Ch. 1071..1080

Chapter 1071 Criticisms on the Internet0

After seeing this question, all the netizens who stayed on Sonia’s profile stopped typing their questions as they waited for her reply.

They were afraid that they could not see her reply if they continued typing and made the feed refresh itself with all the new questions to drown this question.

She smiled, then looked up to smile at Toby. When he sensed her gaze, he placed his phone down and looked back at her. “Just tell them the truth.”

That meant he saw the comment and knew why she looked over at him. Sonia sucked in a deep breath. “Really? Are you okay with that?”

“Yeah. You have the right to do this. After all, you’re the victim, so you don’t need to ask me about it. Do whatever you need to do.” Toby’s words made her smile. “Okay, then I won’t ask you anymore.”

After saying that, her gaze landed back on her phone to reply to the netizen, ‘There’s nothing between Squirrel and me. As all of you know, money makes the world go round. With enough temptation, people would be daring to take certain risks.’

The netizens went into an uproar at that.

‘That’s actually true, but does that mean someone else is behind this and that the person in the dark is the one who wants to slander you, Miss Reed? This person gave Squirrel certain benefits, so Squirrel risked it all to make up a rumor to taint your name.’

Sonia liked that comment and replied while tagging Toby in her response, ‘You’re right. The person behind all of this is a woman who admires President Fuller, but what can we do? President Fuller is too charming, so that woman thought of this plan, hoping that it would cause misunderstandings to arise between us to the point where President Fuller leaves me. She thought that she could get a chance with him when I’m not in the picture anymore. It’s unfortunate for her that my man, President Fuller, had never suspected that I cheated on him since the start, and here, I’d like to thank President Fuller for his trust.’

Toby, who was tagged, instantly saw Sonia’s reply toward the netizen.

When he saw that she called her his man, he felt a fire burning within his chest. Even his gaze was burning with desire for her, and his breath became heavier as well.

His stare made Sonia blush and think to herself, If Charles isn’t here right now, I’m sure he’s going to strip me with his gaze, or he might even do that for real. Jeez, stop looking at me!

Sonia glared at Toby with widened eyes and blushed cheeks.

He smirked, then raised his phone as he pointed to the screen. “Well, I like the way you referred to me, but it’ll be even better if you could change that.”

Looking at the phrase he pointed to, she blinked and asked, “To what?”

Slowly, Toby spoke, “Husband.”

That made her blush even harder. Her cheeks were now as red as a tomato.

Charles, who was sitting opposite her, suppressed the bitterness in his heart and sneered. “Shameless. The both of you aren’t even married yet. How dare you ask Sonny to call you that!”

Toby turned and shot Charles a cold glance. “It’s going to happen sooner or later. What? Are you jealous?”

Charles merely scoffed and said nothing else. Jealous? Of course I am! How could I not be when she’s the woman I love?

Seeing that he stopped talking, Toby retracted his gaze contemptuously and was now smiling victoriously because he had defeated Charles.

Sonia found the situation to be hilarious. Then, she looked back down at her phone, not wanting to deal with the two childish men anymore.

There were now many replies under Sonia’s reply earlier and she was reading through them one by one.

‘What? I can’t believe that’s the real reason behind this. I never expected that a mistress would create rumors about the man’s girlfriend because she wanted to steal someone else’s man. The audacity!’

‘Let me correct you a little. We can’t regard the woman as a mistress yet because only a woman who has a relationship with a taken man can be considered a mistress. President Fuller has no relationship with her at all. At most, she’s just an obsessed admirer of his. But you’re right about her being audacious. I work at Fuller Group, and I’m sure every one of you knows that it’s normal for a woman to be interested in my boss because of his looks and family background, but have you guys ever wondered why my boss never had any scandals?

‘That’s because my boss had informed all the families with daughters in his circle that their daughters should not have any feelings for him and that the families should not visit him to propose marriage with their daughters. If they disobey him, they will need to face the consequences. That is why we have never seen any ladies from wealthy families visit my boss before. Now that a rich lady has done this, I wonder if she doesn’t know the rules or whether she just wants to give it a shot. No matter what, I just want to applaud her for her bravery.’

‘Amazing. I was wondering why President Fuller never had any scandals. Look at those younger men in higher positions from the other companies, they would at least have scandals with a few women, and there would be women who pestered them too. It was strange that President Fuller, who is in an even higher position, did not have any. Your explanation cleared my doubts. Alas, the richer the man, the more loyal he is. It’s only those who are less rich in comparison who love to fool around. President Fuller is such a good man, and I’m so envious of Miss Reed!’

Sonia burst out in laughter upon reading that.

Toby looked up at her. “What are you laughing at?”

She covered her mouth and looked back at him with smiling eyes. “There’s a netizen who praised you and said you’re a good man.”

“Is he wrong?” he asked proudly, his chin raised up.

Sonia couldn’t stand him and answered, “Yeah, he is right. You’re a good man. Happy now?” Oh man, I never knew he could be so narcissistic, but that’s quite adorable.

‘Oh, right, did you guys notice that Miss Reed tagged two accounts in her reply when she was clarifying the situation? One was Squirrel Media and the other was Lore Communications. Since Squirrel is the media company that’s spreading rumors, so is the mastermind Lore Communications?’

‘I think it’s not Lore Communications, but Lynette Lore, the daughter of the Lore Family instead. I realized this earlier, so I went to ask my friend who is working at Lore Communications. According to her, their technical department received a call from Miss Lore today, asking them to control how the rumor would spread on the web today and to keep the topic trending. She called not only once, and I think everyone here knows why.’

‘Finally, we know who the mastermind is. It’s Miss Lore, whose family owns Lore Communications. She’s indeed a filial daughter. Look at her putting her family and the company into such a dire situation because of her own selfish interests. Now, I think she’s going to get an act of crazy revenge from President Fuller and Miss Reed.’

The netizens discussed and managed to guess the mastermind behind the rumor.183674

There were even a few of them who had asked Sonia how she planned to get back at the Lore Family, hoping that she would spill some information.

Sonia did not respond to that as she did not have a plan yet.

The netizens did not get a reply from Sonia, but they paid no mind to that and visited the official website of Lore Communications to criticize them.

Although Squirrel Media tried to gaslight them and took advantage of them to attack Sonia head-on, they knew that the media company was only an accomplice because the mastermind was still the daughter of the Lore Family.

0

Hence, the netizens vented their anger on the Lore Family’s company and on Lynette, who they guessed was the mastermind.0

Since Lynette did not have an account on any social media, her family’s company was receiving double the hit.

0

Sure enough, Squirrel would not be forgotten by the netizens and was now getting a taste of their own medicine.

By now, Squirrel Media’s editor, Mitch, was not in the office anymore as he had already been sent by Tom to the police station. The fact that no one could lead the team at this time, on top of the criticisms the team was receiving on the internet, now made them anxious, and everyone was cursing Mitch in their hearts silently.

Chapter 1072 Toby’s Statement

After all, they did not know that Mitch had taken a bribe to create false rumors about Sonia. They had only thought that he did not want to miss this breaking news, but it turned out that he did it because he was ordered to do so.

The nature of his action was so much more terrible than posting about scandals for popularity. They were sure that Toby was going to get back at their company in a much more ruthless way.

Word had it that someone influential was preparing to buy over Squirrel Media and perform a layoff before recruiting new employees. Internally, it was already confirmed that the influential person had arranged for someone to get in contact with Squirrel Media.

With that, it was probably true that Squirrel Media’s owner would change and that a layoff would be done. Now, they were most worried that their names were on the list of employees to be laid off.

Those people who were directly involved in the creation of the rumor, be it those who posted it, wrote the articles, or edited the photos were even more afraid of that. They hated Mitch for dragging them down the dirt road with him.

Even if Mitch was already taken away by Toby’s man and sent to the police station, it was not enough to relieve the hatred they had for him.

They knew that there was nothing they could do in this situation. The only thing they hoped for was that Mitch would get thrown into prison and that they would not be laid off.

Sonia did not know that the employees of Squirrel Media were panicking right now as she was still following up with how things were going on the internet.

Seeing that the netizens were attacking Lore Communications and Squirrel Media together, her lips curved into a smile.

She did not think that it was wrong for her to gloat over other people’s misfortune now. After all, she was the victim who had been cyberbullied first.

And these two companies were the main culprits.

Now, she was only exposing what they did. What she did was merely an eye for an eye.

Since the two companies dared to slander her this way without caring about her feelings or worrying if she might commit suicide because she could not take the criticisms from the netizens, that was enough to prove that they lacked conscience.

A good company and one with a conscience would not create a fake rumor of such just to reach their selfish goals.

No matter what, the two companies were getting their karma for their own irresponsible actions.

Moreover, they should be prepared to face the netizens’ wrath one day since they liked using such dirty means to deal with other people.

Amidst her thoughts, she saw a netizen post a comment in surprise. ‘Everyone! Let’s move to President Fuller’s feed! He posted a statement.’

‘Really? I’ll head over right now.’

‘Me too!’

Soon, Sonia’s bustling comment section, which would receive over a few hundred new comments per page refresh, became even more silent. When she refreshed the page, there were only a few dozen new comments.

That meant most of the netizens left for Toby’s feed.

