Chapter 1041 It Isn’t Them
As everyone in Seafield knew, the Reed Family and the Lane Family were close as Sonia and Charles grew up together too.
If the photos were revealed without editing, a number of people would not buy the story since everyone knew it was Sonia and Charles.
Thus, the Squirrel Media edited the photos by blurring out Charles’ face so that the public would be hidden from the fact that it was him. They would perceive the guy in the picture as a garishly-dressed and untrammeled man at first glance. It was because such a man would lend credibility to the content.
After all, such men were adept in winning women’s hearts, so it was highly possible for Sonia to lose her patience and betray Toby because of the man’s ‘sweet nothings’.
Realizing the Squirrel Media’s dirty play, Sonia felt her body trembling. She could not help the urge to rush into their outlet fully armed and annihilate the whole company.
“Daphne, had you not reminded me that Charles’ face is blurred, I wouldn’t have noticed it.” Her hands formed a fist. It took her a while to barely quell the fury in her.
It was understandable since she was defamed by the Squirrel Media and angered by the comments. Hence, she did not pay too much attention to the photos that the oddity went unnoticed to her. In short, had Daphne not reminded her of it, she would not have realized it at the moment.
Daphne waved her hand. “It’s nothing, President Reed, but have you sensed something wrong?”
“Tell me.” Sonia looked at her.
Daphne’s finger tapped on the screen at the comment section. “Look at these comments. They’re either criticizing or adding fuel to the fire. In other words, neither of them are positive. I know that the netizens are quite harsh to public figures; a handful of them are so wicked that they wished the public figures had their career ended by having themselves canceled. Still, a part of the comments should be kind. It shouldn’t be as negative as it is right now. There should at least be moderate ones no matter what—”
Pausing momentarily, she continued. “Plus, there’s a lot of fans shipping you and President Fuller. Even if some trusted the news and no longer supports you, there should be a number of them that truly supports you and President Fuller. They will always trust and support you guys. So, they should be leaving comments to support you and clear your name, but there’s none in the comment section. I can only see the negative ones. Something’s odd no matter how I see it. I think it’s the ghostwriters.”
Then, she clicked into one of the accounts that left a negative comment. Looking at its main profile, she sniggered. “I knew it. Just click any of them and their main profile is empty. There’s no information at all. It’s obvious that it’s a newly registered account. What else but ghostwriters? Someone’s setting you up on purpose, President Reed.”
She looked at Sonia, who was surprisingly calm. Not a smidgen of shock was shown on her expression upon hearing the truth from Daphne.
Baffled, Daphne asked, “Have you seen this coming, President Reed?”
Sonia hummed. “Yeah, I got a hunch the moment I saw so many negative comments. There are bad guys and good guys in this world. Same goes for the comments. If there are bad ones, a part of them should be impartial and positive; it’s the never changing rule in this world. But, I see zero positive comments. Even if we do, it’ll be deleted a second later. Apparently, the moderator only leaves the bad ones and removes the good ones.”
“I see. No wonder you’re not surprised at all.” Daphne understood and raised her chin, yet her brows knitted together soon after that. “Do you have an idea about who’s behind this, President Reed?”
Sonia shook her head. “I don’t.”
It happened all too suddenly, so she did not have the time to figure out the mastermind.
“Could it be the one who snatched our components away?” Daphne guessed.
Sonia gazed at her. “What makes you think so?”
Daphne explained, “Because there’s only a few enemies you have. Jessica is in prison, so she doesn’t have the power to do so. I bet she doesn’t have the guts to do it anymore. She’s sent to prison after using and spreading rumors of you, right? Next will be the Gray Family, who is not likely to be the culprit. Recently, the authorities have announced that, in Seafield, the Department of Commerce will be investigating Triforce Enterprise. So, they’re hectic as ever to clean the underhanded evidence in order to sustain the company. They don’t have the time to plot a scheme against you. And after crossing them out of the list, the only person left is the person who snatched our components away. President Fuller retrieved it back for us yesterday and that person might hold a grudge on it, hence the scandal.”
“Your guess could be right, but I don’t think that it’s him this time.” Sonia shook her head.
Daphne looked at her. “Why?”
“I haven’t told you about this, but the person who took out components is an old man in his fifties.”
“He’s an old man?” Daphne was stunned, for she had expected it to be a youngster instead of an old man.
“Yeah. He’s old.” Sonia nodded before pointing at the news article on the monitor. “Besides, don’t you know what they’re really after?”
“Isn’t it to defame you?” Staring at the screen, she blurted her assumption with uncertainty.
Sonia nodded and shook her head. “You’re almost there. This article is released to defame me, but that’s only one of the reasons. There’s a lot of ways to defame someone. Why choose a scandal? The culprit wants me to break up with Toby.”
“They want you to break up with President Fuller?” Daphne’s face fell.
Sonia hummed. “That’s right. Think about it. What can’t men stand the most?”
As though she had understood something, Daphne replied unconsciously, “Betrayal.”
A betrayal by his partner.
Sonia’s eyes remained downcast. “Yeah. A man can never stand his partner’s betrayal, especially a prideful and bossy person that has a high social status like Toby. If I betray him, he’ll choose to leave me no matter how much he loves me. So, the mastermind stirs up a scandal to defame my name because it could raise suspicions in Toby to make him break up with me. However, if that person merely wants to slander me, he can go for something wicked that’s more effective than a scandal, isn’t it?”
“Now I see.” Daphne stroked her chin. “That person doesn’t use dirtier means to ruin your reputation because they know that President Fuller will never give up on you as long as he knows that it’s not your fault. That’s why the culprit chose to spread rumors about you on the Internet.”
