Chapter 500 Andrew’s Methods, Leaving No Room for Mercy

Chapter 500 Andrew’s Methods, Leaving No Room for Mercy



She even tried to pin all the blame on Olivia, which made Michael even more furious. He snapped. "I don't need you to use such dirty tricks!

I've decided to let go, I'm done trying to make Olivia do anything she doesn't want to do.

She doesn't owe the Johnson family anything. She's a person, not some object for you to move around however you please!"

What's done is done. There's no point saying anything more.

Michael took a deep breath, trying to control his anger. "Don't let this happen again," he warned. "Or you're on your own.

You can't hide what you did with the drugs from anyone.

Andrew isn't going to let this slide. You'd better behave yourself."

Michael couldn't keep Olivia there, and he couldn't follow her to Harmony City either.

He had to set the situation with Olivia aside for now.

"Dad, keep an eye on the company for a while. I need to go abroad to meet with the consulting specialists. If anything comes up, don't make decisions on your own—notify me right away."

"Okay."

Hayden knew Michael had his own plans. Even if he didn't agree, he didn't try to stop him.

But when Amelia heard this, her face fell. "Michael, are you really going through with that surgery?

Have you thought about what happens if something goes wrong?"

If it fails, he could become permanently disabled!

Michael said in a low voice, "Even if the surgery fails, I can live with it. At worst, I'll be disabled for life. That's my punishment.

The injury was a warning from fate, but I didn't listen.

I had every chance to recover fully.

But I didn't cherish it."

Michael didn't blame anyone else. He only blamed himself.

Watching Michael leave, Amelia slumped onto the sofa, already picturing the worst.

She was beside herself. "It's all Olivia! It's all her fault!

If she hadn't been so ungrateful, none of this would have happened!

I already agreed to accept her into the Johnson family—what more does she want?"

The hall echoed with Amelia's cursing. The servants didn't dare stop her and quickly retreated to avoid trouble.

Seeing her still ranting, Hayden frowned deeply and scolded sharply. "Enough! All you ever do is make things worse!"

"What trouble did I cause?"

She turned on Hayden, ready to argue.

But Hayden wasn't interested in fighting. He turned and left the Johnson Mansion as well.

That afternoon, Michael boarded his flight.

Meanwhile, someone suddenly filed a report against the Martinez family.

Amelia's father, Elliott Martinez, had been closely connected with someone convicted of treason when he was younger.

The report contained evidence of his involvement in espionage, and alleged he was still maintaining secret ties with a senior official from an enemy state.

That same day, federal investigators moved on the Martinez family.

They even found some prohibited items at the Martinez Manor.

Some were even cultural artifacts that should have been turned over to the state years ago.

Instead, the Martinez family had been sitting on them privately.

It wasn't just the Martinez family—the Johnson family's troubles were starting too.

Almost at the same time Elliott was arrested, Kira Wilde from the Wilde family in Emerald City filed a lawsuit against Chase.

The Wilde family had once been one of Emerald City's prominent families.

A financial crisis a few years back had gutted them, and they'd slowly faded from the upper tier of Emerald City society.

Now, Kira was accusing Chase of rape.

This accusation wasn't baseless.

She had documented the time, the location, and even had some video footage from the scene to back it up.

It happened a few months ago at a bar.

It was right after Michael and Sophia's engagement party.

Chase had been hit hard by what happened with Sophia and had been drinking heavily at the bar for several days.

When he got drunk, he went crazy. Whether he mistook her for someone else or not, he ignored her resistance and forced himself on her.

At the time, Kira was afraid of ruining her reputation and scared of the Johnson family's power, so she didn't dare speak up.

But she held on to every piece of evidence.

Kira also spoke out online and exposed what had been going on in Chase's head for years.

"He's been obsessed with Sophia for years. Always coveting his brother's first love.

He just never expected that Sophia was that kind of two-faced person. After the engagement party, the image of his dream girl that he'd built up in his head shattered."

Once Kira spoke up, other outlets started digging into Chase's private life.

"This Chase isn't the charming gentleman he appears to be on the surface.

He's reckless, arrogant, uses his family name to take what he wants from women, and he doesn't care who gets hurt."

"I've heard about this too. Apparently, every time he sleeps with a woman, he asks his partner to dress up like Sophia."

