fontan by pretending to hijack my flight, trying to kill me the

second time when your first attempt ended in failure. Not only that, but you also posed as a Good

Samaritan and saved me just to make me let my guard down. And now you're blaming me for the

things that you have done?" Her smile faded away as she spoke; a hint of frostiness appeared on her

face. "Would I have had to set this trap if you hadn't plotted against me again and again? Everything

has its cause and effect, and you're only reaping what you've sown. You can't blame anyone else!"

Just then, Joaquin came to her side and leaned against the sofa she was sitting in with a nonchalant

expression. "That's right, Mr. Hall. One's got to be reasonable, you know. You're in the wrong, to begin

with, so don't blame others for turning their backs on you after you've betrayed them."

Jayden's hands quietly clenched into fists at his sides when he saw the man speak in support of

Katherine. His cheeks trembled for a moment before he set his jaw. Then, he said in a tense and

somehow hoarse voice, "When did you find out about me?"

Joaquin raised his eyebrows without saying a word.

Katherine slowly answered, "I didn't suspect you at first, Jayden. Surely you know that I'd hate to

suspect those around me. One can say that I trust my friends a hundred percent despite being cool on

the outside, so I'd never suspected you even when such an impossible coincidence occurred. However,

you've gone too far." As she spoke of this, she suddenly raised her eyes and fixed Jayden with a

piercing gaze that would chill one to the bone. "You easily gave yourself away because you were too

anxious to get your hands on the stuff left in my hands by my late grandmother. The way you planted

that tracker of yours was really clumsy. You were certain that I wouldn't suspect you at all, so you dared

to use these underhand methods so blatantly. Still, it was hard for me not to suspect you when you've

done so many bad things."

Right after she finished her speech, Joaquin unhurriedly picked up where she had left off. "Kathy didn't

suspect you since you two were old friends. Well, she trusted you, but I wouldn't. To put it bluntly,

Jayden, those little tricks of yours are what I would have used when I first started, and they're neither

honorable nor brilliant."

The veins bulging on Jayden's forehead throbbed at Joaquin's words, as though he were struggling

hard to control himself. "Ha!" A sneer escaped his lips as his expression grew frosty. "We're both

plotting against each other, so how does that make either of us more virtuous than the other? We're

birds of the same feather, anyway. Neither of us has the right to denounce the other!"

Katherine cocked her fine eyebrows and looked at him with a hint of contempt. "Jayden, do you think

everyone is just like you? You only get schemed against because you've plotted against others in the

first place! You only care about your own interests and would stop at nothing to get what you want.

How is it my fault when all I did was defend myself justifiably? What kind of logic is that?"

Jayden knitted his brows. Trying to defend himself, he retorted, "All I wanted was to borrow your

grandmother's secret tome from you! Would I have had to set one trap after another if you had let me

take a look at it right away? Kathy, just ask yourself whether you really treat me as a friend! If you'd

really treated me as a friend, why would you keep your late grandmother's belongings in your hands

without showing them to anyone?"

She never expected him to say such a ridiculous thing. "What's wrong with that? Is there any law

stating that I have to show my late grandmother's belongings to others? Or is there any unwritten rule

that puts me under an obligation to share my belongings with my friends? My late grandmother's

belongings are left to me, not you! Since all her belongings are mine, no one has the right to tell me

what I should do with them, so why do I have to let you take a look at them? Are you trying to guilt-trip

me? I really never expected such a shameless reply from you, Jayden!" There was a disappointment

and, more than anything, anger in her eyes. "I've been friends with you for so many years, but I've

never expected you to be such a person! Jayden, are you good at hiding your true self, or have we

never seen through you for who you really are?"

Jayden's face turned red one moment and pale the next with embarrassment. After clenching his teeth

with a taut expression, he retorted with a stony face, "The same could be said about you! You've never

told us about your real identity either. Who would've thought that you'd be the real mastermind behind

LW Laboratory? You're also hiding your real identity very well, aren't you?"

Seeing how the man stubbornly refused to mend his ways even now, Katherine looked all frosty with a

forbidding air about her. After letting out a sneer, she slowly stood up and stared fixedly at him with a

look of disdain in her piercing eyes. "It's true that I'm hiding it, but it's because I don't feel like revealing

who I really am! Also, I don't want to get my friends and family into trouble! You think my identity is a

glamorous one, huh? In reality, this identity has only brought me endless trouble!"