Second Chance: Marrying into Wealth Chapter 269

Paula had mentioned that not long after the refund, Stefan suddenly had enough money to buy a house.

That house cost him three-fifths of the refund, leaving not much for his assistant.

But Stefan couldn't just leave his assistant empty-handed; he needed to keep her convinced.

I said, "I'll contact Vance and have him look into it. Now that Stefan has charges against him, he'll want to reduce his sentence and might try to get rid of any evidence he has."

This was my own theory.

Stefan would likely try to win over a girl by buying her designer bags and such.

So, it was very possible that the assistant had some designer bags.

I explained the situation to Vance, and he got to work quickly.

Through a second-hand trading platform, he contacted the assistant and found out she had quite a few second-hand bags.

But when we looked into those bags, we discovered they were all knock-offs.

I was shocked. "For someone like him, the assistant is taking the fall. What a scumbag, getting so much money and not even giving her real bags."

I despised bad men, especially ones like Stefan.

"We're going to the police station. I want to see if she still wants to take the fall for Stefan after she knows all this!" Paula decided to confront the assistant herself.

When we got to the police station to see the assistant, it had only been a day, but she looked very different.

The day before, she had been well-groomed and somewhat demure.

Now, she looked haggard, pale, and had lost weight.

Seeing Paula, the assistant immediately apologized.

Her attitude was very good.

Someone with such a personality clearly wasn't inherently evil.

Paula responded coolly, "What's the use of apologizing? If you didn't do it, the real culprit is still out there. If you truly feel guilty, you shouldn't be covering for Stefan and taking the fall for him!"

To our surprise, the assistant, Helena, still stuck to her original story.

Paula continued, "Do you realize that if you keep taking the fall, your life will be ruined? Even if you get out of prison, you might never find a good partner, and if people find out your kids' mom was in jail, they won't have a good life either."

Helena hung her head, refusing to speak.

Paula, looking disappointed, tried to drive a wedge between her and Stefan. "Do you really think that if you take the fall for Stefan, he'll marry you when you get out? Do you believe a bad man's promise, especially Stefan's?"

Helena still said nothing.

Paula's eyes fell on the cheap ring on Helena's finger, something one could buy at a discount store. Despite its cheapness, she wore it and hadn't taken it off.

"That ring... did Stefan give it to you? He gave you something so cheap, and you still can't see his true colors?"

"And your clothes and shoes aren't new or expensive. You don't seem like a vain person. You probably don't care much about those luxury bags either. Why would you take the fall for a few bags? By the way, those luxury bags are fakes too!"

At this, Helena finally looked up at Paula. "No, that's impossible!"

It was the first thing she'd said, indirectly admitting that Stefan had given her the bags.

But then she realized what she'd said and quickly looked down again. "I bought them myself. I must have been scammed!"

"Did Stefan save your life or something? Why are you still protecting him? Is he holding some secret over you?"

"No, I did everything!" Helena insisted.

In the end, she was still determined to protect Stefan.

"You're being given a chance. If you don't take it, you'll regret it!" Paula left her with that, and we walked out.

Helena opened her mouth as if to speak but couldn't bring herself to reveal the truth.

After recounting our conversation to the police, we left.

Since the case had new developments, the police wouldn't close it quickly. They'd likely continue investigating.

Hopefully, Stefan would think he was in the clear and let his guard down, which might lead to a slip-up.

I reminded Paula, "What kind of secret could make a girl so afraid to tell the truth?"

When it came to a woman, it was usually certain things.

I said, "I'll have Vance check if she's been booking hotel rooms recently. If Stefan has that blurry video, he might have more like it. Maybe he has something on Helena that's keeping her quiet."

Girls facing such situations often felt ashamed and scared, making them easy targets for manipulation.

So, girls needed to learn to protect themselves.

Vance's investigation results surprised both Paula and me.

"The hotel booking was under Helena's name, but she never entered the hotel. Instead, Stefan went in with another woman, who was heavily disguised."

He added, "Helena didn't disguise herself when booking, but this woman with Stefan was clearly not Helena, based on her height and other differences."

I couldn't help but feel indignant. "What is Helena thinking, spending money for another woman to be with Stefan? What secret is she hiding that Stefan can use to exploit her? The hotel rooms she booked were expensive, and even with her salary, she couldn't afford them at that frequency."

"Vance found out that Helena has several part-time jobs in addition to her full-time one."

She was working multiple jobs just to afford those hotel rooms for Stefan, which was very suspicious.

I thought for a moment and then said to Paula, "Paula, who would go to such lengths to hide their identity? It must be someone with a family, afraid of being caught cheating."

Paula's eyes lit up. "Melinda, you're right. We'll start investigating from there. Stefan's connections to wealthy people are likely through the club members. We'll start with them."

A few days later, Paula picked a nice day and took me to play tennis.

If Stefan was involved with a club member, others might know who he was close to. Asking around could give us some clues.