The buzz was reignited almost instantly as the reporters lifted their microphones and cameras, Then, they jostled forward with the hopes of breaking through the guards’ barricade.
However, although there were more reporters than bodyguards at the main entrance, the ratio was significantly reversed on this side of the compound.
Therefore, the thirty guards on site could easily hold back the twenty-odd reporters here, who could not break through the barricade even as they struggled and pushed forward.
Now that they were growing frustrated at the bodyguards, the reporters realized they were left with no choice but to shout at Sonia from a distance, “Miss Reed, is it true that you arranged for Miss Gray to be assaulted?”
“Do you have anything you’d like to say to that, Miss Reed?”
The overlapping questions caused Sonia to frown. After deciding to ignore them, she continued to walk without bothering to acknowledge the reporters.
Since they were displeased and spurred on by her lack of response, the reporters threw several more questions her way.
“Miss Reed, is your silence an admission? Did you actually orchestrate the whole incident?”
“Did you really arrange for six men to carry out the dirty work? Don’t you think that’s despicable on your part?”
This made Sonia stop in her tracks. There was an icy edge to her voice as she asked aloud, “Despicable?!”
The man walking alongside her came to a stop as well and the both of them turned to glare at the reporter, who had asked the unfortunate question.
Sonia’s face was impassive as she regarded the reporter with a hard look. “Did you just call me despicable?”
The reporter felt a chill run down his spine when he met her pitch-black gaze. “A-Am I wrong?”
He had no idea that a woman could be so intimidating and while the man next to her was wearing dark shades that obscured half his face, the reporter could tell that he was staring daggers in his direction as well, making him feel like someone was choking the air out of him.
More importantly, the reporter found that the man looked somewhat familiar. Where have I seen him?
Presently, Sonia let out an insidious scoff as she drawled witheringly, “Looks like all of you are convinced that Tina was speaking the truth. So, you all think I’m despicable because you believe I’ve done this to her, but it only proves that you’re dumber than I thought. Don’t adults usually have better sense than this? If I have to spell it out for you, then the only despicable one in this whole incident is Tina herself!”
Upon hearing this, the reporters fell into a stunned silence, but that only lasted for a second before they burst into an uproar.
“Miss Reed, are you saying that Miss Gray has been lying to us and that you’ve never done anything to her in the first place?”
“Do you have any proof, Miss Reed?”
The only reason why they were convinced by Tina’s side of the story was because she had called Sonia out on a livestream in front of millions of people. After all, if Tina was found to be lying, the backlash would be of Armageddon proportions. She wouldn’t risk her own reputation like that without incontrovertible proof of Sonia’s crimes.
Yet, the reporters’ conviction wavered after they heard what Sonia had said.
A few of the reporters had turned on their live streams when they saw her exiting the building earlier, which had amassed hundreds of thousands of viewers.
The viewers leapt into fervent discussion as soon as they heard Sonia’s statement.
‘Sonia’s right. We’re all adults here, and we need to hear both sides of the story before we deem anyone guilty. Tina might have pinned Sonia as the mastermind, but don’t you all realize how she has never once shown us concrete proof? She was only broadcasting the news online, so there’s still plenty of room for doubt in her story.’
‘Yeah, and more importantly, why didn’t Tina lodge a police report and have Sonia arrested at first instance? She’s the victim after all, so she was well within her rights to do so instead of sharing the details of Sonia’s crime on the Internet. She was probably just pulling a publicity stunt.’
While some took on a level-headed approach to this incident, others maintained the belief that Tina had been speaking the truth.
‘Tina only resorted to publicizing Sonia’s crimes online because she wanted to tell us the truth behind the incident. She wanted us to know just how vicious Sonia is. If it meant the whole world seeing Sonia’s true colors, I would do the same thing should I be in Tina’s position.’
‘I agree with the above person. For those asking why Tina didn’t lodge a police report immediately, let’s not forget that Sonia didn’t, either. If Sonia really was innocent in all this, then she’d be well within her rights to make a report as well, but she didn’t. That alone should be enough proof of her character.’
As more viewers voiced out their take on the matter, the opinions only grew more divisive.
Meanwhile, Tina was watching the same livestream from her hospital room. Her eyes were trained on the bullet screen and when she saw how some of the netizens were taking a neutral stance, which invariably was not in her favor, she was so outraged that she nearly threw her tablet out the door.
However, when she saw that there were netizens who came to her defense, she calmed down with relief.
Sonia was oblivious that her stand-off with the reporters back at the parking lot was being live-streamed. She swept her arctic gaze across the crowd and said curtly, “It’s true that I do not have any evidence now to clear my name, but that might change tonight.”
A hush descended upon the compound the moment she said those words, but the reporters and the livestream audience burst into yet another uproar after a few seconds.
Without waiting for the rest of his peers, one of the reporters urged immediately, “Miss Reed, are you saying that you are collecting evidence now and you will have everything you need by tonight to prove your innocence?”
The reporter’s gesture did not sit well with his peers, who all looked at him resentfully. He could be a little more courteous instead of firing his question right off the bat.
“Yes!” Sonia nodded before she turned to look straight into one of the cameras as she announced solemnly, “At midnight, I will present all the evidence I have and all of you can decide whether I’ve grossly wronged Tina. If I’m proven to be innocent, then I’ll definitely have her thrown into prison!”
Tim should be done with his surgery by tonight. If he doesn’t give up any evidence, then I’ll just have to expose him. I have the audio recordings of our past few phone conversations, including the most recent one where he told me about how he was going to take his revenge on Tina.
No matter how Sonia looked at it, her plan to expose Tina’s lies was practically foolproof!
In the hospital room, Tina felt her heart skipping a beat when she heard Sonia’s bold declaration. Anxiety filled Tina’s thoughts as her hands tightened their grip on the tablet.
She said she’s been collecting evidence and that she’ll be done by midnight. Is that truly possible? At the thought of this, her heart raced at such speed that it could leap out of her throat at any minute, which caused all of the color to drain from her face.
She wasn’t sure if Sonia was telling the truth, but she didn’t want to take the risk. If it turned out to be true, then she would be done for.
After all, Tina had only dragged Sonia under the bus because she was so sure that Sonia couldn’t ever clear her name. But now…
Tina bit hard on her bottom lip as a twinge of regret rose within her.
While this was happening, the reporters in the parking lot were still angling to obtain more answers out of Sonia.
However, as Sonia felt that she had already said all she needed to, she decided to leave the rest for tonight. Not wanting to waste any more time on the insatiable crowd of reporters, she turned to Toby and said, “We should go.”
Toby was pleased that she had referred to the both of them with a collective ‘we’. A look of gentle compassion flashed in his eyes behind his dark shades.
“Okay,” he agreed as he adjusted his shades. He had been using them the moment he stepped into the elevator and it was more of a deliberate disguise than anything else; he didn’t want the reporters to recognize him and blow things out of proportion for her.
Indeed, his presence right now would only worsen the dramatics, given how everyone knew about his past marriage with Sonia and his previous engagement to Tina. Now that the two women were going head-to-head against each other, the reporters would only have a field day once they captured his meeting with Sonia shortly after he had canceled his engagement to Tina. That would be adding salt to Sonia’s injury.
As such, Toby wore the large pair of shades to obscure nearly half his face, thereby keeping his identity a secret from these wolf-like reporters.
Before long, they came to a stop in front of Sonia’s car and she took out her keys to unlock the doors.
However, just as she was reaching out to open the door on the driver’s side, the sound of scattered, hurried footsteps approached before it was followed by a menacing growl, “Die, you wretched woman!”
