Everyone shifted their gazes toward Tina, and she turned into the center of attention. Her first instinct was to hide behind Toby, but Toby forcefully pressed his hand against her shoulder in order to stop her from shrinking away. “Tina, you need to learn how to own up to the mistakes that you’ve made!”
Tina widened her eyes and glared at him with a look of disbelief on her face. She seemed to be blaming him for forcing her to admit her faults instead of offering help to her. A hateful look flashed in her eyes as she bit her lower lip. Although the look in her eyes only lasted for a split second, Toby froze as he caught her glaring at him. Does Tina hate me just because I didn’t stand on her side?
“It seems like you know about it, President Fuller. I don’t think I have to beat around the bush anymore then.” Brenda took a sip of red wine before she continued, “I was on the second floor earlier, and I saw Miss Gray knocking against Miss Reed’s arm with my very own eyes. Miss Reed didn’t do anything at all—Miss Gray collapsed onto the ground on her own.”
“In other words, Tina faked her own fall and went on to frame our baby for it, huh?” Charles started getting excited as he spoke.
Brenda nodded. “That’s right.” Both Zane and Carl heaved a sigh of relief once they heard Brenda’s words. They were glad that she was on their side. Even Toby relaxed his firmly knitted eyebrows as he watched Sonia giving Brenda a sincere bow. “Thank you for speaking up for me.”
“I’m not doing it entirely for you. I just don’t like watching others pulling such nasty tricks on my turf,” Brenda said with a smile. Tina’s face turned beet red once she heard Brenda’s words.
Even Titus’s expression had turned sour, but he continued to grit his teeth and stuck to his guns. “That’s not what the girl from the Stone Family saw. She saw Sonia pushing Tina with her own eyes!”
“Oh? Are you sure you saw it happen?” Brenda’s casual smile remained on her face as she turned toward Cynthia.
“I… I…” Cynthia appeared rather flustered. She hadn’t expected Brenda to be on the second floor. After glancing at Brenda, Cynthia turned back to look at Tina and Titus.
Tina gave Cynthia an encouraging nod. “Say it, Cynthia. Tell them that you saw it.”
“That’s right, Cynthia. Say it. You should just be honest since you saw it with your own eyes,” Titus added to show his support.
“I…” Cynthia stuttered for a moment. She felt especially pressured as she was surrounded by a bunch of individuals who were of greater status than she was. She finally broke into tears when she couldn’t handle it any longer. “I… I didn’t see it with my own eyes.”
“What?” Titus’s face fell. “You didn’t?”
Once more, a flash of hatred flickered in Tina’s eyes. F*ck! I can’t believe Cynthia betrayed me! Cynthia no longer had the guts to look at Titus and Tina, so she hung her head low as she spoke in an anxious tone. “I was angry at Sonia, so I wasn’t paying any attention to Tina. I only saw that she fell after I heard her screaming, but I didn’t see how she fell at all.”
“You—” Titus’s hands were trembling with fury. “Why did you say that you saw something, then?”
“Well, Tina’s my friend, so…” Cynthia muttered.
“So, you claimed that you saw something,” Sonia sneered. “It seems like you are Tina’s true friend, but I’m afraid Tina has never treated you like one,” she continued.
“What?” Cynthia shifted her gaze to Sonia. Even Toby quietly turned to look at Sonia after he heard what she had said.
The moment Tina sensed that something wasn’t right, she hastily concealed all the rage and hatred that she felt to put on a dejected expression as she looked at Cynthia. Cynthia instantly forgot everything that Zane had said—she was overwhelmed by the guilt she felt for betraying her good friend. “I’m sorry, Tina. I…”
Tina turned away to avoid Cynthia’s gaze, and Cynthia looked at the floor in disappointment. Brenda merely shook her head as she watched this happen.
Meanwhile, Titus wasn’t prepared to give up on the matter. “Well, Cynthia might not have seen anything, but what about everyone else?” He glanced at the rest of the guests. “They claimed that they saw something as well.”
