Ch. 2196..2200
Chapter 2196
Isabel turned to Liam, making sure to not neglect him." Thank you too, Liam."
Liam turned around to give her a faint smile before turning back to face the front.
Without warning, Odell suddenly addressed Roland, "Roland, what's your plan after this?”
Roland was silent for a moment, then he said with a resolute look, "Uncle, | will make sure to do right by Isabel." Odell cocked an eyebrow and remarked, "Alright, I'll be patiently waiting."
Roland nodded. "Sure."
With that, he cast a look at Isabel with a faint smile.
Isabel smiled back at him.
Shortly after that, the car parked outside the seaside mansion.
Martha must have received a heads-up from Roland and knew that Isabel's parents and brother were on the way. As soon as the group got out of the car, they saw Martha striding toward them with a warm, welcoming smile. She even put on a cute dress for the occasion.
Roland introduced his mother to Isabel's family, ‘This is my mother."
Then, he walked up to Martha and gestured, "Hey, Mom, they are Isabel's parents, and that's her brother.” Odell and Sylvia smiled politely at Martha.
Liam greeted her as well, "Good to see you, Aunt Martha."
"Hello, good to see you all!" Martha walked up to Sylvia and greeted her as if she had known her for a long time, "Please, come inside! | heard from Roland that you all came here in a hurry. You must be tired. I've made something for you to eat, come!"
Sylvia smiled politely. "I’m sorry to trouble you."
Martha was just as courteous. "Oh, it's no trouble at all! You've been very gracious to come to pay my son and myself a visit. | can't describe how happy that makes me!’
They walked in amidst chatter and laughter.
Roland turned to Odell and Liam with a gesture. "Uncle, Liam, this way please."
Odell and Liam went into the house.
At last, Roland went to Isabel. They walked hand in hand at the tail of the group.
Under the gentle moonlight cast from above, she could recognize a warm and serene glow in his eyes as he said sincerely, "Isabel, thank you."
He was thankful for her sending his family to help him.
Isabel smiled from ear to ear. "Don't need to thank me. You’re my man, and it's what you deserve."
Roland smiled and pinched her blossoming cheeks.
Upon entering the living room, Isabel took a few mouthfuls of snacks made by Martha before sitting down. Then, she received a call from Amanda.
She figured it must have something to do with the viral post circulating on the internet. With that, she took the phone with her and went to the stairway.
She sat on the stairs and peeked at her parents and Liam who were busy chatting with Roland and Martha in the living room, the sight bringing a smile to her lips. Then, she answered the call.
"Isabel, there's something | wanted to ask... About Carter Corporation's official letter, is all of it tue?" Amanda asked cautiously. Her tone was significantly more gentle than usual, and she seemed hyper-conscious of every word emitted out of her lips.
"Uh-huh" Isabel answered casually before supplying, "It's true."
"That means you are... you are the daughter of the Carters, the richest family in Westchester?"
Chapter 2197
‘That's what people in my parents’ circle and other outsiders refer to me as," Isabel said with a candid smile. "But as far as I'm concerned, you're still my agent and you don't have to treat me any differently, so don’t worry about these titles."
Unbeknownst to her, Amanda’s hand was quaking with excitement. She was this close to dropping the phone. How could she possibly not be concerned?
The actress she had been working for as an agent for the last five years turned out to be the rumored daughter of the wealthiest family in Westchester!
As much as equality in society was valued, one could not deny that there were clear distinctions between social classes. She had run through the gauntlet in the entertainment industry and built a solid reputation for herself, meeting countless wealthy people in the course of her career. Despite all that, it was nigh impossible for her to come into contact with someone of Isabel's social class! She came from such a background that even the wealthiest businessman had to bend over backward in her presence.
Amanda took a deep breath to calm herself. "| cannot believe you've kept it a secret for so long." Isabel explained, "I just wanted to be a normal actress, so | didn't want anyone to know about my background.” If not for the circumstances, she still would not have disclosed her true identity.
Amanda sighed exasperatedly again before expressing jovially, "Well, anyway, there are no more false claims and rumors about you online anymore. All those media outlets have issued formal apologies for defaming you back then. Several of them have even personally contacted me to ask you for forgiveness."
Isabel said bluntly, "| won't forgive them."
If circumstances were different and she did not come from such an affluent background, there was not a chance that they would bend over backward and put on a sincere show of asking for forgiveness. If anything, they would double down and continue slandering her with everything they have, such was the ruthless nature of the entertainment business!
Amanda agreed, "That's exactly what | was thinking as well! Back then, they would not help us no matter how many times | asked. | even began begging at one point! Well, serves them right!"