Earlier, some had already left to wait for Charles’ post. She thought that those who stayed were her loyal fans.

She did not expect that most of them would leave as soon as Toby posted his statement, leaving only a few people behind. Hence, only a minority among the group that stayed was actually her loyal fans while the majority were Toby’s fans.

183675

That could be proven true because most of them left her profile as soon as Toby posted his statement. Sonia found this situation hilarious and looked over in his direction subconsciously.

Seeing her helpless look, he blinked and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing. I’m just jealous of you, President Fuller. You have so many fans.” She held her chin and said as she looked into his eyes.

Yet, she felt that it was only right that he had a lot of fans. After all, he was charming, his build could be compared to one of a supermodel, he was so wealthy that the amount of money he had could not be fathomed by normal citizens, and finally, he exuded the aura of royalty.

However, Toby was confused upon hearing what Sonia said. “Fans? What fans?0

0

That surprised her. “You don’t know about it?”

Both of them had many shippers as well as individual fans on the Internet.0

To put it simply, both of them were not celebrities, but the number of fans they had could be compared to that of a celebrity.

Even Sonia, who did not keep herself posted about the entertainment industry, knew about this.

She could not believe that he knew nothing about it.

Toby shook his head. “I don’t.”

She just stayed silent, knowing that he was telling the truth.

He really did not know that they had fans on the internet.

Well, it’s okay then. It’s fine if he doesn’t know.

Since Toby cared even less about the entertainment news than she did, there was no use even if he knew about it.

He could not interact with his fans daily as those celebrities did anyway.

She could not imagine Toby doing that.

“It’s fine if you don’t know. It’s not important anyway.” Sonia waved her hand and then continued, “But as soon as you posted your statement, a lot of netizens went to your feed.”

He shook his phone slightly. “I saw that.”

“Let me see,” she said.

He was about to pass his phone over to her, but she pushed his hand back. “It’s okay. I’ll use my own phone. Just continue with whatever you are doing.”

She pointed to her own phone.

Seeing that she was unwilling to use his phone, he just muttered an okay in a slightly upset tone.

Toby was obviously disappointed that Sonia rejected him.

At the sight of that, she shook her head with a smile, but she had no intention to coax him at all.

She knew clearly that Toby was just pretending to be upset and that he wanted to make her change her mind with that pitiful look of his.

As for why she was so certain, that was because similar situations had happened before.

After getting tricked by him a few times, she learned her lesson.

She pretended that she did not realize what he was doing and just continued staring at her phone.

When Toby saw that Sonia was focusing her attention on her phone and spared no glances for him, he knew his plan had been exposed and that he failed. It caused his gaze to turn gruesome for a moment.

Naturally, Sonia realized what had happened in the background and had to squeeze her lips together to suppress her laughter, but she was still ignoring him.

Seeing that his new plan failed too, he only sighed before looking back down on his phone.

Yet, that did not stop him from exuding an aura that would make others know that he was upset.

The scene made Charles roll his eyes. How scheming. You deserve to fail!

Toby’s statement was simple. Similar to Sonia’s, it was all words and he did not show any evidence. No one would doubt whatever he said, nor did they dare to do so, though.

At first, Sonia was stunned when she read Toby’s statement before she burst into laughter.

That was how his statement went. ‘I am Toby Fuller, and I have understood the situation about the rumor online. It is ridiculous and nonsensical. I believe anyone with brains would not believe it. Other than that, my woman is not blind, and I trust that she would not cheat on me for a man who could not compare to me in all aspects. Hence, I will not let anyone who was involved in the creation of this rumor go so easily, and I will take legal action against them. Thanks.’

His serious words were enough to show everyone his determination to get the other party to pay for what they did.

However, that was not important to the netizens. What was important was that they were shocked and melted by his statement.

‘Oh my God! I love the phrase, ‘my woman is not blind, and I trust that she would not cheat on me for a man who could not compare to me in all aspects.’ If someone else said that, I would only mock him for being overconfident and that he should take a look in the mirror. But when it’s President Fuller, I did not think that he was being overly conceited. All I can think of is that he is a confident man.’

‘Me too! I would think that any other man who said this is crazy. But when it came from President Fuller, it only melted my heart. Sure enough, he is the kind of man authors write about in books. The same words would not feel the same if anyone else were to say them. His words were so strong and dominant. I love it, and I must say that I’m once again envious of Miss Reed.’

183696

Chapter 1073 Exposing Her

0

‘Count me in. I’m jealous too… Sobs …’ ‘You’re right. How could such a perfect man exist in this world?’0

‘Exactly. President Fuller’s words even managed to make us feel a sense of security. Just imagine how happy Miss Reed would feel every day.’

0

‘It’s just not a sense of security. Did you guys realize that President Fuller is a little narcissistic too despite his cold appearance?’

‘Me! I realized that, especially when he said, ‘I trust that she would not cheat on me for a man who could not compare to me in all aspects.’ He was obviously praising himself here, but I could only agree with him. As compared to President Fuller, President Lane is indeed lacking in all aspects. As long as the woman is not dumb, I’m sure she would choose President Fuller and not President Lane. President Fuller was right. Anyone with brains would not believe the rumor blindly. Come on, let’s see who are the dumb*sses here.’

‘I…’ One of the netizens trailed off. ‘I’m sorry, everyone. I’m one of those without brains who believed the rumor as soon as I saw it.’

‘Me too. I am an idiot too.’

‘Count me in…’

Soon, many netizens admitted that they blindly believed the rumor in the comment section and it made Sonia chuckle to see that.

Although she was angry that these netizens criticized her without seeking the truth first, she was glad that they were brave enough to admit to their mistakes.

Regardless, she would not insist on punishing those netizens brave enough to admit their mistakes if they did not cause much harm to her.

After all, there were too many people to deal with if she wanted to punish everyone.

She just had to capture those who led them into doing so.

At the same time, some comments were asking Toby about his plans to get back at Squirrel Media and Lynette on his feed, other than those netizens who admitted to their mistakes.

They obviously had not gotten an answer from Sonia, so they came to Toby’s side to ask him instead.

He saw their questions but had no intention to reply to them and just looked up at her. “What’s your plan?”

She knew what he meant and shook her head. “I’m not sure for the time being since I haven’t thought about it. I don’t really care about Squirrel, but I’m concerned about what I can do to the Lore Family since Mr. Lore is your teacher. Although I want to get back at them badly, he is your master and I need to be considerate of your relationship with him too.”

Warmth filled Toby’s heart as he placed his hand on her back, slowly rubbing it as he said in a low voice, “It’s fine. We’ll just do as you say.”

“If I want the Lore Family to be bankrupt, will you be on board with that too?” Sonia looked at him.

He was silent for a moment, seemingly hesitant, but still nodded in the end. “Sure. Anything to make you happy.”

Both Sonia and Charles were stunned upon hearing that.

“Wow. You’re indeed a great student.” Charles gave Toby a thumbs up and admired his bravery.

He truly admired Toby at this moment. He is willing to make his teacher’s family go bankrupt for Sonny. Not everyone would be daring enough to do that because they would not be tough enough to do so. After all, that was his teacher.

Any other people who did that would be poorly criticized by the entire country, and they would feel guilty themselves too.

If it were Charles, he probably could not be as decisive as Toby, who agreed to Sonia’s request after just a moment of hesitation.

For the first time, Charles realized that Toby was better than him in terms of compromising for his lover.

It seemed to make sense to him now why Sonia fell in love with Toby again and how he was never Toby’s competition.

Charles sighed. At the same time, a hint of self-mockery flashed across his gaze, but he felt slightly more relieved.

He was starting to accept the truth.

On the other hand, Sonia was surprised that Toby had agreed to her plan so quickly.

It seemed to her that she was indeed more important than Toby’s teacher to him.

“I was just saying for the sake of it. How can you agree to it so easily? You make me feel like I’m a vixen who seduced you,” she said, looking at Toby.

His gaze turned darker, and he held her tighter. “You are my vixen. I can do anything for you.”

“You’re making me embarrassed. Okay then, I’ll need to think carefully about how to get back at Lynette. Although I want to make her life miserable, I don’t want to hear others saying that you’re ungrateful and don’t respect your teacher. You might not care about that, but I do,” Sonia said seriously while looking at him.

He was back at her and said nothing, but they understood what each other wanted to say through their locked gaze.

The two just looked at each other as the atmosphere around them was serene and peaceful.

When Charles looked at them, he could clearly feel that he was from a different world and that he could not enter their world.

Soon, he shook his head and rolled his eyes before lowering his gaze, pretending that he saw nothing. Finally, he started to type on his feed.

Sonia and Toby published their statements one after another.

Charles, the man involved in the supposed ‘affair’, should also no longer delay sharing his evidence.

In the end, the netizens did not get a reply from Toby, but as usual, they were not disappointed.

That was because they never wished for him to reply to them. If he did, that would shock them to their cores.

The netizens did not stay long on Toby’s feed. After knowing that Sonia’s supposed paramour, Charles had published his statement and the security footage, all the netizens moved to his feed right away.

After all, they did not dare to cause too much commotion under Toby’s profile as he was an influential person in the country. Although they did not say anything bad, they were clear about his status and how he was known for being cruel to outsiders. That made them slightly afraid of him.

Now that Charles’ evidence was published, all of them left right away.

