Why was Victoria Stuart visiting Elise with William? What was happening here?! And yet, no one even glanced at Sophia, ignoring her as if she were completely invisible.

That was when William walked directly up to Elise and said, "You're free to leave now. The bail paperwork has been processed."

Sophia couldn't help but clench her fists tightly.

What exactly had Elise done to William that he would go to such lengths for her? And what the hell was Victoria doing?! Why wasn't she stopping this?! Still, Sophia didn't dare show her true feelings, and she suddenly exclaimed with fake delight, "This is wonderful, sis! You can finally leave this awful place. You must have been eating and sleeping terribly here..."

Elise was genuinely impressed by Sophia's two-faced nature, though she'd grown accustomed to it. She didn't even bother giving Sophia a disgusted look before approaching William. She would never choose suffering when there was another option.

Even if William was partially responsible for this mess, she wouldn't refuse anything that worked to her advantage.

Right now, she was desperately eager to leave and work with Samantha on building her defense for the case against her. As they exited the detention center, they spotted Elizabeth. She'd been waiting outside for Elise, and seeing her emerge with William, she immediately ran to Elise and embraced her, tears welling in her eyes as she cried, "Elise! You're finally out. You look so much thinner already..."

Elise found herself having to comfort Elizabeth instead.

"It's really not that bad in there," Elise said with a slight laugh, which only made Elizabeth more upset. Did Elise ever actually cry? Didn't she know that children who cried got candy?

"Elizabeth, I'll be leaving with William now. You can take Elise home, right? My grandfather just arrived in Crestwood, so James and I can't leave at the moment," Victoria said then. Elizabeth glanced at Victoria but completely ignored her.

No matter how innocent Victoria pretended to be, Elizabeth was certain that Elise's criminal charges were Victoria's doing.

Victoria didn't seem bothered, however, and turned to William. "Let's go. Both our grandfathers are waiting. If we're late, I'm afraid he might..."

But William's eyes remained fixed on Elise. He'd been watching her maintain her composure, and she hadn't really looked his way from the beginning.

She accepted his arrival without showing any emotional reaction—no complaints, no agitation, just distant politeness as if he were a complete stranger. Still, he turned and left with Victoria.

Once they were gone, Elizabeth and Elise got into her car, and Elizabeth began complaining endlessly.

"It's that vile woman, Victoria Stuart! She must have orchestrated this, and now she's playing the nice girl again when William's around." Elise remained silent.

She felt completely drained after twenty-four hours in custody.

"My grandfather actually tried to keep William abroad, and I heard Victoria went to ask my grandfather to let him return home, then used her own status to bail you out."

Elizabeth sounded increasingly irritated as she mentioned Victoria.

"She's obviously the bitch trying to play saint. I don't even have words to describe how disgusting she is!"