The Silent Wife novel (Rachel and Justin) novel Chapter 446

The initial cover story pivoted on Rachel pretending to have to come to Geneva alone and thereafter inviting Gloria to go skiing with her at Zermatt. However, Jolly’s violent coughing fit had obviously blown that cover. Thus, Gloria would now know that Rachel had not come alone.

Thankfully, Jolly thought of a brilliant way to continue the bluff. She cleared her throat loudly and said, “It’s me!” She scooted over to where Rachel was, popping up on the screen. “As if I’d let her travel without her trusty assistant!”

At the sight of Jolly, Gloria rolled her eyes and scoffed. “You’re a lot of things, but trusty isn’t one of them. You keep getting caught by the paps when you and Leroy are on your dates. I bet you even brought him along to Switzerland so that you can have a couple’s trip!”

“Whether or not I’m on a couple’s trip is none of your concern. Anyway, we’ve pretty much concluded the work part of our trip, so we’ll be having fun for the next few days. We’re heading to Zermatt tomorrow morning for skiing. I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed skiing with Chris. I think the last time we did that was two years ago.”

Upon hearing this, Gloria said at once, “I wannal go!” Rachel froze. She couldn’t believe the girl would rise to the bait so easily.

Jolly’s triumphant gaze flickered over to the others who were crowded on the other side of the room. She and Gloria had been fighting over the position of Rachel’s best friend since the first day they met, and there was nothing scarier than when two women had their eyes set on a goal.

“Why are you going?” Jolly asked, the challenge clear in her tone. “You don’t even know how to ski, and the slopes at Zermatt aren’t kind to amateurs. Don’t torture yourself, little maestro. Wouldn’t want you getting hurt and canceling your show in Geneva.”

“Don’t patronize me! I had professional training on skiing too, you know!” “Yeah, I’m not convinced. You can’t fake your way down the slopes in Zermatt-not even if you did hire a professional coach at the very last minute.”

Desperate to prove herself, Gloria almost shouted, “You girls have to wait for me! You can’t go to Zermatt without me! We’ll go to Zermatt together as soon as I get off the plane in Geneva. Rachel, you’ll have to be the judge and see which of us is better at skiing!”

When Rachel heard the panic in the girl’s voice, she nearly sputtered. “Okay, calm down. We’ll head to Zermatt in the morning, so why don’t you stay a night in Geneva before you join us the following day? It isn’t safe for you to drive all the way there at night, especially while it’s snowing.”

“Aren’t you going to wait for me?” Gloria asked, looking wounded. “We’ll wait for you in Zermatt,” Rachel said soothingly.

Gloria’s agent added helpfully, “Miss Hudson is only looking out for you, so don’t be stubborn about this. Besides, there aren’t any trains servicing Geneva and Zermatt at night.”

Trains were the only way one could get to Zermatt from Geneva; no other motor vehicles were allowed to traverse between the two points. Considering this, Gloria reluctantly acceded. “So, it’s just the two of you right?”

Jolly and Rachel exchanged a brief look with the others. The former smirked as she gloated, “Of course, it’s just the two of us. It’s a girls’ trip, after all.”

Meanwhile, the four men in the room each wore different expressions. One looked anxious about the next step of the plan; one was practically buzzing with excitement; one looked entirely indifferent, and the last one was mesmerized by his girlfriend’s smooth lying skills. As things were, the operation was well and underway.

When the video call finally ended, Rachel let out a huge sigh of relief and gulped down a whole glass of water. “Oh my gosh, I was so nervous I thought my heart was going to leap out of my throat!” She had come so close to blowing their cover. Had Jolly not interfered in time, she would have given away the name of their hotel.

There were plenty of hotels in Geneva. If Gloria found out that Rachel was staying in the same hotel she would be checking into tomorrow, she would undoubtedly grow suspicious of her.

“Whew, that was close! Thank goodness our cover wasn’t blown!” Jolly looked immensely pleased with herself as she added, “I deserve an award for that incredible improv. Aren’t you glad you brought me along?”

“Yes, totally. I’m so glad, Rachel humored her with good-natured exasperation. “You’re our lucky star.”

Rachel went on to praise the girl for her quick wit. After a while, she looked at the clock. hanging on the wall above the fireplace. “Okay, everyone, we should turn in for the night. We’ll be leaving for Zermatt early tomorrow morning, and we’ve got plenty to do when we get there.”