Soon, the netizens saw Charles’ statement.

As compared to the statements of Sonia and Toby, Charles’ statement sounded more cheerful and lighthearted.

‘Yes, I am the man who supposedly had an affair with Sonia, as all of you already know. I would like to thank Miss Lynette Lore for giving me this identity and for allowing me to experience what it feels like to be a paramour for the first time. I have to say that it’s quite a fresh experience, but I don’t like it when others give me titles that do not belong to me. If you told me to act as a paramour, I might have been interested and agreed to help you because I’ve never been one before, and I have to say I’m curious about how it feels to be one. However, you did not tell me anything beforehand and just slandered me in such a way. This, I cannot accept. Don’t blame me for exposing you. You’re the one at fault for doing such shameless things first.’

All the netizens burst out in laughter upon seeing his statement.

‘Oh my God, it turns out that President Lane is this kind of person. In comparison to how serious Miss Reed and President Fuller were, I actually prefer President Lane’s style more.’

‘Me too! I couldn’t control my laughter when I read the part where he said he was the paramour in this case.’

‘Although President Lane looks to be a man who is not that smart and responsible, he is a domineering one. When he said, ‘don’t blame me for exposing you’, he was so freaking cool!’

183697

0

0

0

Chapter 1074 Charles’ Persistence

‘Why do you guys care if he sounds cool or not? Aren’t we here to get some evidence? Where’s the evidence?’ There were a lot of netizens who were fangirling over Charles, while some of them were more focused on the main point. That was why some netizens reminded the rest that they were there searching for evidence. The rest of the netizens quickly responded to this.

‘That’s right. We were looking for evidence. How did we get distracted?’ someone commented. ‘I can’t help it. President Lane is an entertainer—his presence attracted all of our attention. Shrug’

‘Charles, Miss Reed said that the male lead of this matter will make a public statement about this, President Lane. Are you admitting that you’re the male lead of this whole gossip that’s going on? Where’s the evidence? Why aren’t you giving it to us?’ one comment asked.

‘Yeah,’ another one agreed. Charles saw the comments he had been mentioned in and tapped on them to reply to the netizens’ messages. ‘Don’t worry. There’ll be no lack of evidence. I was too furious earlier, so I only posted a bunch of words without providing the evidence. I’ll post it now, so you guys will just have to refresh my profile.’

The moment Charles posted his reply, all of the netizens twisted their faces into looks of exasperation. They were speechless. What? How could he forget such a thing? But the netizens could tell that Charles was genuinely furious. They refreshed Charles’ page while chuckling at his comment. As promised, there was a new post the next time they refreshed it. The post’s content was simple and straightforward—it was a single sentence and a video. ‘Here’s the evidence you guys want,’ it said, along with a link to a video.

All the netizens clicked on the link to look at the evidence without hesitation. When they saw the video, they immediately knew that it was a copy of the CCTV footage. The footage showed Sonia and Charles getting out of the car and walking directly into the hotel. A bellboy stepped forward and led them into a room. Then, the footage switched to show another angle of them walking toward their room and entering it. Alas, since the CCTVs were located along the corridors, they couldn’t show the full view of the room.

After the video showed Sonia and Charles entering the room, the netizens realized that another person was already in the room. Of course, most netizens couldn’t recognize the person, but a few more knowledgeable netizens immediately knew who the man in the room was. He was the man who had stepped forward to prove that the rumors were false—he was Brian, the governor of the Bank of Caruna’s headquarters in Seafield.

Soon after that, Sonia and Charles sat opposite the governor. The CCTV was fast-forwarded—the left corner of the video showed the time moving at a faster pace. The video went on for another five minutes before the netizens saw Sonia and Charles getting to their feet. They shook hands with Brian before leaving the room. But the netizens weren’t idiots—they knew that Sonia and Charles couldn’t have stayed in the room for just five minutes.

The video had been fast-forwarded so that it seemed like Sonia and Charles were only in the room for five minutes, and this was done so that the netizens would be able to watch the whole clip easily. Otherwise, they’d have to stare at their screens for a few hours! Either way, the video made it clear that Sonia and Charles hadn’t left the room when they entered it, so the netizens didn’t care if they fast-forwarded the video.

After Sonia and Charles left the room, the video returned to its original pace again. It showed them walking along the corridor into the elevator, then changed to show them departing the elevator and walking out of the hotel lobby. They walked out of the main entrance and stopped outside. They were clearly waiting for their ride. While waiting, Sonia shuddered in response to the cold weather and rubbed her arms to warm herself. Charles took his jacket off and put it over Sonia. After a while, he started to shiver, so Sonia returned the coat to him.

This scene was familiar to most netizens as they had seen the pictures of the duo handing each other the jacket. The video continued for a while, and the car arrived in front of the hotel a bit after Sonia returned the jacket to Charles. Charles stepped forward and opened the door for Sonia to enter before he got in. Right after that, the car drove off, and the video came to an end. The scene where Charles opened the car door for Sonia had also been snapped in pictures.

‘Woah. I was wondering why Squirrel Media only uploaded pictures and not videos to prove that Miss Reed and President Lane were sleeping with each other. After all, videos are more convincing, aren’t they? I knew they would have videos of Miss Reed and President Lane, yet they only uploaded images of them. Now I know why! They didn’t upload the videos because that would prove the innocence of these two people. If they posted the video, they would prove that they were just creating rumors! That was why Squirrel simply took pictures that made them seem like they were in love. Squirrel Media was just fooling us all along! They’re disgusting! Pfft!’ one comment read.

‘That’s right! I can’t believe Squirrel started rumors about them when they just went to the hotel to discuss work-related matters. Wouldn’t everyone have to avoid having hotel meetings if that were the case?’ another comment asked.

‘Yeah. Since when did hotels get such a nasty image for themselves? Do people automatically associate hotels with the act of doing something immoral? I feel like I’m about to puke because of how gross these media companies are! Sure, some people may use hotels as a spot for their physiological needs, but some people go there for work and relaxation purposes, right? But I’m curious… Miss Lore and Squirrel Media had the guts to start rumors about Miss Reed and President Lane when they were just there for work. Weren’t they afraid that Miss Reed and President Lane would pull the CCTV footage out to prove them wrong?’

Charles immediately responded to this comment. ‘Well, they destroyed the CCTV footage almost immediately after that. By the time we knew of these rumors, it was too late for us to retrieve the footage. We wouldn’t have taken so long to reveal the evidence otherwise. We had been trying to fix the footage before this. I bet Lynette’s mad right now. She probably hadn’t expected us to fix the CCTV footage successfully. Hahaha…’ The netizens could tell that Charles was pleased with himself just by looking at the way he made his comment.

Even though many netizens were familiar with how he communicated on the Internet, they were still speechless. But, of course, this didn’t last for long—they went back to commenting after a while. ‘Oh, so they ruined the CCTV footage. That explains why they were so prepared to start these rumors. As President Lane said, they probably assumed that they couldn’t retrieve the CCTV footage,’ one comment wrote.

‘Ah… It seems like Miss Lore and the people working with Squirrel Media are pretty dumb. I can’t believe they don’t know that CCTV footage can be recovered.’ The netizens started teasing the people who created the rumors. Amidst the friendly and playful comments were a few that sounded a little harsher.

‘Am I the only one who wants to know why President Lane and Miss Reed have to meet and discuss work at a hotel? Can’t they do it somewhere else? Why did they have to pick a hotel out of all the places? Isn’t that just rather puzzling?’ In other words, this comment implied that Charles and Sonia had ulterior motives for deciding to have a meeting in a hotel. The other netizens were infuriated by this comment and were about to attack this person when Charles responded with a long text.

‘What’s so puzzling about it? If you’re dirty-minded, the whole world looks dirty to you. Let me tell you why we picked a hotel and not somewhere else. It’s because this hotel is the only seven-star hotel in our area. We wanted to ask Mr. Smith for some help, and we were the ones who invited him for a meet-up, so we naturally wanted a place with a better environment. We wanted to show our sincerity to ensure we’d achieve our goals!’

Chapter 1075 The Rude Family

This wasn’t the end of the comment. The platform that they used had a limit to the number of words in a statement, and Charles couldn’t finish his words all at once, so he had to split it into a few comments. His second comment came soon after his first.

‘Even if we met other regular clients, we would still pick this hotel. As I said, this hotel is a high-class place that allows us the security and privacy to discuss our work-related matters. I’m not the only one who does this. Anyone in the business industry would do the same. Oh, I forgot, you’re probably just a low-level worker who’s too far from our level.

You probably haven’t attended a work meeting like this, which is why you don’t know how normal it is. Well, you should remember this now that I’ve explained it to you. I hope you don’t embarrass yourself again [smile]’.

When the netizens saw Charles revealing everything to the public, they were shocked for a moment before responding to their situation.’183698

‘That’s cool. President Lane, you’re one of a kind—no regular person can achieve your standards. I intended to help you out, but it seems like you don’t need us at all. You can do everything yourself—it makes us feel like we’re useless. I bet the person whose comment that triggered this is probably too furious to say anything now,’ one comment said.

‘Logically speaking, I should feel angry as I’m one of the low-level workers that President Lane mentioned in his comment. But for some reason, I don’t feel angry at all. If anything, I feel pretty good!’ another comment said.

