Three Slaps at the Wedding Chapter 8

Everything became clear. Now I just wanted to know Rachel's whereabouts.

"Where is Rachel?"

I looked directly at Ethan.

Tina laughed coldly. "Rachel eloped with someone else and ran away from the wedding. I didn't want everyone to be sad, so I took her place and married Ethan."

"Impossible! Rachel loves Ethan so much—she'd never run away!"

Tina produced Rachel's diary.

It clearly stated that she felt unworthy of Ethan and didn't want to marry him anymore.

"If you don't believe me, you can do handwriting analysis."

I kept flipping through the diary. It was indeed Rachel's notebook. She did have the habit of keeping a diary. The tone also seemed like hers.

But the further I read, the more I noticed something odd.

"This isn't Rachel's notebook. Rachel never uses periods when she writes in her diary!"

I threw the diary on the ground. "How did you imitate her handwriting?"

In such a short time, no matter how clever she was, she couldn't possibly know so many of Rachel's secrets and mimic her handwriting.

I realized—

The moment I understood, my heart ached.

"Rachel was such a lovesick fool. She loved Ethan so much she'd practice imitating his handwriting. So this diary was written by Ethan, wasn't it?"

I said this while looking at Ethan.

Ethan stood up listlessly. He gave me a weak smile, then jumped from the open terrace.

He died instantly.

Mrs. Grant fainted on the spot. Mr. Grant quickly called for an ambulance.

The doctor determined he'd taken medication before the wedding and had been drinking heavily, causing his blood vessels to rupture. Even without jumping, he wouldn't have survived the night.

"My son, you were such a fool!" Mrs. Grant looked at Ethan lying there peacefully, sobbing uncontrollably.

Tina smiled coldly. "He really was too foolish. Not worth it for such a woman."

She tried to manipulate Mrs. Grant. "Mom, it was Rachel who killed Ethan."

"Shut up!" I slapped her.

"Tina, actually Ethan understood Rachel even better than I did. He knew Rachel didn't like using periods—she always ended with commas. So he never wanted to deceive people with you!"

Tina covered her face, playing the victim. "So what? Dad, Mom—the baby in my belly is Ethan's child, the Grant family's future heir, your only hope!"

Mrs. Grant refused to acknowledge Tina, but Mr. Grant insisted on accepting her as his daughter-in-law.

Mrs. Grant screamed at her husband with anguish. "I told you from the start not to go through with this substitution! You were greedy for the benefits of the marriage alliance, and now my son is dead!"

"Now that our son is dead, what's the point of saying all this?"

Mr. Grant told the Roberts he would accept Tina as his daughter-in-law.

Mrs. Claire revealed the truth in a daze. "She's not our daughter Rachel. Rachel is already dead."

"She pushed her off the building and killed her!"

After Tina was trafficked, she suffered abuse. All these years, she'd longed to find her parents.

But when she finally found them, she discovered her biological parents had a new daughter—a daughter who was enjoying the life that should have been hers.

And that daughter was about to have a happy marriage.

She became completely consumed with jealousy.

By the time the Roberts realized what Tina had done, it was too late.

Mrs. Claire had fainted on the spot. When she woke, she didn't remember having two daughters.

Looking at his deranged wife, Mr. Robert knew her mental state couldn't handle the truth.

They'd already lost one daughter. They couldn't lose another.

Tina and Mr. Robert conspired on the substitution plan. She spent a month having plastic surgery to look like Rachel.

As the person who knew Rachel best, Ethan quickly noticed something was wrong. Tina lied to him, saying Rachel had died in a car accident.

She was afraid Mrs. Claire would be traumatized, so she'd had surgery to become Rachel.

Ethan was skeptical. During this process, Tina drugged him, and they ended up sleeping together.

One day when he visited Mrs. Claire, she couldn't bear to keep lying to him and told him the truth.

He immediately wanted to go to the police, but that's when Tina said she was pregnant.

The Roberts and Grants discussed it and decided to have Tina replace Rachel for business interests.

Ethan refused. His parents threatened to kill themselves.

They also promised that once the baby was born, they'd let him divorce her.

They never expected I would expose this deception at the wedding.

By the time Rachel's body was found, it was beyond recognition. They'd hidden Rachel in the back garden.

I held back tears and gave her a proper burial.

Ethan's parents bought the plot next to Rachel's according to his will.

I'd originally wanted to move her, not wanting them buried side by side.

After all, Ethan had been complicit. But when I learned Tina had faked the pregnancy and that Ethan hadn't touched her that night—

I relented.

Tina got what she deserved—she was sentenced to death. Everyone involved received their punishment.

I brought the verdict to Rachel's grave and burned it. At least justice had been served. I hoped she knew, wherever she was.

When I looked up, snow was falling in the June summer sky.

This delayed justice—I think she received it.

THE END