?<strong>Chapter 1226:</strong>


    Had someone switched her drink with Belinda’s at that time?


    Verena’s expression darkened as she processed the possibility.


    It was that scheming bitch Belinda again!


    It had to be her! Belinda had set her up!


    Verena turned to Ryan, no less agitated than when she had first woken up. “It was Belinda! She did this to me! That vicious bitch!”


    “Belinda?” Ryan’s expression changed. “What exactly happened? Tell me everything.”


    Verena took a deep breath and recounted everything that had transpired.


    She then said, “I saw it with my own eyes—the maid gave the tampered drink to Belinda! So how did I end up drinking it? It had to be Catherine! She went up to me on purpose to distract me, then one of Belinda’s friends must have switched the drinks!”


    Her face twisted with rage and anguish as she spoke, while Ryan grew more serious with every word he heard.


    He eximed, “Verena! You were too reckless this time. Do you honestly think Lucas is an idiot? He’s going to suspect you! What are you going to do when that happens? Besides, even if you had seededst night, what would that have aplished? Belinda would have embarrassed herself at worst, and then what? Did you really think a single incident would turn Lucas against her? Did you even stop to consider what would happen to you once it’s revealed that you orchestrated everything?”


    Ryan was livid.


    Verena balled her hand into a fist and mmed it on the bed. “I know that! But I couldn’t help myself. I just couldn’t stand it! Why do good things always happen to Belinda? Why does she get to have everything I want? So what if she gets embarrassed just once? It would have taken her down a notch, and I would have relished the moment! Besides, I’m the one who got disgracedst night. Belinda is unharmed; why would Lucas do anything to me?”


    Ryan fixed Verena with a prating gaze. “You’ve severely misjudged Belinda’s significance to Lucas.”


    Verena’s eyes widened in disbelief as she vehemently shook her head. “No! That’s impossible! Lucas would never treat me this way! Last time… When I drugged him, he was lenient with me. Besides, this time, Belinda wasn’t even harmed!”


    Ryan merely let out a cold chuckle, offering no further exnation. Verena’s unease only intensified.


    At the CEO’s office of Triumph Consortium, Gordon approached Lucas with a respectful demeanor. “Mr. rk, the Alvarado family’s maid has confessed. She admitted to receiving a payment of one hundred thousand dors to spike Ms. Wright’s drink. However, she was never informed of the mastermind’s identity. She met the person in a coffee shop. The person was meticulously disguised, concealing her face. The only detail the maid could confirm was that the person was a woman—nothing more.”


    After a pause, he continued, “We attempted to retrieve surveince footage from the coffee shop, but it had been manually erased. However, through alternative surveince in the vicinity and the maid’s testimony, we traced the woman’s movements. After leaving the café, she hailed a taxi. Tracking her journey, we discovered she disembarked at a park and entered a public restroom… but she never emerged.”


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