Chapter 70 Chaotic Private Life
Henry spoke smugly: "If you knew you weren't capable, why did you fight for control of the company in the first place? But it's good that you're learning management - you can help Chris run the company together in the future."
Since the project risks hadn't been exposed yet, Henry wasn't in a rush to take back the company, so he could only say some nice things to keep Joanna stable for now.
Joanna's face showed no expression as she naturally brought up: "Then help me find the employees from those projects, otherwise I won't be able to manage them."
Henry let out a cold laugh: "You solve your own problems. If you can't even do that, what business do you have running a company! Enough, don't complain to me about this stuff. If you really want to fix our relationship, how about giving me some money to spend."
Joanna really wanted to just hang up, but she couldn't bear to lose this chance to gather information.
So she asked a few more times, but Henry wouldn't answer at all. Instead, he started asking about her relationship with Chris.
Joanna was afraid Sandra would find out she was deceiving her, so she quickly hung up.
She felt a bit deflated and could only hope that Lyle would find some leads on his end.
Sandra vaguely sensed something: "Is the company... running into trouble?"
Joanna didn't want Sandra to know, so she smiled: "No, I just lack experience managing a company and wanted Dad to help me out."
Sandra didn't believe her. She understood Joanna - smart and capable since childhood. Even when facing difficulties, she would overcome them herself and rarely compromised.
"If you don't want to talk about it, fine. But I know your father better than you do. If you need help, you can tell me."
Joanna nodded and quickly opened a can of food for Sandra.
"Okay, I'll remember that. Dr. Bruce has already scheduled your surgery. You should just relax and prepare to get out of bed and walk around after the surgery is successful."
Sandra felt somewhat helpless, but she had already made up her mind.
After Joanna left, she called someone: "Old friend, it's me. Recently my daughter seems to be having some troubles managing the company. I'd like to chat with you about it."
Even though Sandra didn't usually get involved in company business, she had once helped an old classmate get a job at the Jones company.
Although this old classmate had left Jones Corp a year ago.
They might still know something.
Joanna had no idea what her mother was doing. She went to work as usual, not noticing the strange expressions on other doctors' patients after she left.
Until Dr. Lawson, seeing no other doctors in the office near the end of the workday, took the initiative to stop her.
"Joanna, while the hospital doesn't really interfere with employees' private lives, you need to be careful not to have patients complain privately and frequently request to change doctors."
Joanna was stunned. Recently, several new patients she'd been assigned had suddenly asked to change doctors. She thought it was because patients felt she was too young and didn't trust her.
She didn't expect there was a misunderstanding?
"Dr. Lawson, there's nothing wrong with my private life. I'm just preparing to divorce my husband."
Dr. Lawson felt awkward about saying it directly, so he showed her some photos on his phone.
"Actually, everyone's been sharing these privately. They say a new female doctor at our hospital has a messy private life, frequently going to bars, getting close to other men while still married, going on dates on special days like Valentine's Day..."
The photos weren't actually complete. The bar visit was from checking surveillance footage of Chad's fight, the date was thanking Angelo by treating him to dinner, and as for the photo with another man, it was just a back view where you couldn't see the man's face.
Joanna was speechless. "Dr. Lawson, I don't know how these photos got out, but you should trust my character. And these are all normal social interactions - they have nothing to do with a messy private life."
These pictures, combined with some vague information, were being used to spread rumors about her messy private life?
The person behind this was truly malicious!
Joanna actually already had a guess about who it was - most likely Cynthia.
Dr. Lawson smiled: "Of course I trust you, but you'd better resolve this quickly. Our hospital has a big collaboration project coming up, and I was hoping to bring you along from the orthopedics department."
Hearing about a new learning opportunity, Joanna's face became more serious: "Okay, I'll resolve it as soon as possible. Thank you for telling me about this, Dr. Lawson."
After seeing Dr. Lawson off, Joanna immediately contacted Peter and asked him to write a legal demand letter.
By the time she got home, she'd already received the letter. Without a word, Joanna posted it directly on her account and specifically tagged Cooper Corporation's official account.
Cooper Corporation had been monitoring online activity because of the plagiarism issue during this time.
The moment they saw the legal letter, they reported it to Chris.
Chris looked completely baffled and called Joanna directly: "What are you going crazy about now? Didn't we already agree on a fake divorce? I didn't question the property division either - I did everything according to your wishes."
Joanna laughed coldly. "Then why don't you ask Cynthia what she did? What right does she have to spread rumors about my messy private life? This has already affected my work. If she doesn't apologize publicly, I will sue her!"
Chris had no idea about the rumors. He wanted to ask Matthew about the situation, but Joanna had already hung up.
After thinking it over, Chris called home: "Mom, you've been close with Cynthia lately. Do you know what she's been doing behind the scenes? Why did Joanna send a legal letter about defamation to the company?"
"What! She dares to send a legal letter?" Nicole was furious. "Those photos aren't fake - I didn't wrongly accuse her!"
With one sentence, she revealed who was behind it all.
Chris was both angry and helpless. "Where did you get those photos? Mom, the company is very busy right now, waiting to secure the new project with the pharmaceutical research institute. Please don't make trouble for me, okay?"
Nicole brushed him off irritably: "Fine, fine, don't worry about this. I'll talk to Joanna myself. I don't believe she'll actually sue me."
After hanging up, Nicole forgot all about it.
Until the court summons was delivered to Cooper Corporation. Chris wasn't there, and Cynthia saw it. She immediately took a photo and sent it to Nicole.
"Mrs. Cooper, I... I didn't expect Miss Jones would actually sue. I'm sorry. I should go apologize to her. I can't drag the company down. If Chris finds out, he'll definitely be angry with me."
Nicole hadn't expected Joanna would actually dare!
Her face twisted with rage. "No need. You're pregnant - you can't get too emotional. I'll call her myself!"
When Joanna received Nicole's call, she had just put on a face mask and was getting ready to rest.
"Joanna! You took so much money from the Coopers, and now you're bold enough to sue us? How can you face the help the Coopers have given the Jones all these years? How did your mother raise such an ungrateful person like you!"