Chapter 719 Where Did They Find You?
Toby’s sudden passionate gesture left the two other men losing their minds. As Toby lifted his head and let go of Sonia’s hand, she stared at him with a helpless expression on her face. “Do you know what you’re doing right now?’ she asked.
“Of course,” Toby uttered in a stubborn voice. His lips were slanted to form a seductive smirk as he responded to her. Sonia rolled her eyes. “Aren’t you afraid about what others might say when they see what you just did?”
“What would they say?” Toby looked up to send the crowd a lazy yet charismatic glance. His gaze eventually fell on the camera that was used for the live stream. “It’s not illegal for me to kiss my lover. What can they say about this? They’ll just have to be envious of me.”
“You’re right, President Fuller.” The reporters below nodded with smiles on their faces. Even the viewers from the live stream were cheering over how sweet the couple was. All of a sudden, Sonia and Toby became the hottest couple in town—people were close to starting a fan base just for their relationship.
Toby turned to look at Sonia when he saw how compliant the reporters were when it came to him. “Look. They wouldn’t dare to say anything.” The corner of Sonia’s lips twitched in annoyance before she looked away from the man and turned to the crowd in front of them. “My apologies. That was embarrassing,” she said into the microphone before giving the crowd a bashful smile.
“No, no!” The crowd waved their arms in disagreement. “We’re so envious of the lovely relationship you guys have, Miss Reed and President Fuller! How could this be embarrassing? We hope both of you have a long, loving relationship!” someone uttered.
“Thank you!” Before Sonia could say anything else, Toby interrupted to thank the person who had wished them well. At that point, Sonia didn’t know whether to laugh or get mad at Toby. The atmosphere in the room became more peaceful after that. However, Jessica—who was on the floor—and a few other viewers of the live stream were drowning in jealousy.
“Okay, let’s stop talking about this. We should get back to our main topic,” Sonia stated as she cleared her throat and put on her stern expression. “Earlier, I said that my mom wasn’t the one who had an extramarital affair. Instead, it was Jessica’s mother, Sandra, who had cheated. Jessica lied again, and she made it seem like I’m the bad person. Of course, it may be pointless for me to talk, and you guys may not believe what I say, so why don’t we take a look at the evidence, Daphne?’
“Got it, Chairman.” Daphne, who was sitting in front of the computer, began to run her fingers across the keyboard. Soon enough, the projector in the meeting room was lowered, and more than 10 CCTV camera clips were played all at once. Some videos showed Jessica bullying Sonia, while others showed Sandra bullying Sonia.
Additionally, there was one where Henry was shouting at Sandra and blaming her for cheating on him. Sandra twisted the argument to say that she only cheated because Henry couldn’t satisfy her. Apart from that, there was also a video where Sandra told Jessica that they would chase Sonia out and that everything in the Reed Family belonged to them.
Most of the people watching these CCTV camera clips online felt goosebumps forming on their skin. The contents of the video sent a chill down their spine. ‘Gosh, she’s too evil. She’s already this malicious at such a young age. How could she bully her own sister?’ someone commented.
‘Look at the type of person her mother is! That explains why Jessica is such a cunning person—it all stems from her upbringing! She truly has her mother’s genes,’ another commented. “Poor Miss Reed!” someone cried.
Jessica felt her entire body shaking when she heard the crowd talking about her. She lowered her head and wished the ground would open up and swallow her. All she wanted to do then was to flee the terrifying situation she was in. As much as Jessica wanted to fight, she knew when to protect her dignity. Everything that I’ve been doing and all the lies that I’ve told… Sonia has thoroughly exposed me. This is it for me. From now on, I’ll be judged and criticized no matter where I go, and people are going to give me dirty looks. This is the death of my reputation, Jessica thought.
