The clips of what happened outside Elara’s apartnt building circulated and spread like wildfire.
It didn’t even take thirty minutes for the news to beco number one on most trending lists.
However, the real effect began to show the next day.
The videos were uploaded online with unknown channel nas and garnered hundreds of thousands of views.
Beatrice, who was rumored to be nominated for the best debuting actress because of her marvelous acting in ’The Fallen Star,’ was imdiately painted as a vixen who only knew how to climb into people’s beds.
People started digging up more dirt on her, and soone even found out about her mother, who was admitted into a ntal hospital, sothing that even Andrew didn’t know about.
Her involvent in Sean’s case was brought up, and people even speculated whether she was the one who killed Sean’s father, too.
The news that she had gone to a hospital recently for a pregnancy check-up made things worse as people started saying she slept around with Andrew and was pregnant with his child.
At the sa ti, Andrew’s PR team did their best to suppress the news, as the rumors were affecting their stocks, which were falling at a drastic rate.
No one was calling them to confirm whether Andrew was married to Beatrice, but to ask whether the news of their betrayal was true.
Sophia, who woke up from the harsh ringing of her phone as she slept on the couch of the VIP room of the hospital her husband was in, looked at 76 missed calls and 123 ssages and narrowed her brows.
She couldn’t sleep the entire night, worrying about her husband and what would happen to her if anything happened to him, and she only fell asleep early in the morning.
Who would’ve thought her phone would blow up in the anti?
What was so important that her friend circle was blowing her phone up?
Rather than calling anyone, she opened the ssaging app to read what the matter was and if soone had died.
"I can’t believe she hid it from us. I knew I recognized that girl, Elara, from sowhere. Turns out the worker she had been introducing us to was her daughter-in-law."
"Pathetic. I can’t believe I am friends with soone so downgraded."
"The Lloyds were known for their royalty, but now I see how it runs so deep. Their morals are corrupted throughout. They bullied their own daughter-in-law and praised the mistress."
Sophia read the ssages one by one before checking the news article notifications.
She clicked the link, and saying she was surprised would be an understatent. She saw the video and froze in her place.
Honestly, she couldn’t give two fucks about whether Elara was cheated or betrayed. She never liked her, but she didn’t want their dirty laundry to air like this.
Her fingers trembled, knowing what kind of impact it would have on the company, and she was about to call Andrew when the door opened, and Carla walked in, wearing a black hat and black shades to hide her face.
She removed the shawl from around her neck and looked at her mother with displeasure.
"Mom, did you see the news?" Carla asked before she told how people gathered in front of the studio, she recently signed in after using her reputation from the drama ’The Fallen Star.’
They hadn’t gathered empty-handed. They carried rotten tomatoes and eggs, and as soon as she walked out, she was attacked by them.
Sophia looked at her daughter’s pained expression, and her heart ached.
"Don’t go out alone. Let talk to your brother. What is the PR team doing? Why aren’t they putting it down already?!" Sophia said before she looked at Heather, who was resting on the bed, still not conscious.
It was almost like everyone was starting to bully their family from the mont he got into an accident.
She dialed Andrew’s number, but he didn’t pick up after five rings, and she sat there helplessly.
"Your brother is not picking up," Sophia said.
"Mom. It’s definitely Elara. She is doing this to gain more popularity by using people’s sympathy. We must et her," Carla said.
Sophia thought about her words before she shook her head in denial.
"As much as I want to go there and smack the hell out of that bitch, we can’t. If anyone caught us bullying her, things would blow out of proportion, and we won’t be able to do anything after that," Sophia said.
Carla slumped beside her mother, feeling enraged.
At the sa ti, Andrew slamd the file on the table in pure fury.
"What is the aning of this, Frederick Matthew?! We already sent you 70% of the consignnt, and now you are backing out of your word? You have even cancelled the check from your side. And now that I look at the contract, this isn’t your signature either. We trusted you!" Andrew shouted during the phone call.
The man, on the other hand, didn’t say anything.
"Say sothing, damn it! Do you think this is so kind of joke? We are dealing with 10 million dollars here," Andrew shouted.
"Well, I learned it from the best. Deceiving people, using their weakness against them—this is sothing you should be familiar with," Frederick said after a long ti.
"What do you an?" Andrew asked.
"You shouldn’t have betrayed her. The news is all over the internet. I despise people like you the most. My wife left just like that. And there was no way I was going to collaborate with a cheater like you. I just did it for fun," Fredrick said.
Andrew froze.
For fun? He did it for fun? His entire company’s employees’ salaries were based on that.
If he doesn’t pay them, not only will they incur a 10 million loss, but they’ll also have to pay for the supplies out of their own pockets.
They had even taken out a high-interest loan to secure the substitutes within 24 hours.
They will be destroyed. Literally.
"Let’s not mix business with personal life, Fredrick. We have had a history," Andrew tried to persuade the man.
"Yeah, but our history with Frost’s goes way back. I collaborated with you until I knew what kind of scum you were. Now don’t trouble . You can file a complaint if you are so displeased," Fredrick said before he ended the call.
Andrew looked at the phone in shock.
What complaint? On what basis would he do it? The sign was different. All the caras were off, and the cyber team was investigating the offices after microphones were found in his cabin.
They had no proof that the man ever ca to the company to sign a deal.
Heat rose to Andrew’s head as he realized what was happening. Everything started to make sense. Why did they back out of the collaboration and then co again, the smirk on Fredrick’s face when they were signing the deal, the contempt in his eyes when he had entered the company and looked at his grandfather, and what was going through their head—everything made sense to him.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck?!" Andrew scread at the top of his lungs before he threw the phone on the wall in pure fury.
He fell on his knees, pulling his hair in agony, feeling helpless and unsure what to do.
"Sir," Jason knocked on the door.
"What?!" Andrew shouted.
"Mr. Timothy has been found at the place that the lady said. He will be here in five minutes," Jason said, his gaze stopping at the broken phone on the ground.
"And?" Andrew knew there was more he wanted to share, and Jason swallowed hard.
"You should see this," Jason said before he walked to his boss.
Andrew watched the video surfacing online and read all the dirt on Beatrice and the articles about how Elara suffered when she was with him, and the more he read, the angrier he beca, more at himself than the world.
"What did I do, Jason? There’s no redemption for what I did. There was no affair, never. But will anyone ever believe ? She will never," Andrew whispered, his heart shattering into thousands of pieces.
The smugness on Beatrice’s face when she was taunting Elara and slapped her was clear evidence that she had indeed been blinded by friendship and had been sowing discord between them for quite so ti.
"What’s this?" Andrew asked when he saw another notification pop up.
He clicked on the link, and to say he froze would be an understatent.
It was a video, a very vague and blurry one, where a woman could be seen killing a man with a rod.
The man was naked, and no matter how blurry it was, it didn’t take long for Andrew to recognize that man as Sean.
At the sa ti, Elara sat back on the couch in her living room, watching the news on the TV with a heavy heart.
Why? Because Beatrice’s and Andrew’s nas weren’t appearing on TV alone. Her na was coming up, too.
People had mixed reactions about it. And she knew she was going to drag through this mud along with them to bring the truth out; she knew this was important.
If she needed to dirty herself once to get rid of this mud around her forever, she was ready to do it.
"It’s ti for you to know the truth, Andrew," Elara whispered before she closed her eyes, leaning back in her seat as a tear rolled down her face.
Daniel, who was returning from his eting, read the news articles on his tablet, and his fists clenched by his side before he relaxed them and looked out.
"You suffered a lot, my love. But not anymore," he promised to himself.
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