‘I agree! I’m the same. But I think I know why… President Lane is targeting that person, and as we watch the argument go on, we associate ourselves with President Lane, not that person or ourselves. That’s why we enjoy this,’ the comment said in response,

‘I see,’ the earlier commenter replied. The person who had made the triggering comment read Charles’ reply to him and all the other netizens’ sarcastic remarks toward him. His face was red with anger, but he didn’t dare to say much. He wanted to argue against Charles and curse at him, but as Charles said, he was nothing but a low-level worker while Charles was a big shot. He couldn’t afford to offend Charles, so he didn’t say anything in the end. All he could do was delete his comment before going offline.

0

The netizens were keeping an eye on him. When they saw that his comment had disappeared, they knew that the person had been too embarrassed to stay. So the netizens cheered when he left. That’s the way it should be! The CCTV footage made it clear that there’s nothing between Charles and Sonia. They were just there for business. So why did that person try so hard to prove their intelligence? Look at how that turned out. They deserved it! The other netizens thought.0

There was more than just one person who made such mean comments. But after seeing how the first comment had been rebutted so harshly, many of the other commenters held themselves back. ‘Hey, President Lane, how are you planning to go against Miss Lore and Squirrel Media?’ This comment surfaced under Charles’ post after a while. The netizens hadn’t gotten an answer from Sonia and Toby, so they were clearly trying to dig some information from Charles. They figured that Charles wasn’t as serious and stern as Sonia and Toby—He’d probably answer us, right?

0

In the end, they were right—Charles did give them an answer. However, it wasn’t the answer that they were looking for. ‘Hehe… I don’t know about this. After all, Sonia’s the victim more than I am. So, this will depend on what she wants to do. I’ll support her regardless of how she gets revenge against them,’ Charles commented.

‘Ahh… This wasn’t the answer we wanted!’ The netizens were devastated. Are the three of them devils or what? Why are they so hard to deal with? Even Sonia was amused at the comments. “Charles, you’re really—” Sonia started.

Charles held a finger up to stop her. “I know what you’re about to say. You’re going to say that I’m nasty because I messed around with the netizens, right? But I’m not fooling around with them. I’m being honest. I’ll go according to your will—I’ll do whatever you need me to do in order to avenge you. But you didn’t tell me what to do, so what am I supposed to tell them?” he said.

Sonia shook her head. She was speechless for a moment and was about to say something when a phone ringtone sounded. Both Sonia and Charles turned to see Toby’s phone ringing. With the both of them staring at him, Toby pulled his phone out. The moment he saw the caller ID, his face darkened, and the space between his brows narrowed. Finally, he slid his phone across the screen to end the call.

When Sonia saw his actions, she could somehow guess who the caller was. “Was that Harry?”

Toby shook his head. “No. It was Harry’s son and Lynette’s father. He’s the head of the Lore Family and the CEO of Lore Communications.”

Sonia nodded to show that she heard what he had said. She didn’t question him further as she wasn’t interested in knowing more. Charles, on the other hand, seemed somewhat interested. “That guy’s calling you to talk about this, huh? I bet he saw your statement and knew that you’re searching for the person responsible for this matter. Perhaps that was why he contacted you. But that’s a pretty pretentious move, isn’t it?”

A disdainful look surfaced on Toby’s face. “I bet this guy already knew that his daughter was responsible for this. His daughter probably got Lore Communications to make her post go viral. I’m sure that this person is aware of this matter since he’s the CEO. After all, either the CEO or the president has to provide the passcode to boost the engagement of a post—regular staff from other departments wouldn’t be able to do it. So, when Lynette got Lore Communications to do this, she must have already told the CEO about it and gotten his approval beforehand.”

“Are you saying that this guy secretly allowed his daughter to ruin my reputation and frame me online? Are you saying he’s supporting his daughter’s behavior because he wants us to break up?” Sonia asked as she turned to look at Toby. Toby wore a grim expression on his face, and the air around him seemed to be a few degrees colder. His gloomy aura seemed to suck all the oxygen out of the room. He was clearly furious.

“That’s right. That’s what Toby meant.” Charles stuck his thumb up. “That’s why I think this guy is pretentious. Look. After our company announced his daughter as one of the people responsible for this matter, he never once called Toby to plead for forgiveness. But now that Toby had made a statement himself, he finally called Toby. Obviously, this guy thought Toby wouldn’t do anything to him at first—his beliefs only started getting shaky after he saw Toby’s post. That was why he decided to call and ask for forgiveness. But, no… Perhaps it’s not that… He seems like he’s just testing waters right now,” Charles said.

“Charles is right.” Toby nodded in agreement. Sonia was quiet for a while before she let out a laugh. “That’s interesting. His daughter is interested in you, so he wants us to break up. As a father, this guy didn’t stop his daughter after seeing what she did; he even tried to help her out secretly. As I observe the way that both of them are, I can’t help but wonder… Could your teacher secretly be hoping for us to break up as well?”

When Toby heard Sonia’s words, his pupils shrank in surprise. He couldn’t utter a single word for a while. Sonia’s heart sank when she saw his response, but she quickly spread her lips into a wider smile. “It seems like I was right. Your teacher doesn’t seem to fancy me.”

“Sh*t. All three generations of the Lore Family are waiting for you and Sonia to split up. That’s so weird.” Charles was surprised and looked as if he had just heard the funniest joke of his life. Toby ignored his comment as he stared at Sonia. He parted his lips and hesitated for a while before speaking. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that my teacher…”

“It’s not your fault.” Sonia shook her head. “I’m not money; I can’t expect everyone to love me. So, I don’t really care whether your teacher likes me. What I care about is whether you’d get impacted by them. I’m afraid you might think of breaking up with me when you hear that they don’t like me or want you to break up with me…” she muttered.

Toby let out a laugh before flicking his fingers against her forehead. “What nonsense is that? Why would I do such a thing? If I had such thoughts, it’d only show that I’m someone who can’t form my own opinions. Do I look like a puppet that’s being controlled by someone else? I haven’t told you this yet, but… My meeting with my teacher today went pretty bad.”

Chapter 1076 Harry’s Intentions

“What do you mean?” Sonia instinctively straightened her figure. Was there an argument during his meeting with Harry? That doesn’t make sense. After all, he’s Harry’s favorite student, and he has always respected Harry as a teacher. So, I don’t think they have a reason to be unhappy with one another. But after thinking about her conversation with Charles earlier, Sonia felt like she could guess Toby’s answer.

“Did the conversation go bad because of me?” Sonia gazed at Toby as she parted her red lips to speak at a slow pace. Toby was silent for a while. “I knew it.” The corner of Sonia’s lips curled oddly, and no one could tell if she was happy or sad. Her response sounded pretty neutral. After all, Harry was Toby’s teacher, not hers; Harry wasn’t related to her in any way. So, she didn’t really care if Harry liked her.

“What did you guys talk about?” Even though Sonia didn’t care about what Harry thought of her, she still wanted to know what she did, which led to their miserable conversation. Toby knitted his brows—he looked as if he didn’t want to answer her for a moment. Charles rolled his eyes at this. “Hey, Toby, why can’t you just be honest? What’s wrong with telling us these things? You should say it aloud, especially since this has to do with Sonia. How did she get your teacher mad? Your teacher wouldn’t dislike her for no reason, right?”

Sonia didn’t say anything, but Toby could tell that she was curious, so he ended up telling her what he and Harry had talked about earlier that day. Toby didn’t tell her the whole story—he simply gave her a summary of what happened. He even changed how Harry phrased certain things to ensure that Sonia wouldn’t feel any discomfort after hearing his words. After all, Harry had been rather harsh with his words. Even though Toby was well-intentioned, the way he changed certain words made his whole story sound rather stiff and made-up. So, Sonia quickly realized that Toby hid parts of the story from her.

Judging by the way he spoke and the guilty expression on his face, Sonia could easily guess that Harry had been talking badly about her. She curled her lips into a sarcastic smirk. “It’s such a hassle for someone as well-known as Harry to bother himself with some nobody like me. He didn’t just pay attention to me; he even developed a thorough understanding of me just to show that I’m no match for you at all. It must have been tiring for that old man to do so much work,” she said in self-deprecation.

Toby was unhappy after hearing the way that his girlfriend spoke of herself. He quickly reached his hands out to turn her face so that she was looking into his eyes. “Stop talking nonsense! There shouldn’t be any comparisons between the both of us. To me, we’re both on the same level. I’ve clarified this to my teacher, so you don’t have to worry about what my teacher said. I’ll never take his words seriously,” Toby uttered.

“Hmph. How can we tell if you’re being honest?” Charles pursed his lips. Toby turned around to look at him with an icy glare. If you say one more word, I’m going to kill you right here, Toby’s eyes said. Charles seemed to get the message from the hateful look in Toby’s eyes. Charles shrank away when he realized that his words had triggered Toby, and he no longer dared to say anything else after that. Toby let go of Charles after that. All along, Toby tolerated Charles’ provocative words only because of his relationship with Sonia and the Lanes. However, Toby simply couldn’t allow Charles to target his relationship with Sonia.

Charles had every reason to be grateful right then. Thankfully, I spoke in a joking tone earlier. I’m glad I wasn’t trying to stir a fight between Toby and Sonia. Toby wouldn’t have let me go so quickly otherwise!

