“What’s the matter?” Natalie asked while yawning. She sat up and opened her eyes, settling her blurry gaze on the floor.
Joyce was sat before the television, feet tapping anxiously against the ground. “Everyone online is attacking you right now!”
“Attacking me?” Natalie was fully awake now. Her eyebrows scrunched closer into a frown.
“Yeah, I just found out.”
Joyce continued, “Your scumbag of a dad held a press conference. He said that you got extremely jealous that Jasmine was previously engaged to Mr. Shane, because you liked him too. So, you brought up the whole plagiarism thing to destroy Jasmine’s reputation. Your dad also said that you were the reason they broke off their engagement.”
“What?” Natalie’s lips parted slightly in shock.
It wasn’t hard for Joyce to imagine her reaction. Joyce sighed and said, “Go watch it for yourself. The press conference was at seven this morning. Even though it’s over now, you can stream the recordings online.”
“Okay, I’ll watch it right away.”
Natalie hung up. She tapped on the browser and searched for the recordings Joyce mentioned.
The video popped up within seconds.
Natalie clicked on it. The recording showed Harrison in front of the camera. His face burned red with fury as he condemned Natalie for coming in between Jasmine and Shane. He said that Natalie swayed Shane’s feelings for Jasmine, that she also convinced Shane to cancel his engagement with Jasmine.
Underneath the ten-minute-long video were ruthless comments made by netizens. Their words held more malice compared to Harrison’s.
Natalie scrolled down and saw only a sea of slandering comments against her.
Despite being called by his name, Harrison wasn’t upset. He chuckled amusedly, “You forced my hand, Nat. I had no other choice. You refused to withdraw charges against Susan and against Jas too. I wanted to ask you nicely, but I knew you’d never agree to it, so…”
“So you held a press conference. You spread lies that I broke Jasmine and Mr. Shane up. All to turn the public against me so that I’d be forced to withdraw my lawsuit. Isn’t that right?” Natalie interrupted and her eyes had reddened out of anger. She had already figured out his motives.
Harrison flicked the ashes off his cigar. “Yes, Nat. I assume you’re contacting me because you saw the hateful comments online? How about this. As long as you agree to withdraw charges and falsify your testimony to Jas’ benefit, or if you opt to be absent from court altogether, then I’ll help suppress these online hate discussions against you.”
Natalie scoffed loudly. She was rather amused as she responded sarcastically, “I wasn’t born yesterday. Did you really think you can fix such huge damages to my brand with so little effort?”
What you put on the internet stays there forever. People will never forget this scandal.
Even if Harrison suppresses everything, so what then? Her reputation had sunk to the bottom of the ocean. People already have the impression that she’s a shameless mistress who broke up a couple.
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