Isabel expressed sincerely, ‘Thank you for your hard work, Amanda."
"You don't have to thank me. I'm just doing my job." Amanda said warmly, "Also, we've been getting a lot of endorsements from all sorts of different companies. One of them has an event tomorrow. Do you want to..."
‘Turn them all down." "Huh?" “Other than acting and some features on variety shows for publicity, I'm not interested in any other offers."
All this time, her only passion was in acting. Now that her true identity had been exposed to the world, she no longer needed to worry about taking on various endorsements and contracts. Besides, she would much rather save them for her fellow actors who needed them for their income.
Amanda hesitated briefly before agreeing, "Alright, I'll pass on the message.”
"By the way, Amanda, I'm going to double your commission going forward. You can just take it from the salary | get from the roles I star in and variety show features. Also, | have an unoccupied villa in Westchester nearby Cloudy Heart Lake, so I'm going to hand you the keys when | get back to Westchester. It's yours now."
She knew that Amanda had been dedicating the majority of her time over the last five years to managing her affairs. If she was going to stop entertaining any endorsements and contracts, that would mean Amanda would lose out on a sizeable chunk of income. She had to do right by Amanda and make sure that she had a stable income stream.
Besides, she had more than enough money to compensate for the losses.
Amanda was taken aback by this offer. It took her a while to process this information, then she began to stammer, "No... no need, Isabel. | get that you’re being kind, but..."
"It’s settled! Anyway, you must have a lot of work to do, so
I'll get out of your hair."
With that, she hung up. Her phone was still being bombarded by countless messages.
Most of them were people she knew in the industry, congratulating her on the swift upturn of events. Many of them expressed surprise at her revealed identity, and their tones were all friendly and heartfelt.
It was a complete 180 from the hostility she received when she was blacklisted.
Ramona, with whom she had not been in touch for some time, also sent a message to the group chat with her and Triss. "Oh my God, Isabel, you were the daughter of the Carters this entire time?"
"| can’t believe it. You're a big shot!"
‘To be honest, | just got caught up on the latest events and found out about everything that's been happening to you lately. I've been so busy filming and our crew doesn't allow us to use our phones, so I've been out of touch for so long. | can't believe people were so terrible to you!"
These messages were sent roughly half an hour ago, which more or less aligned with the timeline of when the official letter was just posted on Carter Corporation's official page.
Isabel briefly glanced over the message before proceeding to quit the group chat without any hesitation. After that, she sent a private message to Triss. It was a sticker of a cartoon figure flashing a smile.
Ever since Decker and his group began targeting her, she had very limited support from the people around her. Save for Amanda and Carla who were stressing their minds over her wellbeing, Triss was the only other person who had publicly defended her and expressed solidarity. Even when she was subjected to countless ridicule and insults, she refused to take down her posts.
Chapter 2198
Triss was online as well. Mere seconds after she received Isabel's text, she replied with a grouchy cartoon figure.
Isabel chuckled and sent her a voice message, "Triss, thank you for speaking up for me back then.
Triss replied, "I get that you only wanted to be an actress without the extra attention, but I'm still a little mad. If I knew that you came from such a powerful background this entire time, I wouldn't have needed to try to defend you."
Isabel chuckled to herself. She was just about to reply when she received another voice message from Triss.
"Anyway, I'm glad everything is fine now," she expressed in a heartfelt voice.
They briefly chatted for a while longer, then Isabel went to scroll through her feed again.
Half an hour ago, everyone was in an uproar over the exciting reveal of her true identity. Right now, everyone was severely criticizing the media outlets that had been defaming her the entire time.
Furthermore, many other artistes such as Isabella, who had made themselves enemies of Isabel and taken advantage of the situation to belittle her, were facing severe backlash. The collective anger was turned around on them this time.
The netizens might be gullible, but even they had come to realize the truth of the situation. Since even the media outlets had issued formal apologies, it was evident that everything Isabella said previously was lies made up to sabotage Isabel.
A lot of these celebrities, including Isabella, deactivated their comment sections.
Additionally, they had gone and deleted their previous posts badmouthing Isabel.
Isabel sniggered to herself, delighted in how things had turned out. Just as she was about to put away her phone, she received a message from Isabella.
The ironic thing was that Isabella's previous message sent two hours ago was still visible on the screen. Her message read, "Isabel, say bye-bye to those leading roles and endorsements you were banking on. They're all mine now. Good luck..."
Isabella had sent that message to gloat when pictures of Isabel and Roland were posted on the Internet.