Naturally, Sonia noticed the hateful look that Toby flashed at Charles. She understood the reason for Toby’s actions and sighed before shaking her head in Charles’ direction. You should watch your mouth in front of him, she mouthed to Charles. She understood why Toby was so triggered—anyone would feel annoyed if there were another person around them who constantly went against their opinions. This was incredibly frustrating when one was trying to show his genuine love and care to the other part. So, it wasn’t surprising that Toby felt the urge to murder Charles right then.

If Sonia had been in the same position, she would’ve gotten mad too. Instead, after receiving Sonia’s warning, Charles carefully drew his fingers across his lips as if to show that his mouth was zipped shut. Only then did Sonia turn her focus back to Toby. “Don’t be mad. You know what Charles is like.”

Toby pressed his lips together. “I don’t care about what other people think. I just want to know what you think—do you think I never brought this up with my teacher?”

“Of course not.” Sonia stared at the man earnestly. “I know you wouldn’t lie to me about such a thing, so I never suspected you at all. Charles was the only one who said that,” she replied. Toby’s brows relaxed a little upon hearing her words. “That’s good. I really told my teacher everything that I told you. After that, I told him to leave Fuller Group. Anyway, I just don’t want you to worry about this. No one’s ever going to tear us apart.” Toby’s words were firm as he spoke. His eyes glinted with a mixture of determination and fury.

When Sonia saw the look on his face, she knew Lynette’s actions, and Harry’s words must have infuriated Toby. That was why Toby reassured her with an icy, hateful glare in his eyes. Well, I guess I can understand how he feels. After all, it must be hard when the people around you consistently pressure you to break up with your partner. The people around him keep telling him that he chose the wrong person and that he’d break up eventually, Sonia thought. Well, I wouldn’t be able to handle it, either.

“Toby.” Right then, Charles, who had only been quiet for a while, spoke up again. Toby shot him an icy glare. “What else do you want to say? If you’re going to make some odd statement, then I’d rather you keep your mouth shut.”

Charles spread his hands open in protest. “What makes you think I’m about to say something like that? I just wanted to say that your teacher has been telling you to leave Sonia, that Sonia’s not a good woman, that she’s not a good match for you… But have you considered who your teacher thinks is a good match for you?” he asked.

Sonia raised an eyebrow upon hearing Charles’ words while Toby furrowed his brows once more. “No,” he parted his lips to reply. It was true—Toby had never considered this question in the past. Previously, all he did was argue against his teacher—he didn’t bother to think about anything else. He wasn’t interested in hearing the answer, anyway.

183699

“It’s Miss Lore, isn’t it?” Sonia said out of nowhere. Toby looked at her, and she met his gaze with a smile. “Your teacher probably wants to introduce his granddaughter to you so that you can be with her.”

“That’s right.” Charles held his thumb up once more. “That’s what I was thinking, too. If Harry keeps insulting Sonia, claiming that she’s not good enough for you and telling you to break up with her, then who does he expect you to be with? There’s only one answer—he wants you to be with his granddaughter. His granddaughter likes you, after all. Since his son knows about this, I’m sure he’s aware of this as well. So, Harry’s trying to get his granddaughter the man she fancies. As a grandfather, he’d certainly support her decision and wouldn’t wish to see his granddaughter sad or disappointed. He wouldn’t introduce any woman other than her, would he? Furthermore, if you dated his granddaughter, it wouldn’t just make his granddaughter happy; it’d also improve the Lore Family’s reputation. This is a win-win situation for them. I bet Harry’s aware of this.”

Toby was speechless at this point. He lowered his gaze as he contemplated the other man’s words.

0

0

0

Chapter 1077 Providing Evidence

Toby didn’t argue against Charles’ statement—deep down, he clearly believed what Charles had said. However, Charles’ words reminded Toby of something that he hadn’t paid much attention to in the past. Now that I hear what Charles said, it seems like a possibility. Toby shut his eyes as he tried his best to contain his anger. When he next opened his eyes, his gaze had turned much darker than before.

Everyone in the room knew that Toby wasn’t going to take the situation lightly. He simply concealed all of his emotions beneath his cold and empty gaze. “I got it. I’ll deal with this.” Toby let go of Sonia’s face as he responded to Charles.

“Well, don’t disappoint us,” Charles uttered with a shrug. Toby ignored the other man and was about to speak to Sonia when his phone rang again. Ever since he ended the call earlier, he had left his phone on Sonia’s desk. So, once it started ringing, everyone could see who the call was from. It was from Tom. This time, Toby showed no intention of ignoring the call. “What is it?” he asked as he placed the phone against his ear.

“President Fuller.” Tom’s voice came from the other end of the line. “Mr. Lore just called me a while ago and said he couldn’t get to you. But, he wanted to know your whereabouts and whether you were occupied.”

Toby’s face remained blank after hearing Tom’s words. Toby had clearly expected the Lore Family to contact Tom after they failed to contact him. “Well? How did you respond to him?” Toby asked as he narrowed his eyes. Through their call, Tom could tell from Toby’s voice that Toby wasn’t fond of the Lore Family. “I told him that I didn’t know where you were. I explained that I’m not the only assistant and that I don’t always know your whereabouts,” Tom answered hastily.

Toby nodded. “Go on.”

“I don’t think Mr. Lore believed what I said, but he no longer tried asking about you since he knew that he couldn’t get anything from me. Regardless, he indirectly asked me about your responses to the incident online and your views on it,” Tom added.

“Ignore him.” There wasn’t a hint of emotion on Toby’s face.

Tom pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he replied. “I know what you mean, President Fuller. So, I simply responded with a few vague sentences just to get him off the call. He eventually ended the call with a rather annoyed tone, so I believe that he’ll try to contact you again,” Tom explained.

“I got it.” Toby nodded. After that, he took a look at the woman who was sitting in front of him. “You don’t have to care about the Lore Family for now. I’ll deal with it in the future. But, for now, I need you to handle the ghostwriters and fake business accounts online. You’ll also need to deal with Titus and Connor,” he ordered.

“I’ve already sent someone to deal with Squirrel Media, and they should be in the midst of discussing some matters acquiring Squirrel Media. We managed to acquire their company this afternoon, but the workers in Squirrel Media… Except for that secretary that Sonia mentioned…” Tom replied.

“We’ll have to do a background check on all workers. I want all the people involved or interested in this matter, and all the individuals who had ever produced fake news, to be fired instantly.” Toby’s short statement had probably turned thousands of people jobless.

Tom nodded. “Yeah. I’ve already gotten someone to deal with the other media companies involved this time. As you said, we gave their rivals a promotion instead of them, so the internal team is a complete mess now. I bet the Internet will be filled with the news regarding the significant changes in the media company’s management team from tomorrow onward. Meanwhile, I’ve already collected the evidence for the business accounts and filed a court case. We can head to court to fool around with them for a while and get them to spit out the money they had earned illegally. I wanted to contact the cybersecurity department to deal with the ghostwriters, but I realized someone had already warned them before I did anything. The ghostwriting team has gone their separate ways now. Who do you think was the one who warned them, President Fuller?” Tom eyed his boss puzzledly.

Toby narrowed his eyes as his expression turned grim. “Zane. He’s the only one who can do it.”

Sonia was shocked to hear this. Zane? Why are we talking about him all of a sudden? Meanwhile, on the other end of the call, Tom smacked his forehead as realization spread across his face. “Ah, I forgot about Mr. Coleman. He left for the village nearly two months ago, yet he’s still keeping up with everything online. He’s truly one of the trendier ones.”

Toby frowned immediately. “Since you look up to him so much, should I hint to him that you’d like to go over? Why don’t you work for him instead?” Toby suggested.

Tom’s expression fell as he immediately apologized. “D-Don’t do that, President Fuller. I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have said that.” This was Tom’s fault­—he completely forgot about how Zane and Toby were love rivals. Oops. I praised President Fuller’s enemy. No wonder he’s mad!

Toby scoffed. “Alright. The country’s investigation team is looking into Triforce Enterprise. Even though Titus managed to get rid of a lot of the evidence, I’m sure there are still some clues and marks left behind. It all depends on whether we manage to find it. So, what I need you to do now is to tell the investigation team about the quarry that had been under Triforce Enterprise five years ago. He concealed the truth about the collapse of the mine and didn’t reveal the exact number of people who died. This will be my way of getting back at him this time.”

Toby turned to Sonia after finishing his words. “Is that okay?” Sonia had always wanted to ruin the Gray Family and Triforce Enterprise on her own—that was why she didn’t want Toby to do anything. Yet, now that he wanted to target Titus, he felt he had to ask for her opinion first. Sonia nodded when she saw the hopeful look in his eyes. “Yeah.”

Titus had been messing around too much recently, so it was about time they got back at him. Of course, just revealing the news itself wouldn’t completely destroy the Gray Family and Titus, but it would cause some harm to their reputation and make it easier for Sonia and Toby to attack them in the future.

The space between Toby’s brows was no longer wrinkled after he saw that Sonia had agreed to his idea. “When you’re providing information to the investigation team, try not to reveal your identity. It’d be best if the team had just happened to hear the news from some random person,” Toby said into the phone.

