Chapter 85 Who Gave You the Courage to Pretend to Be Her
The video on the phone?
Wasn't it just the video of Alice entering the room?
The woman could only be seen from behind, but William's godlike handsome features were crystal clear.
Ever since Sophia had Rat keep tabs on William's movements to secure custody of the children, he had been very diligent and responsible. Today, he had an unexpected bonus.
However, seeing the dress on that woman—identical to her own—Sophia couldn't care less about William finding another woman. Her first thought was: could such a coincidence really exist in this world?
Or was it that William, having been rejected by her today, deliberately arranged for someone to dress like this?
Sophia wasn't being paranoid.
Recent experiences had pushed her vigilance to its peak.
She feared there might be some hidden danger lurking in the shadows, targeting her three children.
"Rat, look into this woman."
Sophia leaned back on the sofa, her eyes cold and focused. "Start with that dress she's wearing."
The dress she wore today was a limited edition Harper had brought back from abroad. Currently, there was only one in the entire Empire City mall.
For Rat, investigating this should be easy.
Less than five minutes later, she received information about the buyer: Lily Baker, daughter of the Baker family.
Sophia had no connection with this person. Perhaps it really was just a coincidence?
Just as she was about to move past this topic, Rat sent new information.
Lily and Alice were college classmates, even roommates in the same dorm.
"Oh, and Sophia, this Lily was also at the restaurant tonight, on a blind date with the Roberts family's recently found son."
No wonder she saw Raymond there tonight.
Sophia looked at the information on her phone, sent Rat a thank-you message, and transferred him some money.
Rat didn't stand on ceremony with her. "Thanks, Sophia!"
After thinking it over, Sophia told Rat, "You don't need to send me any more videos of William from now on."
Rat didn't ask questions and simply agreed.
In the Liberty Tower hotel room, Alice fell onto the carpet in a disheveled state, trembling with fear.
Her hat and mask had been completely removed. Although only her eyes were surgically altered to match Sophia's, she had adjusted all her other features, too. Now, her original appearance was completely unrecognizable.
William's face was dark. "Who gave you the nerve to impersonate her?"
Alice had never seen William so terrifying. In his eyes, she seemed like nothing more than a rat crossing the street.
Disgusting and worthless.
On the coffee table in front of them sat the aphrodisiac the bodyguards had found in Alice's pocket. Tony reminded her with a cold expression.
"If you don't speak up, don't blame us for not giving you a chance."
William had already changed into a brand new suit. He sat on the sofa like an emperor, his gaze cold and contemptuous as he looked down at the woman on the floor.
His patience completely exhausted, he stood up and dropped a line: "Make her talk."
Tony gave the bodyguards a look, and immediately, someone fed all the aphrodisiac Alice had brought into her mouth.
"William... I... I am..."
Finally breaking free from the bodyguard's grip, Alice shouted, "I'm Alice!"
The time was too short; the other surgically altered parts of her face hadn't fully recovered. When the bodyguards pinched her face to force-feed her the drug, the pain made Alice's tears stream down.
She thought William would be shocked, soften, and immediately regret his actions. Who knew William would leave without a second's hesitation?
Tony was the one who paused. "Alice?"
He carefully examined the woman's face before him—completely different from his past impression of Alice.
But the contour of these eyes was exactly like Sophia's.
If the lighting were dimmer and William were more drunk, something uncontrollable might have happened.
At this thought, Tony's heart trembled. Thank goodness he had given William sobering soup before leaving, and William himself had remarkable willpower. Otherwise...
These days, girls won't want a man who can't protect his virtue!
As for Alice, the drug had been administered, treating her with her own medicine. All of this was her own doing!
His phone vibrated. Seeing the message, Tony's expression immediately changed. He said to the bodyguards, "Send her away."
The aphrodisiac took effect very quickly.
In just moments, Alice had already started rubbing against the bodyguard's body. The latter threw her out of the room with a cold expression.
Rat, who had just finished making instant noodles and was about to shut down the surveillance system, saw the woman collapsed at William's room door.
She kept her head down so her face wasn't visible, but her disheveled clothes and weak legs as she supported herself against the wall while leaving clearly suggested certain activities.
Rat glanced at the time, somewhat surprised.
"Only twenty minutes? That's pretty quick."
With Sophia's earlier instructions, Rat didn't go back to check the videos in between. He just took a photo of the woman's state as she left.
Because she kept her head down, her face wasn't captured.
Before going to sleep, Rat tossed and turned and finally decided to send the photo to Sophia, to prevent her from being tempted again by her ex-husband's extreme good looks.
This photo was taken four hours after the previous video.
Sophia didn't see the photo until the next morning. Naturally, she assumed the woman had left William's room four hours later.
After that day, Sophia's attitude toward William grew even colder.
The two children stayed at Sophia's place during summer vacation. Whenever William was in Empire City, he would make time to come over and have dinner with the children.
But Sophia wouldn't let him stay overnight.
After the children started school, she agreed with him.
William would come over every morning to take James and Michael to kindergarten, while she would pick them up after school.
Just now!
William reached out to take the children's water bottle from her hand, and Sophia reflexively dodged his hand and quickly stepped back several steps.
The meaning of disgust was even stronger than before!
His pale knuckles cracked from the force. William didn't understand—their relationship had clearly improved because of the children, so why had Sophia recently started avoiding him like the plague again?
As long as the children weren't around, she immediately kept a great distance from him.
He looked at her and asked meaningfully, "What's wrong with you?"
Sophia replied coldly and distantly, "Nothing."
She quickly walked around William and handed the water bottle to the two children already sitting obediently in the back seat.
Sophia said gently, "Mom will pick you up after school this afternoon. If anything comes up, call Mom or Dad, okay?"
"Also, don't go with anyone except Mom or Dad to pick you up. Not even people you know. Remember?"
Both children wore watches that could track their location, make calls, and had a one-touch emergency alert function.
James nodded. "Got it, Mom."
Michael waved at her with a bright smile. "Mom, tell Emily I'll play blocks with her when I get home from school."
Sophia smiled and nodded. "Okay."
He urged William outside, "Dad, get in the car! James and I are going to be late for school."
Those deep, cool eyes were now filled with Sophia's reflection, but she only had eyes for James and Michael, not sparing him even a fraction of a glance.
William suppressed the displeasure churning in his heart and got in the car at Michael's anxious urging.
Once the car left her sight, Sophia immediately dropped her smile, her gaze sharp as she scanned toward the villa diagonally across.