Chapter 187: Nonsense

William had blocked all of Tommy's escape routes. Tommy couldn't care less about maintaining his so-called gentleman image anymore and started plotting to leak William's medical condition. He figured once the news got out, there would definitely be chaos at Synergy Innovations Group.

Even if he couldn't completely destroy William in the end, he could at least cause Synergy Innovations Group's stock to take a nosedive.

But before he could make his move, Walter came to warn him first.

"Don't say a word about this to anyone. If any related news comes up recently, help suppress it. If I hear even a whisper of anything bad for the White Group, you'll deal with the consequences yourself."

Tommy didn't want to agree, but Walter was firm and warned him again,

"William ended up like this because of Emily. Robert knows everything; he just doesn't want to break ties with us yet. At a time like this, don't make things worse."

Tommy still looked defiant. "Since Emily already went after William so hard, this relationship can't be fixed anyway. Might as well take this chance to build up our own strength. If we can take down Synergy Innovations Group during this time, we'll have more leverage competing with the White Group in the future."

Without another word, Walter slapped him across the face.

"If Synergy Innovations Group was really that easy to deal with, how could it have grown so quickly from a small company into our competitor over these years? William isn't someone to mess with. Have you gained any advantage these past few days?"

"Robert may be cold-blooded, but William is still his son. Even if he doesn't want to avenge William, he'll use this opportunity to put us in our place. Have you forgotten how Robert broke down our company back then?"

At the mention of this, Tommy became furious.

"It's because you're always so cautious about everything. The company became what it is now because of the mess Emily created. If she hadn't insisted on causing trouble, the Johnson Group wouldn't have ended up like this today."

At least it wouldn't be the empty shell it was now.

After Walter's warning, Tommy knew he couldn't use those underhanded tactics for now.

But right after his conversation with Walter, new information came from outside.

Someone posted online claiming that Tommy was the real boss behind Meridian Group, and that the nominal general manager was actually Tommy's former lover. Some people even suspected that the two children of Tommy's lover were also Tommy's.

Tommy rushed back to his office, and after hearing this news, he flew into a rage.

"Those two kids are so old, how could they possibly be mine?"

Lyanna stood to the side, looking somewhat worried as she tried to calm him down.

"Most of this news is just rumors spreading. They just want to throw dirt on you. People will only think you got together with Meridian Group's general manager. As for whose kids those two actually are, nobody really cares."

Tommy sneered. "They just want to watch the drama unfold. How's the investigation going? Who's spreading these rumors about me?"

Lyanna was Tommy's capable assistant. She knew very well whether these rumors were true or false, but right now she could only present the information she'd found.

"They didn't deliberately hide their tracks, almost like it was intentional."

Looking at the documents, Tommy wanted to smash something, but finding nothing handy nearby, he could only pound the desk hard to vent his anger.

Sure enough, it was William pulling strings behind the scenes again, and this was after William had woken up.

"Making moves so quickly, looks like that car accident didn't affect him much. I need to find a chance to visit the hospital and see how he's doing now."

Lyanna remained calm. "I'll arrange this. There are new rumors online now."

Tommy was getting desensitized. He took the phone, looked at it, and was seething with rage.

These media outlets really could make up anything. According to news from Synergy Innovations Group, some people were actually suspecting that the Meridian Group general manager's husband had been killed by Tommy back then. Otherwise, how could a young, healthy man die from alcoholism?

Some people said Tommy killed the woman's husband, then got together with his wife. Maybe she got pregnant long ago, and the children's father was kept in the dark all along.

"Complete nonsense!"

Compared to Tommy's rage, Lyanna was quite calm.

"This is the media's usual playbook. They grab onto a bit of real information, then piece together all kinds of sensational headlines. As for the actual truth, they don't care at all. They only care about whether it can attract attention."

Tommy rubbed his aching temples, feeling very irritated, and could only tell Lyanna to try to suppress the trending topics.

After giving these instructions, Tommy went to the hospital alone. When getting on the elevator, he happened to run into Mia and her son, who were about to leave. Both parties just nodded briefly and went their separate ways.

Benjamin knew that Tommy wouldn't get anything good from seeing William now. Emily had almost caused Ophelia to never wake up. The Johnson family would have to pay the price for this sooner or later.

After Tommy went upstairs, he knocked on William's hospital room door for a long time before Ophelia came to open it.

The door only opened a crack. Ophelia's attitude was very cold, clearly not welcoming him. Tommy still forced a smile and said, "Ms. Taylor, I heard Mr. White is sick. As a friend, I wanted to come visit. Is it convenient?"

Ophelia replied expressionlessly, "No, it's not."

With that, ignoring Tommy, who had already stuck his head in, she forcefully closed the door. Tommy had already backed away quickly, but still got hit on the head.

He winced in pain. Suppressing the urge to curse, he could only leave in embarrassment.

Inside the room, William sat leaning against his pillow, his complexion much better than a month ago.

His face showed no expression, but actually, his hands clenched involuntarily under the blanket. Especially seeing Ophelia walking toward him with a calm face, he felt inexplicably nervous and guilty.

"Why haven't you left yet?" William asked with deliberate coldness.

Ophelia put the insulated container on the table, pulled over the small bedside table, and, without looking at him, took out the packed dishes one by one.

"I specially ordered chicken soup from your favorite restaurant for you."

Ophelia picked up a bowl of steaming hot soup and placed it in front of him.

William steeled himself and deliberately knocked the bowl of soup to the floor.

"I don't eat things brought by strange women. Get out now!"

Ophelia was prepared and deliberately let the soup spill on her fingers.

She drew in a sharp breath and winced.

Actually, she hadn't really been burned; the soup was just a bit hot.

Seeing Ophelia's pained expression, William's heart ached. It took great willpower for him to resist reaching out to take her hand and blow on it for her.

William thought to himself: 'Only by truly hurting Ophelia will she give up on me and stop being so persistent.'