“I got it,” Tom replied. Toby pressed his lips together as he continued. “And for Connor… He likes snatching things from others, right? So let’s give him a taste of his own medicine. Let’s see how he likes it when others snatch his things,” he said viciously.

“Alright.” The call ended after that, and Toby massaged his temples as he lowered his phone. Sonia could tell that the man was rather tired, so she made him a cup of coffee. “By the way, you mentioned Zane’s name earlier. What was that about?”

“It’s nothing. It was just a passing mention. Don’t worry about it,” Toby said as he lifted his coffee cup to his lips and gave Sonia a warm smile. Unfortunately, his smile didn’t reach his eyes. I will not tell her that Zane’s also helping with this. I’d be making my love rival seem like a good person, right? Sonia didn’t ask much about it since Toby made no further comments. She figured that it was probably some minor thing, so she didn’t see the need to ask anymore. She knew how envious Toby could sometimes get, anyway. The more I ask, the more I’d make him jealous, right?

Charles was the only one who sat around and stared at them. When he looked at Toby, he felt like he could roll his eyes all the way back. Doesn’t Sonia know that this guy is doing all of this intentionally? Zane clearly did something for Sonia, and Toby’s undoubtedly hiding this for his own benefit. We’re all men, so we all know what it’s like, right?

Even though Charles didn’t think highly of Toby, it never crossed his mind to expose Toby, either. After all, Charles knew how Zane felt toward Sonia, and Charles, too, didn’t want to make his love rival look like a good person.

Chapter 1078 A Pretentious Apology

“Now, the media’s fake business accounts, their ghostwriters, Titus, and Connor will all pay for their actions. Next, what do you think we should do with the Lore Family?” Toby asked as he turned to look at Sonia.

“I haven’t thought of this either,” she replied while massaging her temples. He gazed at her firmly. “Have you not thought of it, or are you thinking on behalf of me?” he asked. Sonia’s act of massaging her temples came to a halt for a second. Her slight pause wasn’t noticeable, but the man noticed it anyway. The man immediately knew that his guess was correct.

Sonia was lying when she said that she didn’t know how to get back at Lynette—after all, it was easy to come up with ways to take revenge. Regardless, Sonia kept claiming that she hadn’t thought of a way because she had other concerns on her mind. Toby sighed. “You don’t have to do that. You can just do what you think is best,” he said.

“I know,” she replied while smiling at the man. “I know that you don’t want me to get bullied, but similarly, I don’t want others to think of you badly. You might not care about your reputation, but I can’t allow others to talk badly about you like that. Anyway, we shouldn’t be rash about this. At least everyone knows that this was just a false rumor and that Miss Lore was the one who was trying to mess with me behind my back. Her reputation has already been ruined, so there’s no rush for us to get revenge. Give me some time to think about this. Trust me, okay? I won’t allow myself to be stepped on like that.” She slipped her arm around his as she gazed at him earnestly.

Since she had made herself clear, Toby couldn’t say much else. He went along with her decision. After all, as she said, the situation was much clearer after they had clarified things on their end, and no one was cursing at Sonia any longer. Right then, all of the netizens’ fury was directed toward Lynette. Sonia was innocent and free from criticism, so she could take all the time she wanted to figure out how she would get back at Lynette. Toby didn’t mind giving Sonia the time she needed.

Charles, who saw how Sonia was thinking for Toby and how Toby cared for Sonia, chuckled bitterly to himself. Both of them are clearly thinking for the other person. They genuinely love each other. There’s no way anyone can get between them. Fortunately, Carl is in Westsanshire now, and his alter ego is taking control of his body. Otherwise, he’d probably lose his mind if he saw how loving Sonia and Toby are to each other.

“President Reed.” All of a sudden, Daphne showed up at the door and rapped her knuckles against it while calling out for Sonia. As she uttered Sonia’s name, her gaze fell on Charles, who was standing opposite Sonia. However, Daphne quickly shifted her gaze away to fix it on Sonia, as if Sonia were the only person in the room. That way, Daphne could pretend that the other man didn’t exist. That was the only way she could ensure he didn’t impact her emotions.

Still, Daphne didn’t notice how Charles had been sitting lazily on the couch before she appeared and how he froze for a moment before slowly shifting into an upright position after hearing her voice. He even had the thought of turning his chair to face her. But after some contemplation, he decided against this idea. Nevertheless, his grip on the chair’s armrests was unyielding, and his head was tilted downward so that no one could see the look on his face.

The moment Sonia saw Daphne, her first instinct was to look at Charles’ reaction. She watched him freeze and sit upright before tilting his head downward. When she noticed how tightly he gripped the chair, Sonia immediately knew he had intended to turn around to look at Daphne. He probably decided to hold himself back in the end, Sonia thought. Naturally, Toby also realized all of Charles’ subtle actions. It wasn’t that he enjoyed observing Charles—Toby simply noticed how Sonia was looking at Charles. Her gaze made him feel uneasy, so he also ended up watching Charles. That was how Toby saw all of Charles’ odd reactions to Daphne.

Toby’s thoughts were a step farther from Sonia’s. Sonia figured that Charles was reacting to Daphne’s presence in such a manner because Charles didn’t like Daphne, but Toby’s assumptions differed. Toby looked at Daphne for a moment before turning to look at Charles. He narrowed his eyes, and some unidentifiable emotion flashed across his gaze for a moment before disappearing. All of this happened in a split second, and Sonia didn’t even catch it at all.

When Sonia saw Charles hanging his head low as if deep in thought, she let out a soft sigh before turning to the woman standing at her front door. “What is it?” Sonia asked as she spread her lips into a smile. Daphne used the corner of her eyes to gaze at the chair with its back turned against her. She couldn’t see much of the person sitting on the chair—she could only see the top of Charles’ head. When she saw that Charles had no intention of turning around, she felt a mixture of relief and disappointment.

In the end, Daphne sighed and shook her head before looking away and returning to her usual stern self. “A few media companies called earlier, President Reed. They wanted to apologize and make it up to you. They hope that you would forgive their actions, and they sent some hampers over,” she reported.

“Are you saying that these companies brought gifts to apologize to me?” Sonia raised an eyebrow. “Are these media companies the ones who spread the rumors?”

“Yes.” Daphne nodded. Sonia immediately let out a laugh. “It seems like Tom was right. He said that the media companies would approach us, and they really did.”

“Hmph. Their positions are about to be threatened by their rivals. Of course, they would do such a thing.” Toby rolled his eyes while speaking in a disdainful tone.183700

“I have a hypothesis,” Sonia said as she turned to look at Toby. He curled his lips into a smile. “I know what you’re thinking.” She smiled in return before turning to look at Charles. “Charles, can you ask your company if you received any apology from these media companies?”

“Sure. I’ll ask them about it.” Charles kicked his leg up to rest it on his other knee as he pulled his phone out and made a call. Daphne quickly lowered her head when she heard Charles’ voice, as if lowering her head would reduce her presence in the room. Sonia sighed again upon noticing this. About two minutes later, Charles got off the phone and shrugged. “I didn’t get anything,” he replied.

“I knew it.” Sonia was surprised by Charles’ answer, but the smug look on her face seemed more evident than before. “Since we were the main targets of this rumor, it wouldn’t make sense for them to only apologize to one of us and not the other. Yet, these media companies deliberately chose to apologize only to one of us. This clearly shows that they have no remorse. In other words, they didn’t approach me with the intention of apologizing.” She turned to look at Toby. “You were their target. They wanted to be affiliated with you through getting into my good books.”

Charles slapped his thigh as he understood the situation. “I understand now. Sonia, are you saying that these media companies approached you to apologize because they hoped that you would put in a good word for them in front of Toby? Is that how they are trying to get Toby to let them off the hook?”

0

Sonia agreed. “Yes. That’s what I mean.”0

Charles’ chest heaved up and down as a surge of anger filled his insides. “F*ck! These guys are so rude. Do they really think they’d achieve their goals by doing such a thing?”

0

“They had no option other than to try their luck, right?” Sonia wore an icy smirk on her lips as she spoke.

Charles balled his fists. “You can’t allow yourself to fall for their trick, Sonia. You shouldn’t feel touched by their apologies and gifts.”

She rolled her eyes in response. “Do you think I’m such a pushover? Do I look that easy to be convinced? Furthermore, I already mentioned that I wouldn’t be touched by their apologies. So why should I care about their pretentious and planned apologies?”

Chapter 1079 Did You Cause Trouble Again?

“That sounds more like it.” Charles gave her a smile of relief, but he then pouted as he seemed to recall something. “Anyway, I’m speechless toward these people. If they wish to secure their positions by apologizing to you, they should at least do it more sincerely.

I would feel more respect for them if they had at least perceived me as someone worthy of receiving an apology. But for the sake of achieving their goals, they chose to only apologize to you. Unfortunately, their actions reveal their true intentions. They are so dumb!”

Then, Charles turned around to look at Toby. “I’m warning you, Toby; you shouldn’t go easy on them just because they stepped forward to apologize to Sonia.” “You idiot.” Toby gave Charles a look of disdain as he responded in a cold voice.

Charles was furious. Did this guy just call me an idiot? He was about to roll his sleeves up to start a fight with Toby when Sonia quickly spread her arms out to gesture for them to calm down. “Alright. Stop messing around. Don’t worry, Charles. I won’t let a single one of them go, and Toby won’t do so either. So your concerns are unnecessary.”