This time, her tone was completely different. "Hey, Miss Isabel, I just noticed the last message. It must have been my assistant sneaking around and sending that message without telling me. I'm sorry about that. I've already fired her, so please don't be upset." Isabel could tell how frantic she must be just by the shifty way she had to address her as ' Miss Isabel'. She scoffed and did not even bother to reply.
Her only response came in the form of a read receipt, which must have made Isabella more worrisome.
Including all the bosses of the media outlets, Isabella had plenty of company.
Furthermore, there were a few selected individuals that Isabel could think of that must be spiraling deeper into a panic.
At Isabella's residence in Westchester, when Carter Corporation issued the official letter and the news began trending, Isabella was so astounded that her feet gave away underneath her.
Even now, her butt was still grounded to the floor while she reread the text she had just sent to Isabel.
The read receipt lit up, which meant that Isabel must have read it already.
Another twenty minutes had passed since, and there was still no response.
Was Isabel simply ignoring her out of spite, or was she planning deadly revenge?
The sheer idea of the latter being a possibility sent a shiver down her spine.
She was the daughter of the Carters of Westchester, and to say that they were filthy rich would be underselling it. It was a stratum of society that she would never even hope to reach in her entire lifetime, a strata that was far above even the likes of Clarice who was already a symbol of social success!
If Isabel was truly planning on taking revenge on her, she could say goodbye to her acting career as no amount of miracle could save her.
Meanwhile, her phone was vibrating endlessly while she was swarmed by countless messages from netizens who were celebrating her downfall. They mocked her for being too arrogant, that the only reason she could afford to be so high and mighty all along was that Isabel let her win.
"Now you've done it, good luck!"
Her anxiety was rising with every passing minute.
Just as she was about to call her agent for help, she received a call from her agent.
She picked up on the first ring and immediately began pleading desperately, "I never knew that she was a Carter all this time. You have to do something. Help me!"
Chapter 2199
Isabella's manager dragged a long, extended sigh. Then, she proceeded to advise somberly, "No use praying for a miracle now. Just use this chance to take a long break."
Puzzled by this, Isabella asked, "What do you mean? Don’t | have a commercial shoot lined up tomorrow?”
"It's been canceled. Not just tomorrow’s commercial shoot, but every single endorsement, variety show contract, and all of the pending scripts are gone. There’s nothing left."
Isabella's face turned pale. "Was it Isabel?"
“Probably not. All of the showrunners and business managers approached me on their own initiatives. They probably know that there's bad blood between you and Isabel, so they made the business decision of keeping their distance from you to avoid upsetting the Carters."
Isabella's eyes turned red with tears. She looked for something to say, but the only thing on her mind was the picture of the lawyer's letter written on behalf of Isabel and posted on Carter Corporation's official page.
She slumped over backward and landed on her couch. Her arms immediately went limp, and her phone clattered against the floor with a loud smack.
Her vision was turning into a blur. She immediately began to recall all of her confrontations with Isabel all these years.
She had always thought that Isabel had nothing but dumb luck going for her. This was why every time she found herself in the center of a controversy thanks to her unruly attitude and her telling people off, people would crown her bold personality instead of turning against her. She knew that many people in the industry harbored resentment and jealousy toward Isabel as well. Everybody could not understand why Isabel, who looked to be just the same as the rest of them, could afford to be so pompous and fearless.
It turned out it was because she was the daughter of the Carters. She had immeasurable power at her access, and all she had to do was reach for it. Her family was so powerful that nobody in the collective entertainment circle or the business world dared to even mutter something foul about them under their breath.
This explained her fearless attitude.
If Isabel wanted to, she could have easily made short work of Isabella at the first show of aggression from more than a handful of years ago. It would have been easier than snapping a finger.
Compared to Clarice who was nasty and haughty, it did appear that the young lady of the Carters was more down-to- earth.
Isabella knew that the situation was completely beyond salvage now. She had done more than sour her relationship with Isabel. Even if Isabel did not plan to do anything to her, the damage was already done.
As bitter as she felt, she knew there was nothing she could do about it.
In a reputable private hospital in Southboro, after Master Rockwell left the hotel, he was immediately taken here.
Nearly two hours passed before the old man finally woke up.
His eyes were cloudy while he stared blankly at the bedside.
Decker was the only figure inside the spacious ward. He was standing by the window, smoking a cigarette.
“Decker,” Master Rockwell called his name, his voice coming out in a dry retch.
Decker stubbed out his cigarette and approached the bed. His expression was very sullen and grey, and he did not look that much better than the elderly Master Rockwell who was lying on the hospital bed.
He did not seem particularly affected when he saw Master Rockwell coming to. He spoke rather dispassionately," You're awake. Do you feel better?"
