Chapter 50

"I don't need to prove they're real. Have you forgotten? When we were kids, my dad taught us that in journalism, the most important thing isn't actually the truth—it's the selling point. And I happen to know someone in the news business who can help me achieve my goal. Seeing so many people cursing at you already makes me very happy." After saying this, Freya seemed worried I would yell at her and hung up directly.

I stared at my phone screen and let out a cold laugh.

Actually, none of this really bothered me.

I just thought it was really annoying that up until now, I had to waste my energy dealing with Freya.

I carefully looked through all the materials Freya had posted. Some of it was real, some fake.

Apart from the fabricated and doctored stuff, the rest was basically things Killian had forced me to do over the years.

Like at that party a while back, when I had contact with Hamilton.

The few photos Freya kept showed me being sent into Hamilton's room.

Someone at the door took the pictures, and anyone looking at them would think I'd gone to Hamilton's side on my own to make some kind of deal with him.

But Hamilton's face had been blurred out.

Even so, many people still recognized him, and some recalled that at that party, they had indeed seen me being very close to Hamilton.

Besides these, there were various bosses and business partners I'd been in contact with over the years.

Of course, all things Killian had forced me to do.

My reputation in these circles, why I was called a social butterfly—that was basically all thanks to him!

After I finished looking, Virio happened to push open my door.

He glanced at me, walked over, and sat right down on my bed. I put down my phone and focused my eyes on him.

"I saw everything. I know it's not true."

That was what Virio said to me right away, and I felt a warmth in my heart. "Thank you for believing me."

"After all, when we slept together, it was your first time."

Right to my face, Virio brought this up so directly that my cheeks turned red.

I could still remember what I'd said to Virio when I first approached him.

"I may not be able to control who I'll be with in the future, but I want the choice of my first time to be mine."

Back then, I was filled with despair, thinking that from then on I would lose everything and be forced by Killian to sleep with different men.

Hamilton was just the beginning.

I knew this was Killian's way of dealing with me—he would choose someone extremely disgusting to be the start of all my painful memories!

But fortunately, everything changed because I happened to meet Virio.

Looking back now, I was still grateful. "I don't regret it at all. If I could do it over, I'd still make the same choice."

"With me?" Virio said softly.

I nodded. "Yes, Mr. Soren."

An intimate atmosphere flowed between us.

Virio stared at me, his eyes full of sympathy. "But you have to respond to these trending topics, or the heat will just keep growing."

Freya's goal this time was to use public opinion to bring me down. Although she couldn't achieve her goal, right now, these trending topics were indeed putting a lot of pressure on me.

I thought for a moment and asked Virio, "What do you think is the best way for me to fight back right now?"

"Since most of it is fake, just bring out the evidence and refute it directly. Right now the public is basically just here for gossip—they haven't completely believed it."

Besides, how could a family's internal struggle be laid out so plainly for others to see?

Today's internet users weren't stupid.

What Virio said made sense. I nodded. "I have a lot of recordings and related chat records. Over the years, although Killian tried hard not to leave much evidence in front of me, I attended way too many parties."

Just the content of what he arranged for me to do—I had countless records of that.

"That's your best weapon against them." As Virio said this, he helped me sort through all the evidence I had and told me what I should do.

Early the next morning, I found a few reporters and held a small press conference.

I wore a black dress with a hat on my head and almost no makeup on my face.

I was trying hard to create the appearance of someone who had been hit hard by the public opinion and looked very worn out.

When all the camera flashes were on me, I stayed calm and said what I had prepared. "I know the trending topics about me have been all over the place these past few days. I'm here today to clear my name. There will be a Q&A session later where you can ask me whatever questions you want."

I took a deep breath. "Now please listen to my explanation."

"Here's the thing—what you saw isn't true, or at least not entirely. I am indeed called a social butterfly in these circles, and I did attend different parties and move between different men, but I never slept with any of them. I've never been the loose woman the news made me out to be."

This was the first thing I needed to clear up.

"In fact, even my contact with those men was because I was being pressured by my adoptive father Killian for a long time. After my father passed away, my uncle Killian adopted me. On the surface, he said he treated me as his own and treated Freya and me equally, but that wasn't true. Killian arranged for me to go to all the events that required networking, while Freya was well protected."

As I spoke, people around me were still taking photos and recording, but I could see the expressions on their faces.

Sympathy, shock, and some excitement.

But these were the expressions that captured the biggest trending story.

Today wasn't the right time yet, so I didn't mention the real reason for my father's death. Instead, I brought out some evidence of the family's financial fraud from back then, and most importantly, when I was sent to Hamilton's room, I had been drugged.

Fortunately, Virio had already started making arrangements back then and got quite a bit of surveillance footage for me.

I released all this evidence piece by piece.

"All these years, I wanted to work hard to bring honor to the family, so I basically gave my all to meet Killian's demands. The only things I cared deeply about and never wanted to compromise on were my dignity and reputation."

At this point, I genuinely choked up.

Setting aside the revenge factor, over all these years under Killian, I really had experienced tremendous humiliation.

Now, maybe all of this could be reversed.

"Everything I'm saying today is true, and the evidence I'm providing is real. As for the stuff they put out there—the videos and photos are fake, except that I did enter Mr. Johnson's room that day, but I was drugged."

After saying this, I released the evidence again and wrapped up. "If they continue to put out things that slander me, I will fight back every single time. Thank you for listening to my explanation."

My video from the press conference quickly spread across the internet.

The direction of public opinion online was instantly reversed!