As Charles mentioned, if the media companies were to genuinely apologize to them, Sonia might actually go easy on them since they recognized their mistakes. Nevertheless, these media companies thought that they were clever by apologizing just to Sonia while ignoring Charles. They were too confident that they would be forgiven if they had just apologized to Sonia, and they thought that Toby would let them off the hook. Hah! What a joke. I wonder who gave them this stupid idea, Sonia thought.

“You can tell them their apologies are unappreciated and send the gifts back.” Toby had already given Daphne his orders while Sonia was still scoffing about how dumb the media companies were. Daphne didn’t want to stay at the door for long, either. The longer she stayed, the more likely she would gaze in Charles’ direction. If that happened, Charles would eventually notice her, creating more unnecessary issues for her. So, Daphne was highly grateful to hear Toby’s orders, and she quickly nodded in response. “I got it, President Fuller. I’ll get that done immediately.” She hurried off after that.

Charles didn’t know what he felt as he heard the clicking sound of Daphne’s high heels disappearing down the corridor. At that moment, he realized that he was no longer holding himself back, so he turned his head around to peep in the direction of the office’s entrance. There was no one standing at the door by then, but Charles continued to stare in that direction. Sonia and Toby couldn’t read the expression on his face, so they simply stared at him.

After looking at him for a while, Sonia used her eyes to send a message to Toby. Don’t you think Charles is weird? Toby’s eyes lit up as he responded with his gaze. Hasn’t he always been weird? Sonia twitched her lips in exasperation as she gave up on communicating with Toby. At that moment, Sonia’s phone started ringing. The sound of her ringtone brought Charles back to reality, and he turned around with a frown on his face. There was a hint of frustration in his eyes. It seemed almost as if he was angry at himself for staring at the spot where Daphne had been standing.

Toby gazed at the other man thoughtfully, and Charles finally sensed Toby’s gaze this time. “What are you looking at?” Charles looked up and glared at Toby.

“So… You haven’t sensed it,” Toby taunted as he curled his lips into a smirk.

Charles knitted his brows even more than before. “What do you mean? What did I not sense?”

But Toby simply ignored Charles as he lowered his gaze and played with one of Sonia’s pens. His actions made Charles extremely annoyed. This b*stard is acting all mysterious to make me curious. First, he makes a vague statement; then, he doesn’t elaborate on his meaning. He’s making me go crazy. Finally, Charles gave Toby a hateful glare as if he wanted to use his eyes to burn two holes into Toby. I hate him so much!

Sonia noticed the subtle exchanges between the two men, but she shook her head in resignation before picking up the phone. Well, these two guys are always like that when they’re in the same room, she thought. I’m used to it by now. So I’m fine as long as they don’t get into a fight with each other.

“Hello. Sonia speaking.” Sonia pressed her phone against her ear as she greeted the caller politely. It was an unknown local number, and she didn’t know to whom it belonged. However, she often received calls from different people, which wasn’t new to her. “Hello, Miss Reed. I’m calling from Star Media.” An anxious voice sounded on the other end of the line. “We just received a response from your secretary, Miss Reed. We heard that you returned all of our gifts. I’m calling to ask if you’re not satisfied with the gifts or want something more. If you don’t like what we gave you, we can prepare something that fits your taste. If it’s not enough, we can buy you more gifts. Please give us a chance to show our remorse, Miss Reed…”

Sonia let out an angry scoff after hearing the other person’s voice. I can’t believe they still don’t understand why I rejected their apology and returned their gifts. If they don’t know why I’m doing this, that means that they still don’t understand how ridiculous their attempted apology is. They assume I’m rejecting them because their gifts weren’t enough. Sonia’s gaze was eerily stern as she spoke in a cold voice. “I’m sorry, Sir. I’m out for a factory inspection now, and the line is terrible, so I can’t hear what you’re saying. You can call me again in the future. Goodbye.”

Before waiting to hear what the other person had to say, Sonia simply ended the call with a blank look on her face. “What is it?” Toby pressed his brows together as he gave the woman a concerned look. Sonia shook her head before telling him what she heard on the phone. Toby’s expression was just as grim as Sonia’s after hearing what she said. It seems like I went too easy on these people. That’s why they still have the strength to fight back at this point. At that moment, Toby decided that he would have to create even more trouble for these media companies.

He was thinking of a plan when Sonia’s phone rang again. Her face darkened as she picked the call up without even looking at the caller ID. “If you still think that I’m rejecting your apology because I don’t like your gifts, then there’s nothing much for us to talk about—”

The person on the other end of the line interrupted her, and Sonia froze before she held her phone out to take a look at the caller ID. Her cheeks turned pink after she saw the name on her phone. “I’m so sorry,” she uttered in embarrassment as she apologized to the person on the line. “I didn’t do that intentionally. I thought that you were some horrible media company calling… I’m sorry. Alright. I’ll come over right now.”

After she lowered the phone, Sonia patted her chest as she sighed. Well, that was awkward. I thought that it was a call from a media company, so I spoke in a really harsh tone. But once the other person started talking, I realized that I was the one who got it wrong. I embarrassed myself!

“Who called?” Toby glanced at Sonia’s phone while knitting his brows. Charles looked at her as well. Sonia took a sip of water to calm herself down before responding. “It was a call from the police. They want me to visit the police station,” she explained.

“The police station?” Charles tilted his head sideways. “What did you get yourself into this time, Sonia?”

Chapter 1080 Make Himself Mad

Sonia shot him an angry glare. “Can’t you think any better of me?” Toby was just as furious, and Charles felt his hairs stand on end at the sight of Toby’s face. Charles quickly waved his hand as he grinned cheekily. “Oh, Sonia. I’m sorry. I was just kidding. Don’t be mad.”

“Hmph!” Sonia turned around and ignored him. Toby watched as she lowered her glass of water. “Is this related to Anya?” he parted his lips to ask. Even though it was a question, his tone sounded relatively firm—it was as if he already knew the answer. After all, the only thing that could involve a trip to the station was probably the incident with Anya. Sonia was the one who made the police report.

Meanwhile, Toby was the one who filed the report against the bosses of Dwells and Squirrel Media, so the police would have contacted him and not Sonia. So, if the police called Sonia, it had to be related to Anya. As expected, Sonia nodded in agreement. “Yeah. I made the report a while ago. Connor found a lawyer for Anya, so Anya hasn’t been prosecuted so far. Unfortunately, I’m not willing to give in on this matter, so the police are caught in the middle. They want me to go over to discuss how to deal with the remaining matters,” she explained.

Toby pressed his lips together as he knitted his brows while Charles placed his hands behind his head and let out a scoff. “In my opinion, they shouldn’t allow the criminal to hire a lawyer to argue for their case when all the evidence has already been produced. So even though the criminal will eventually have to pay for their acts, they get to enjoy their lives for a while more because the case is being dragged out. That’s so unfair,” Charles commented.

Sonia shrugged. I know, right? The evidence is all on the table. She should be found guilty immediately. But the law states that the criminal has the right to find her own lawyer to plead for a lesser sentence. So while they’re fighting for their innocence, the criminal will only be kept in the station or the detention center. They won’t be sent to jail. The station and the detention center are both more comfortable than the jail, Sonia thought. Come to think of it; it must feel pretty bad for the victims.

“It’s fine.” Right then, Toby stuck his hands into his pants before curling his lips into a bone-chilling smirk. “She’s going to suffer double the enjoyment she gets now once she goes to jail.” In other words, Toby would get Anya into trouble once she got into jail. Sonia and Charles both understood what Toby meant. Sonia simply raised an eyebrow without saying anything while Charles clapped his hands in excitement. “That’s a great idea. You’re finally doing something, Toby!”

Toby narrowed his eyes dangerously. “Do you have a death wish?”

“No.” Charles held his hands up. “If you don’t, then you should shut up right now,” Toby hissed icily. Then, he turned to look at Sonia. “Are you heading to the police station now?” he asked. “Yeah.” Sonia stretched her limbs before standing up. “I told the police that I’d be there in an hour,” she replied. “Let’s go, then. I’ll go with you.” Toby raised his wrist to check his watch.

183701

Sonia smiled. “Sure.”

When Charles saw that the both of them had made plans, he stood up and yawned. “Alright. Since you guys are leaving, I guess there’s no reason for me to be here. You guys can go to the station; I won’t tag along anymore. I need to go back to my own company.”

“You should’ve left a long time ago.” Toby tilted his head to give Charles an uninterested gaze. “Were you expecting to follow us? Aren’t you embarrassed for third-wheeling us all the time?”

Toby’s words triggered Charles’ temper, and Charles pointed at Toby with a shaky finger. “Toby, you—”

“That’s enough.” Sonia pressed her palm against her forehead as she interrupted Charles’ words. “You guys should stop. Were you guys enemies in your past lives? Is that why you guys fight all the time? Charles, you should stop too. You’re always making Toby mad when he’s not picking on you,” she said.0

0

“Since when have I provoked him?” Charles widened his eyes as he disagreed with Sonia. Sonia ignored him before turning to look at Toby. “And you… Sometimes, Charles doesn’t provoke you either, yet you keep trying to trigger him and get him met. Am I wrong for saying that?”