Master Rockwell struggled for breath. "Why is it only you here? Where are the others?”
Decker's eyes darkened. "They all mentioned that they have other things come up and had to leave."
Master Rockwell scoffed cynically, "Bunch of opportunists."
Decker did not respond.
In a way, he could sympathize with them. After all, it was the Carters of Westchester. Not even Master Rockwell dared to offend them, thus of course, the others would want to protect themselves first.
Master Rockwell looked around again and asked sullenly," How about Clarice? Where is she?" Decker said blankly, "Her family came to get her."
Even the Houstons were wary of being associated with the Rockwells at this point.
Chapter 2200
Master Rockwell weakly beat his fist against the mattress and cried out sourly, "How could this be?! How could she have turned out to be the daughter of the Carters of all people?"
It was all over, beyond over! As Decker lowered his gaze, a shadow was cast over his face.
After a while, Master Rockwell grabbed him tightly and said with a fervent, burning look in his eyes. "Decker, listen to me. You two had a thing in the past, didn't you? Go to her in private and give her a sincere apology. As long as you can get her to forgive you, her family will go easy on you as well!"
Her father was at the helm of Carter Corporation, and her brother was the owner of Carter Tech City. Both of them were not to be messed with!
If Decker could not get Isabel to forgive him, he was going to be ruined!
Decker took a deep breath and said with a dejected look in his grey eyes, “Dad, she's never going to forgive me." He had betrayed her trust five years ago.
Furthermore, he had tried to humiliate her by publicizing their past, resulting in her being ridiculed by the world.
Besides, the person she loved now was Roland. How could she be expected to forgive him, someone who was her exboyfriend and who had repeatedly hurt her time and time again?
Upon seeing his dejected expression, Master Rockwell began to grow anxious and lashed out, "How do you know that if you haven't even bothered to try?”
Decker continued to cast his eyes to the ground. His voice was weak but he spoke with a contrasting firm tone, "You don’t know her like | do. | know that she’s never going to forgive me in this lifetime."
"You... ugh!" Inside Mr. Houston's study, the atmosphere was rigid.
They had taken Clarice home after the events that went down. She sat on the couch with an ashen look on her face, and she did not speak.
Her father paced the room anxiously and kept repeating the same question, ‘You haven't got on the bad side of this Carter girl, have you?"
Clarice frowned and confessed reluctantly, "I tried to get her blacklisted a while ago." This was exactly what her father was afraid to hear. He asked sharply, "What was her reaction at that time?”
‘There was not much reaction from her. It was only her agent who approached us at first to try to smooth things over, then there was radio silence after that.”
Mr. Houston considered for a moment before speculating, "| suppose she did not take the matter to heart. If she was going to take revenge for what happened, she would have asked her family for help and dealt with you immediately."
Clarice remained silent.
It was true. If Isabel wanted to take revenge on her, she would have already done so. Did she consider her unworthy to trouble herself with?
After all, she was the daughter of the Carters, the wealthiest family in Westchester.
Her father continued to pace anxiously around the room. At one point, he seemed to have made up his mind on something and solemnly announced, "We're calling off your engagement with Decker. From now on, you will be moving back with us. Don't ever see Decker again."
Clarice protested, "Dad, I’ve been with him for more than five years."
"Don't give me this ridiculous reasoning. Do you think | don’t know that Decker has been messing around with other women?!" Her father bellowed, "He ditched the woman he loved in the past so that he could latch onto our family's wealth. He's not a trustworthy man, and it's about time he got what he deserved!"
Clarice was anguished and covered her face so that her father would not see her tears. Alas, her father was still hesitant. After all, she was his only
daughter, and it pained him to see her in this state. He calmed down briefly and tried to talk some sense into her," Think about this, my dear. If he knew back then that Isabel was a Carter, would he have ditched her to marry you?"
Clarice shuddered at the thought and did not respond.
Despite that, her father knew that she understood what he was trying to say. He gently tapped her shoulder and advised her again, "Don't do this for me or our family. Do this for yourself. Think of your future. You have to leave him before he drags you down."
“Anyway, the Carters are still in Southboro. | have to find some way to contact them and say something to appease them. You can take some time for yourself." With that, he exited the study to give her some privacy.
Clarice sat unmoving. She covered her face with both palms, her entire body shivering.
The rabid discussions online about Isabel being the daughter of the Carters lasted for three days before finally showing some signs of stopping.
In the beginning, netizens expressed astonishment at Isabel Ross's true identity. The initial outcry was ‘Justice for Isabel ', then it slowly shifted to a collective curiosity of how this situation came to be at all as they began digging through her past.