"That's definitely true. A friend of mine used to work at that bar. She said Chase had all kinds of tricks in bed, and he'd call out Sophia's name every single time."

At first it was just Kira's word, but as the online discussion grew, other girls came forward with photos as proof.

However, for privacy reasons, those photos didn't show faces—just the outfits they'd worn when they were with Chase, and the messages Chase had sent them.

It really was like some netizens said—before each meeting, Chase would ask them to dress that way.

After the chat screenshots were posted, the internet erupted.

"Oh my god, both Chase AND Michael are into the same type? What is going on with that family?"

"Michael is unfaithful, Chase is disgusting!"

"These two brothers are unbelievable!"

"Seriously, what is so special about that bitch Sophia? She's fake through and through."

"Sophia almost became his sister-in-law, right? He was going after his own sister-in-law, seriously?"

"These two are perfect for each other—one's wild, one's sleazy. They're made for each other!"

The netizens' comments brought everyone's memory back to the engagement party.

People hadn't forgotten Sophia's sex photos.

"True, these two should stop harming others. What if they have STDs?"

The news spread quickly online.

When the Johnson family found out, they moved immediately to kill the story.

But it was as if someone was pulling strings behind the scenes. No matter what methods the Johnson family used, the news kept coming back, appearing everywhere online.

After holding out for a few hours, the Johnson family realized how bad it had gotten and started working their connections to limit the damage.

At the same time, they made arrangements to get Chase out of the country until things cooled down.

However, no one in Emerald City dared to help them.

Before the Johnson family could make any moves, the police showed up and took Chase away.

With such a huge scandal at Johnson Group, the stock market was affected that same day.

The next morning, the stock price plummeted, exactly as anyone paying attention would have expected.

Michael had just landed abroad.

When he heard the news, his expression darkened.

He didn't have to think twice, he knew this must be Andrew's doing!

He'd expected Andrew to retaliate, but he never imagined his methods would be so ruthless.

Andrew had left almost no room for mercy, determined to take down the Johnson family!

Robert was briefing Michael on everything.

"There's no way to clear Chase's name in the case with Kira. The charges are basically set in stone because the evidence is solid right now."

If it were someone else going after Chase, the Johnson family's lawyers could still protect him.

But this time, people from the Hamilton family were involved.

With that person taking action, the usual workarounds were off the table.

Chase being convicted was inevitable.

"Also, the Martinez family's situation doesn't look good. It involves sensitive national issues, and they couldn't get out of it right away. Solid evidence was found.

If Johnson Group wants to avoid being implicated, they need to quickly distance themselves from the Martinez family."

Michael's expression was grim. Hearing Robert's last sentence, he said through gritted teeth, "I'm afraid it's already too late."

He had witnessed Andrew's decisive methods.

This time the Johnson family had crossed him, and he wouldn't show mercy to Johnson Group.

As the CEO of Johnson Group, Michael knew that with the Johnson family's business being so large, it was tainted with many shady dealings.

Most of these were done when his grandfather and Hayden were still in charge.

After he took over Johnson Group, he'd cleaned up as much as he could, but if someone was determined to dig, there was still enough there to do damage.

He had never underestimated Andrew's capabilities.

The crisis meant the meetings with the doctors would have to wait.

Just as he was about to contact Hayden to discuss what to do, Amelia's call came first.

She sounded frightened, her voice even carrying a sob, telling Michael, "Michael, quickly get someone to help with the Martinez family situation. Your grandfather is old—have someone let him come home first."

She only cared about getting Elliott home safely, not thinking about what the Martinez family had actually done.

Michael frowned and said, "I'll take care of the Martinez situation. Just stay home these days, don't go out, and don't get involved with anything online. Dad and I will solve it."

The last thing he needed right now was Amelia making things worse.

After hanging up with Amelia, he called Hayden to discuss the Martinez family situation.

Hayden sighed. "I didn't expect the charges to be so serious. It's not easy to get your grandfather released on bail right now."

Michael's frown deepened. "I don't recommend you get involved. It's best to distance ourselves from the Martinez family for now.

With charges like these hanging over them, if we try to protect them, we drag ourselves down with them."

Hayden hesitated. "But if we do this, your mother will probably make a scene."

Michael's expression hardened, and his tone became heavier. "Let her make a scene. That's better than dragging Johnson Group down with them. Do you want Johnson Group to go down with the Martinez family?"