Toby froze before turning his head away. Sonia pointed her finger toward Charles then. Charles’ lips twitched in annoyance as he turned away too. Both the men didn’t respond to her. Sonia crossed her arms, and she gave both the men a side-eye. “What’s this? Why are you guys quiet? I was right, wasn’t I? You guys always have a way of triggering and making each other mad.”0

Both Toby and Charles couldn’t argue against her words. Initially, they hadn’t realized what was going on, but now that Sonia had pointed it out, they realized that what she said was true. They knew the reason they were doing it—the reason was clear from the start. They both never liked each other, so they couldn’t bear it when the other person was at peace. Once the other person was at ease, they would try to say something to trigger the other person’s temper. They would feel good about themselves when they made the other party mad.

When Sonia saw the two men lowering their heads like kids, she simultaneously felt annoyed and amused. “Alright. Let’s stop talking about this. You should head off, Charles. Thank you for today.” Charles looked up and gave her a casual wave. “You don’t have to thank me. I didn’t do anything or help in any way. I’d feel bad if you thanked me.”

Sonia smiled. “You offered to help me, and you were worried for me. You helped me come up with an idea and made an announcement on my behalf. You helped in so many ways, so I should be thanking you. Don’t you think so, Toby?”

Toby gave Charles an icy glare without disagreeing with Sonia’s words. On the contrary, he clearly agreed with Sonia. “Well, that’s enough talk for today. Let’s go.” Toby held onto Sonia’s hand.

Sonia felt like laughing when she saw how eager the man was to leave. “Alright. We’ll leave now, Charles.”

“Go on.” Charles waved at them. “I’ll have to wait for my assistant to pick me up. I drove your car to return it to you earlier, so I don’t have any transport for now.”

“Sure. You can wait in my office. Goodbye.” Sonia waved at him as well. However, she barely got to bid goodbye before Toby held onto her wrist and pulled her hand down to stop her from waving. Charles rolled his eyes at Toby’s petty behavior. He doesn’t even allow Sonia to say goodbye to me. This guy is so overly possessive.

Sonia was just as bothered by Toby’s actions, but she also found it amusing. After all, she knew how petty Toby could get, especially when it was with other men. It was as if Toby’s pettiness increased by a thousand times when it came to men. In the end, Toby dragged Sonia out of the office before driving her to the police station.

While they were going to the station, Toby started a conversation with her. “Do you think Charles will go to your secretary while he’s waiting at your office?”

Sonia had been scrolling through her phone, but she stopped and looked up when she heard his words. “Do you think Charles will go to Daphne?”

Toby nodded.

Sonia shook her head confusedly. “I don’t think so. Charles hates Daphne—why would he go to her? Wouldn’t he be causing trouble for himself?” After all, someone would only look for the person they disliked if they were sick in their heads and wanted to make themselves mad.

“Why would you ask about this?” Sonia blinked her eyes curiously.

Toby curled his lips into a smirk without answering her question. “Did you just say that Charles hates your secretary?”

Chapter 1081 Charles Likes Daphne

“Yes.” Sonia kept her phone in her bag before she casually leaned against the seat and stretched. Then, as if she were a furry cat, she curled up in the seat and responded softly, “But Charles and Daphne were university mates who later worked together for a few years.

Throughout that time, they remained purely subordinates. Daphne has never revealed her feelings for Charles, and all this while, he did not dislike her as well. It was after that incident that their relationship changed dramatically, and his attitude toward her deteriorated.”

“Perhaps Charles doesn’t truly dislike your secretary. He is simply refusing to face his feelings for Daphne. As a result, he subconsciously changed his attitude toward her, as if doing so would allow his feelings to remain hidden and undiscovered by others,” Toby said, his gaze fixed on the road ahead of him. Sonia was stunned by his words. “What do you mean?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” He came to a complete stop in front of a red light, giving him enough time to turn around and look at her. “Charles has nothing against your secretary. In fact, the opposite was true. He has feelings for her, but he is unaware of them.

He subconsciously wants to care for her without realizing that this is his love for a woman. Instead, he assumed there was something wrong with him that was caused by Daphne. That’s why his attitude toward her changed.”

Toby’s words hit Sonia like a bomb, leaving her stunned for a few moments before she regained her senses and her voice. “W-What?! Charles has feelings for Daphne, but he is unaware of it?”

Toby gave a nod. “That’s correct.” He then saw the green light was on and resumed his journey.

Sonia, on the other hand, was gripping her seatbelt tightly, her mouth wide open in shock. Her dazed expression indicated that she was still reeling from what Toby said. “How could this be possible?”

Wasn’t she the one Charles adored?

It wasn’t that she desired his love. Instead, Charles was the one who told her that he had loved her since he was a child, and that his feelings had not changed over the years.

Furthermore, he was head over heels with her previously.

And now, Toby said that Daphne, not Sonia, was the one Charles truly loved!

Sonia almost didn’t believe it.

“Why isn’t it possible?” Toby looked dashing as he steered the wheel with only one hand. “How else would you explain Charles’s concern for your secretary?”

That almost choked Sonia.

True. Charles seems to be overly concerned about Daphne. She could still recall Charles’ overreaction to Daphne earlier in the day at the office.

“He is concerned about her; you’re right on that. But does that necessarily imply he has feelings for her, no?” Sonia was skeptical.

While she spoke, Toby honked at the slow driver in front of him. “Indeed. But the thing is, he has said that he dislikes her. Would he be so concerned about her if he truly dislikes her? Will you?”

“Of course not. I don’t even want to look at the person I disliked,” she responded immediately.

At the next instant, she froze, as if her moment of realization had arrived. She straightened her back and locked her gaze on Toby, her eyes wide open. “I know what you mean now. Charles would not have reacted this way to Daphne if he truly disliked her. It means that his so-called dislike for her isn’t true.”

“Exactly. No one will ever be concerned, or even pay attention to, someone he dislikes. But Charles, despite saying that he dislikes Daphne, remains concerned about her. Obviously, his dislike isn’t genuine, but his fondness of her is. It’s similar to how a young boy likes to bully the girl that he likes. His bullying of her doesn’t mean that he dislikes her; rather, it indicates that he likes her but does not know how to express it. As a result, he could only use such an attitude to catch her attention. Charles is probably the same way.”

Sonia couldn’t help but applaud after hearing Toby’s analysis. The more he said, the more she believed what he said was true.

However, she frowned in the next few minutes. “But since when does he have feelings for her?” she questioned.

“How would I know if you didn’t even know?” Toby took advantage of the split second when he turned to cast a sidelong glance at her.

She sighed at his response. “Forget it; it’s not important. What matters is that Charles is unaware that he likes Daphne and continues to believe he loves me. Do you think I should bring it up directly with him? Perhaps when he realizes his true love is Daphne, the two of them will reconcile, and even better, they will become a couple!” Sonia said as she stroked her chin, contemplating the possibility that what she said would occur.

Toby saw right through her. He stopped her, his brows furrowed. “You should throw that idea out.”

“Why?” Sonia asked, puzzled.

He fixed his gaze in front of him, his expression solemn. “The reason Charles doesn’t realize his feelings is because he subconsciously doesn’t want to admit that he is no longer faithful to you. However, he also realizes that when his emotions are affected by Daphne every time; that is why he purposefully treated her badly, thinking that by doing so, his emotions would return to normal and he would no longer be affected by her. Do you think he’d accept it if you told him now that he’s affected by Daphne because he loves her? Would he then think that your secretary asked you to tell him that on purpose?”

Sonia opened her mouth in response to Toby’s words, but she was unable to refute anything.

Then, he went on, “He’d undoubtedly believe Daphne was the one who persuaded you to tell him that they should get together. All of his annoyance and frustration will be directed and vented toward her as a result.”

“Could things really get that serious?” Sonia went pale as she heard that.

“Of course it will.” Toby nodded assertively. “As I’ve said, his ignorance of his feelings is due to his refusal to admit that he now loves someone else. If you point it out to him, instead of being surprised, he will get angry instead, thinking that you and your secretary are conspiring to deceive him. While he may not do anything to you, I can’t say for sure that he won’t do anything to Daphne.”

“What should I do, then?” Sonia was anxious. “Do I just pretend to be ignorant and leave them alone?”

“Yes. Just don’t get involved,” Toby agreed. “Directly pointing it out to him will only make matters worse. Therefore, it will be better for you to pretend to be unaware and wait for Charles to realize it himself.

In this way, he would be more willing to accept his true feelings, because time may have passed before he realizes it, and they may have been through a lot of things together during that time, resulting in his attitude toward her may have changed by then. It would be easier for him to accept that he has feelings for her at that point.”

Sonia did not respond to Toby’s words. She lowered her head, pondering whether what he said was plausible. After much thought, she concluded that Toby’s consideration was valid and even thoughtful in all aspects.

“Perhaps you’re right.” She felt relieved and nodded. “Fine. I’ll just pretend I don’t know anything.” “Good move,” Toby said, raising his chin.

Sonia, on the other hand, squinted and looked at him with suspicion. “When did you become an expert in relationships? Even I had no idea Charles had feelings for Daphne, but you did! You even considered the possible outcomes if I mentioned it to Charles. This is not at all like you! Pray tell, what causes you to act this way?”

183702