“What a stubborn mule,” Charles couldn’t stop himself from mumbling under his breath. Titus was close to losing his temper the moment he heard Charles’s words, but he controlled his anger the moment he thought about the fist earlier.
One of the guests got to his feet awkwardly. “Well, President Gray, we didn’t actually see anything. We just said that we saw something because we didn’t want to offend President Fuller in any way.”
“Pfft!” Charles and Zane burst into fits of laughter the moment they heard the guest’s words. Sonia and the more introverted Carl both tugged their lips upward as scornful looks formed on their faces. Toby was the only person whose expression had turned eerily grim. “So, you guys twisted the truth just because you all were afraid of offending me?”
“Miss Tina is your fiancée, after all,” the same guest replied meekly. Toby wanted to argue against that, but he didn’t know where to start. If Sonia has to be wrongfully blamed just because Tina is my fiancée, will the rest of these people stand up for the Gray Family whenever the Gray Family uses my name to do something in the future? Will the Grays receive support just because they are my in-laws? Toby realized he had been too lenient with the Gray Family at that moment. This isn’t going to work out!
“You… you guys…” Titus hadn’t expected the rest of the guests to lie about what they saw with Tina and Sonia just for the sake of pleasing Toby. In his bout of fury, Titus felt his vision turning dark as he nearly fainted. His insides were filled with hatred for the guests, Cynthia, and even Tina, who had rebelled against him. He had the desire to defend himself, but he didn’t have the ability to gain control over the whole crowd. He had huge plans but lacked capabilities!
“What else would you like to say, Mr. Gray? If you wish to go on, I can always pull out the surveillance tapes.” Brenda gave Titus a smile. Titus clenched his fists as he felt his throat turning dry. “There’s no need for that, Brenda. It’s entirely our fault—we had misunderstood Miss Reed. Hurry and apologize, Tina,” he uttered.
As much as Tina didn’t want to do so, she had already embarrassed herself enough that day. Everyone was shooting judgmental gazes toward her—she’d only make herself look worse if she refused to provide an apology. She therefore had no choice but to apologize to Sonia, and she did so in a reluctant tone.
Sonia grinned. “I think you owe Miss Brenda an apology, Miss Gray. You didn’t just disrupt the whole event by attempting to frame me; you also showed up in the wrong outfit.”
The wrong outfit? Everyone turned to look at Tina’s dress immediately. Those who were a little smarter snickered as they quickly realized what Sonia meant. Some of the other guests wore looks of confusion on their faces as they couldn’t understand what was going on—Charles and Zane were among this group.
Carl, on the other hand, belonged to the smarter group that understood what was going on. Toby was part of that group as well, and he pressed his thin lips together before he spoke. “Who was the one who arranged for you to wear this, Tina?”
“What’s wrong with my outfit?” Tina clearly didn’t comprehend the situation.
Sonia smiled. “There’s nothing wrong with your dress, though I can’t say the same for the fur shawl on your shoulder and the purse in your hands.”
“That’s right.” Brenda’s expression dimmed. “This is the second reason I’m chasing you out of here. Our theme for today’s event is the protection of wildlife—all my other guests are dressed appropriately, but you showed up with a fur shawl over your shoulders and a purse made with alligator skin in your hands. Are you trying to embarrass us?”
Titus gasped the moment he heard Brenda’s words. “Hurry up and tell me who was the one who arranged this outfit for you!” he shouted at Tina angrily. Titus hadn’t noticed anything earlier, but now, he realized that his rebellious daughter had shown up in an outfit that went against the whole theme of the event. He was fuming.
“I didn’t have a stylist, so I styled myself… No. It was her! Sonia’s the one who’s trying to make me look bad!” Tina seemed to recall something at the very last moment and pointed at Sonia.
Everyone’s eyes fell on Sonia once more. “Stop talking nonsense, Tina.” Toby frowned.
“I’m not talking nonsense! She was really the one who told me to wear this!” Tina stomped her foot in anger.
Titus found a reason to attack Sonia once more. “Hah. So you were the one!”
Charles and the rest were just about to speak up when Sonia stopped them from doing so.
