Chapter 284: Not a Single One Will Be Spared
Caroline and Leopold shared a kind of affection Erica admired deeply: trust.
Erica said, "Not many couples in this world have the level of trust you two do. Most people don't really trust each other. They fight and argue, and eventually the feelings just fade away."
Maddox happened to walk by and caught the tail end of her comment. "I'm totally trustworthy. Don't lump me in with everyone else."
Erica shot him an annoyed look. "Why do you have to jump into every conversation? Go get the utensils, I'm starving."
Maddox grinned. "Okay."
He headed off to the kitchen without complaint. Erica watched him go, then turned back to Caroline. "Look at your husband, then look at my boyfriend,” she said with a sigh. “How did he change so much from when I first met him? Back then, he was so confident; full of testosterone. One look from him and women would melt. Now, he acts like a complete idiot."
Caroline pulled out a chair for Erica and smiled. "Isn't that a good thing, though? An interesting soul can make even the most ordinary days feel special. Doesn’t he make you happy?”
Erica glanced toward the kitchen, watching Maddox's back as he rummaged around. "Happy, sure. But I like him when he's..."
At that moment Maddox came back with the utensils and their eyes met. "Erica, don't look at me with those adoring eyes,” he declared dramatically. “I’m already yours!"
He set down the utensils and struck what he clearly believed was a cool pose.
Caroline fell silent.
Erica covered her face with both hands.
The three of them had ordered six dishes, and the portions were huge—far more food than they could possibly finish.
But since Erica was pregnant and Maddox had to drive, none of them ordered alcohol. Instead, they chatted casually while eating.
Maddox took a bite of food and said, "Don't take that thing about Leopold and that actress seriously. And definitely don't believe everything you see online. It's all for publicity. Once the buzz starts, their fame grows with it. Some celebrities will do anything to get famous—whether it's good press, bad press, it doesn’t matter. For them, attention equals money. No attention, no money."
Caroline said, "I didn't believe it, don't worry. I know what kind of person he is. As for the rumors online, I can listen to anything, but I can't believe everything."
"Exactly." Maddox gave Caroline a thumbs up. "That's the right attitude. If you believed every rumor floating around, you'd spend the whole day doing nothing but getting angry. Especially since Leopold is so handsome—of course he attracts attention from women."
Under the table, someone suddenly kicked him.
Maddox grimaced and rubbed his leg.
Erica kept her eyes lowered as she slowly sipped her soup. "If you actually know how to comfort people, then do it. If not, just keep quiet. This is the first time I've ever seen someone try to comfort a person by making things worse.”
"I didn't." Maddox immediately denied it. "I thought I was doing pretty well, right Caroline?"
Caroline couldn't help but laugh and nodded. "Pretty well."
Maddox brightened. “See? Caroline agrees with me.”
Erica shot him a look of pure disdain. "When this baby is born, their IQ and EQ had better not take after yours. Otherwise they’ll have a rough childhood."
Maddox said, "What's wrong with being like me? My IQ was in the top ten in the whole city when I was in school. I got accepted into a prestigious architecture and design institute. And my EQ—if my EQ wasn't high, I couldn't..." Realizing that the next part of his sentence would only make things worse, he stopped abruptly.
Erica slowly lifted her eyes to him, her voice calm but edged with danger. "Go on, you wouldn’t have what?"
Maddox flashed an awkward smile. "Nothing."
He lowered his head and focused on eating.
Caroline watched the two of them, an amused smile tugging at her lips.
With these two around, the atmosphere was always lively.
Erica said, "Maddox, you don't need to show off. I know exactly what you were about to say."
Maddox didn't dare lift his head. He sniffled, his mouth full of food, his words coming out muffled. "I... I... wasn’t going to say... anything."
Erica turned away with a snort. "See that? This is what I deal with. He can make me angry many times a day, each time different. He's not an interesting soul—he's an infuriating one. One in a million. And somehow I ended up winning that lottery."
Noticing Erica's bowl was empty, Maddox immediately reached over and refilled it with more soup. "Honey, have some soup."
There was one thing Erica genuinely admired about Maddox—no matter how much she teased or scolded him, he never lost his temper.
After dinner, the three of them left the restaurant. Caroline checked her phone again. The trending news was gone, but a few scattered posts about Leopold and Summer were still circulating online.
At that moment, Leopold was seated in front of his computer, staring at the screen while Lily stood beside him.
Lily frowned. "Is Summer that desperate for publicity? We already arranged for the trending topic to be removed, yet she's still having people post about it. Isn’t she worried about getting a lawyer's letter?"
Leopold's eyes were cold. He played with a pen in his hand, silent for a moment, then said, "It shouldn't be Summer. No matter how bold she is, she still answers to her management company. Someone else must be taking advantage of the situation, trying to use this momentum against me.”
Lily's eyes brightened as she immediately understood what he meant.
"Mr. Anderson?"
Leopold shook his head. "Dash's situation still hasn’t been resolved. He's been running around dealing with issues both domestically and internationally—he doesn't have the energy for this."
Lily thought for another moment. "Ms. Adams?"
At first, Leopold had suspected Gemma as well. But after thinking it through, it didn’t make sense. Even if she didn't like him, she wouldn't sabotage the company by driving down its stock price. A falling share price wouldn't benefit her—it would affect her dividends.
He pressed his knuckles lightly against his lips, his complex eyes narrowing as he considered who might really be behind this.
Lily ventured another guess. “It can't be Mr. Preston Wipere, right?"
Leopold shook his head, certain. "It's not him."
If Preston wanted to scheme against someone, he wouldn't use such a simple method.
"Then who could it be?” Lily muttered, frowning as she tried to piece things together. "Our PR team and Mr. Clark's side clearly had the public opinion under control. The trending news was removed, the marketing accounts that needed to delete their posts did so, and the troublemakers even received legal warning letters. But then these sockpuppets popped up—someone has to be orchestrating this behind the scenes.”
"I'll contact Mr. Clark again. He has extensive connections in this industry—if anyone can find out who’s behind this, it’s him." Leopold took out his phone and called Anthony again.
Understanding the call was private, Lily quietly stepped out of the office and closed the door behind her.
Receiving two calls from Leopold in a single day was unusual. Anthony immediately sensed something was wrong. "Mr. Wipere."
Leopold's tone was noticeably more serious than before. "Mr. Clark, I'm calling again about those online posts."
Being contacted a second time about something that was supposedly already handled made Anthony feel somewhat uneasy.
Anthony explained, "I already had people delete them. I contacted everyone involved.”
Leopold said, "Have your people look again. A wave of sockpuppets accounts has just started posting about Summer and me.”
"That shouldn’t be possible." Anthony was also surprised.
Leopold said, "Mr. Clark, check and you'll see. If this can't be handled cleanly this time, I won't let any of those marketing accounts from before off the hook either."
The previous marketing accounts were directed by Summer's company—in other words, Anthony knew about it. He could use Leopold to get more exposure for his artists without any real loss.
But these new sockpuppet accounts—Anthony knew nothing about them. He began to suspect someone under him was making moves. "Mr. Wipere,” Anthony said cautiously, “give me some time. I'll investigate immediately and give you an answer."
Leopold’s response was blunt. "Two hours."
The deadline was tight, Anthony couldn't afford to offend Leopold. "No problem."