When Sonia saw the helpless and resigned look on Jessica’s face, she smiled. Jessica’s initial plan had been to turn everyone against Sonia. She wanted everyone to treat Sonia like a useless piece of rubbish. Yet, it turned out that Jessica was the one who was seen as trash now. Here’s a taste of her own medicine. This is how it feels to be treated like rubbish, Jessica! Sonia thought.
At the same time, Toby remained beside Sonia and watched as a smile formed on her lips. Despite seeing her smile, he couldn’t seem to feel happy for her at that moment. All he felt was his heart aching for the woman before his eyes. He was sorry for the things she had experienced as a child, and he regretted not searching for her earlier. If I had looked for her shortly after we became penpals and taken her under my wing, perhaps she wouldn’t have been bullied so badly.
Sonia seemed to sense the man’s peculiar demeanor, for she turned around to stare at him. “What is it?”
He parted his lips to say something, but one of the reporters below the stage interrupted him and began to speak to them. Toby was ticked off by this, and his thin lips immediately spread into a thin line. The reporter hadn’t noticed that he offended Toby, so he continued speaking with his microphone held up toward Sonia. “Miss Reed, since Miss Jessica’s mother is the one who cheated on her husband, do you think Miss Jessica is really your father’s daughter?”
This question was right on point as everyone wanted to know. Sonia responded with a wry smile. “Unfortunately, she is my father’s daughter. When Dad found out about Sandra’s affair, he suspected that Jessica might not be his child, so he secretly did a DNA test without telling Jessica. The test showed that Jessica was his biological child, and that was why Dad had continued being patient with Sandra for so many years. He did it to give Jessica a complete family—he sacrificed himself and stayed in his marriage with Sandra for the sake of Jessica.”
“I see. Mr. Reed really had it tough,” the reporter replied. “Miss Reed, since you claimed that you are your parents’ adopted child, then do you know what happened to their biological daughter? I just got my colleagues to do some research, and it shows that your mother gave birth to a daughter 26 years ago. This happened in a hospital in Norfolk. Coincidentally, my colleague’s aunt is one of the nurses who helped your mother give birth. So, what happened to your mother’s biological daughter? Where did she go?” another reporter asked.
Once this question was put forth, Titus narrowed his eyes behind the TV screen in the hospital. His pupils were fixed directly on the screen as Sonia lifted her microphone to give her answer. “Unfortunately, my sister is no longer here. She has passed away.”
“She passed away?!” The crowd exclaimed in shock.
Sonia nodded with a grim look on her face. “Yes. My sister passed away when she was about four months old,” she replied before turning to address the reporter who had asked her the question. “If your colleague’s aunt worked there, I bet she recalls that my sister was an extremely weak baby even during birth, right?”
The reporter nodded hastily. “Yes. My colleague’s aunt said that your mother’s biological daughter was a premature baby who may not survive her first year. As I was asking the question, my guess was that the child might have passed away. However, I didn’t bring it up as I wanted to hear it from you,” the reporter explained.
Sonia nodded. “That’s right. My mom had a mental breakdown after my sister passed away, and my dad brought me home to soothe my mom’s emotions.”
“Brought her… home…” Titus squinted at the TV for a while before he pulled his phone out to call his assistant. “Have you found out about Sonia’s origins?”
“My apologies, President Gray. I haven’t found anything. I checked with the Public Security Bureau, and they claimed that Henry had just found Sonia somewhere. He didn’t adopt her from a welfare home or an orphanage. That’s why it’s rather hard to find Sonia’s actual family,” the assistant explained in an apologetic tone.
Titus frowned again. “Forget it. I want you to contact one of the reporters who is there at the press conference. Get the reporter to ask Sonia if she knows where Henry got her and when he brought her home.”
“Okay,” his assistant replied. Soon enough, one of the reporters in the crowd got the message and held up his hand to ask Sonia the two questions Titus had. Sonia wasn’t suspicious of anything as it was normal for reporters to ask her questions. So, she held the microphone up to answer the reporter.
