True Love Waits novel Chapter 1299

"Mom, you're dead wrong!" Erica looked up to face her mother. Blair was changing the bed sheets, never missing a beat. Her daughter corrected her earnestly. "Mom, I apologized to Matthew every time it was my fault. What more do you want?"

But Blair didn't see it that way. "I really don't believe you."

Erica felt helpless. "I'm telling the truth, Mom. Just like last time when we were on a business trip to South City, I followed him all the way and apologized endlessly. He finally forgave me because I was sick!"

Blair denied her explanation right off. "Matthew's not an unreasonable man. I'm sure your apology was less than sincere."

'What? Mom, how could you say a thing like that?' Erica rolled her eyes when her mom was looking elsewhere.

Carlos and Debbie stayed in the Li family's house for a couple nights. On the last day of their visit, Erica came back to the hospital for a checkup. After making sure that the baby in her belly was safe and sound, the four of them took a private plane back to Y City.

In Y City

Debbie had floated the idea of letting Erica live in the Huo family's manor, but Matthew nixed that idea. He took Erica back to their own villa. He'd hired several maids to take care of her.

He didn't want anyone to disturb him or his wife. Even his parents couldn't promise that. The maids could sleep on the first floor. A skeleton night crew was put in place as well. If anything happened, they could be upstairs at a moment's notice.

Two days after returning from her parent's place, Erica resumed her studies.

Matthew's original plan was to hire tutors for her to learn at home, but she turned him down. What fun would that be, staying home every day? That would be too boring, so she decided to attend classes like a normal student.

The pregnancy didn't change Erica's basic nature, though maybe she was a little less stubborn than she usually was.

Yes, just a little.

She still did many of the same things she always did. She continued to stop by that little snack shop and bought spicy and sour rice noodles. Matthew would never approve, so she wouldn't tell him. She also still got into it with this or that classmate, so she'd spend time humiliating them.

When Matthew finally trusted her enough, she grabbed Hyatt and visited a fellow student.

In the school library

The three sat at a round table, all face to face. The girl opposite Erica and Hyatt was understandably nervous. What did Mrs. Huo want with her?

This girl was a senior, and was an art major.

Without beating around the bush, Erica showed her some pictures on her phone. "These pics look familiar?"

After a short pause, the girl nodded and answered honestly, "Yeah. I worked on those last year. They were supposed to be homework and I was going to turn them in, but all of a sudden they were gone. I don't know what happened."

Erica smiled and showed her some more pictures. "And what about these?"

"Those paintings... Hey! I painted those myself. But what's this? That's not my signature! Who signed these? Phoebe Su? Those are my paintings! The backdrop here is my hometown. What's going on?" She was now visibly upset.

Erica took back her phone and said, "To put it bluntly, she took your paintings and put her name on them. You mad?"

"Of course! Those are mine, not hers! Why in the world wouldn't I be pissed?" Her fair face flushed with anger.

"Then sue her!" Erica suggested.

"Sue her?" The two words stunned her. "It's a major pain in the butt to take someone to court and I don't think I have the cash for a lawyer..." She was just a struggling student. She did have a part-time job, but she might not be able to afford these fees.

With her chin in her hands, Erica smiled innocently and offered, "Don't worry about money or a lawyer. As long as you're willing to sue her, you can just testify in court on the day of the trial. Don't worry about anything else. I got this!"

"Why do I not need to worry about money? Are you fronting me?" The girl really didn't have money, but she still wanted to sue Phoebe for art theft.

"Yeah, sort of. Just consider it a permanent loan. All I need is for you to collect the evidence that can prove they are your paintings. We'll appear in court together!" Erica said.

Her words seemed to give the girl a charge. She grabbed Erica's hand and exclaimed, "Wow, Mrs. Huo, you're the best!"

Erica smiled sheepishly, "It's not like I'm doing this for nothing. I get something out of this, too!"