Chapter 704 Producing Evidence
Toby wasn’t an idiot. Sonia pointed out that Henry had no intention of remarrying, yet Henry got married again in the end—there had to be a reason why. Judging by the look on Sonia’s face, Toby could tell that something bad must have happened in between.
Indeed, Sonia lowered her head as she revealed the truth. “Yeah. My dad was tricked into this. Back then, he went out to meet a client for business, and Sandra happened to be a waitress at the hotel he was at. She was attracted to my dad, so she drugged my dad’s drink and lured my dad into her trap. The next day, Sandra sneaked off before my father woke up, and she only reappeared in front of him when she was pregnant with Jessica. My dad is an extremely responsible man—he had to take responsibility for Sandra since she was pregnant with his baby. That was why he decided to marry her,” Sonia explained.
“I see!” Toby was surprised by Sonia’s story.
Sonia bit her lip before she continued, “I recall my dad drinking a lot of alcohol the night he decided to marry Sandra. He hugged me and sobbed for a long while, and he kept apologizing to my mom and me. Jessica was right about one thing—my dad was never very nice to Jessica and her mother.”
“How could he forgive Sandra after she tricked him into such a huge thing?” Toby parted his lips to speak calmly.
To this, Sonia nodded in agreement. “You’re right. My dad hated Sandra for what she did. Although he despised her, the most he did was to keep his distance away from her. He was never violent to her, and he always made sure to take care of her. My dad might not be as loving and gentle with Jessica, but Jessica’s still his child, and it’s clear that he cares for her. That was why Dad was so strict with her. However, Jessica perceived Dad’s strictness as his lack of love for her, and she even…” Sonia clenched her fists as the muscles in her face trembled. Hatred and anger were written all over her face.
Right then, Toby gave her hand a gentle squeeze to make her calm down. “Sandra cheated on your father because he wasn’t intimate with her at all, right?”
“Yeah. My dad never treated her like a wife; he only treated her like a colleague. Sandra eventually felt lonely, so she cheated on him with another man. Although my dad didn’t love her, he couldn’t stand the idea of being cheated on. He got furious and gave Sandra a huge scolding. After that, Sandra no longer dared to cheat on my dad, but she started acting oddly around him. He never loved her, so he never bothered to fault her for her odd demeanor. I didn’t think much about it in the past, but now… Now that I know Sandra drugged my father, it seems like that incident was when Sandra really started hating him. Both she and Jessica only decided to drug Dad after that incident!”
At this point, Sonia’s gaze was filled with a mixture of fury and agony. Toby slowly pulled the woman into his arms as he comforted her. “Don’t worry. You’re going to avenge your father’s death.”
“Yeah,” Sonia muttered as she leaned against Toby’s shoulder. He caressed her smooth hair as he continued speaking. “Jessica’s acts of revealing your identity online and starting rumors about you seem to be done with the intention of getting the public to side with her so that she can force you to hand your shares over. What are you going to do about this?” Toby was planning to step in if Sonia didn’t know what to do, but he believed that she would rather deal with this matter on her own.
His assumptions were right—Sonia narrowed her eyes for a while before she replied, “Jessica thinks that I’ll collapse under the pressure if netizens bad-mouth me for being an illegitimate daughter, but I’m not going to let her get her way. She’s trying to use the power of netizens, but she didn’t think this through. Doesn’t she realize that the netizens will turn against her once I step forward to expose her lies? The netizens would realize that she was just using them, and she’d receive double the criticism that I received on the Internet. Jessica only dares to make such statements online because she thinks that I don’t have the evidence to show that I’m not an illegitimate daughter.”
“Are you saying that you have evidence?” Toby lowered his gaze to look at Sonia.
She nodded. “Of course. My parents adopted me, so there has to be a letter of adoption. Once I provide them with this document, I’ll be able to show that I wasn’t a product of an extramarital affair. That way, Jessica’s first lie would be exposed. Also, do you remember what I said about Jessica and her mother bullying me? My dad had placed CCTV cameras in the house for the sake of me; do you still remember that I told you about it?”
“Of course!” Toby smirked. “I’d never forget anything about you.”
Sonia rolled her eyes. How is he flirting with me during such a serious conversation? Well… I guess it’s pretty sweet of him. She chuckled. “The CCTV cameras recorded some footage of Sandra and Jessica bullying me, and the videos have been stored in the bank’s safety deposit box, along with the Reed Residence’s property ownership documents. Both Jessica and Sandra don’t know about this. My dad had intended to get a divorce with Sandra once Jessica turned legal, so he kept those videos to use during the court case. But before Jessica turned legal, my dad…” Sonia’s voice trembled as she felt a lump in her throat.
Toby planted a kiss on her forehead. “Don’t worry. I’m here with you from now on.”
She smiled at him before she continued, “With these video recordings, Jessica’s lie about me bullying her will be disproved. When that happens, all of the lies she told will be used against her.” You reap what you sow, Jessica.
Toby tidied Sonia’s hair as he spoke. “Are you going to host a press conference to present all of your evidence?”
“It’s the fastest and most direct way,” she replied with a nod.
“Have you decided when you’re going to do it?” he asked again.
“Tomorrow morning, I guess. The faster, the better.” Upon finishing her words, Sonia shifted her gaze to stare at the man as she seemed to recall something. “By the way, I realized there weren’t a lot of comments when I was looking at the posts earlier. Did you get someone to contain the situation?”
“Yeah.” Toby nodded in full honesty. “I just can’t bear watching you being criticized by those netizens,” he mumbled with a stern look on his face.
She felt a surge of warmth in her chest. “Thank you.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s something I should do,” he replied gently.
She beamed. “After this, I’ll post my press conference on my social media account, and things will get heated once more. When that happens, I don’t want you to limit the audience’s engagement anymore—my comeback for Jessica’s attack will be stronger if the netizens turn this into a hot topic.”
Toby frowned as he didn’t seem to agree with her. No man would enjoy watching his woman getting cyberbullied by others, after all. Sonia could tell what was going on in his mind just by the look on his face, so she raised her hands and caressed his cheeks. “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. I feel bad when I see critical comments about me, but I can always choose not to read them, right? Also, the netizens who cursed me will probably feel bad after tomorrow’s press conference. While they may release their anger on Jessica, they may also purchase Paradigm Co.’s products to reduce their feelings of guilt toward me. Aren’t we killing two birds with one stone? We’re even promoting the business!”
He burst into laughter upon hearing her. “You’re starting to sound more and more like a true businesswoman. You’re getting so good at seizing opportunities, huh.”
“I’m taking that as a compliment,” she replied. With that said, Sonia lowered her hands and pulled her phone out to draft an announcement for her press conference. However, when she unlocked her phone, she saw a bunch of messages from different people.
There were messages from Charles, Grace, Rose, and Daphne—all of them texted to ask her about the trending news on the Internet. Sonia texted them back and reassured them that she had a plan to deal with this before she went back to drafting her announcement.
