CHAPTER 53: Plans, scheming and obsession

　　As the house settled into the silence of the night, each creak of the wooden floorboards under the weight of the wind seemed to echo the tension that pulsed through its walls. Though the occupants had retreated to their rooms, none found the comfort of sleep as their minds filled with tangled thoughts of betrayal, desire, and ambition, refused to rest.

　　Rachel sat at her vanity, her fingers tracing the delicate carvings in the wood as she gazed at her reflection but her focus wasn't on her face, it was miles away, on Emily. Soon, Emily would leave, the final exams marking the last days before she would claim her father's fortune and return abroad to oversee his company. Rachel knew this moment was coming, but now that it was nearly upon her, the ticking clock was unbearable. Emily had to stay, and there was only one way to ensure that which is making her married to John.

　　The thought flickered in Rachel's mind like a candle flame.