Chapter 228

The next day, Gwen went to the studio as usual. As soon as she reached the entrance, she saw Edward waiting for her at the door.

She paused, then walked over quickly. "You're here—why didn't you go inside? It's not like you don't know the passcode."

"I just got here too." Edward smiled and walked into the studio with Gwen.

He seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood.

"I wanted to tell you something. The Sterling Group is in trouble. I heard classified documents were sold to a rival company. Their stock's already plummeted. They might even go bankrupt."

For such a large company, even if it went bankrupt, a starved camel was still bigger than a horse.

But the shareholders didn't see it that way.

Gwen immediately thought of Lynn. Just as she was about to ask where Lynn was now, Edward spoke up. "There's something else—though it's internal information, not entirely confirmed. I heard the person who sold the documents was Lynn's mother, so..."

So the person who stole the documents was naturally Lynn.

Gwen said, "I figured as much."

She pulled out her phone and found the recording from the coffee shop.

It contained Lynn and Niamh's conversation.

Originally, Gwen had planned to release this recording if they teamed up against her. But so far, Niamh didn't seem intent on making things difficult for her.

Edward raised an eyebrow. "Where'd you get this good stuff?"

"I ran into them at the coffee shop last time and tried recording. Didn't expect to actually catch their conversation with so many people around." Gwen put away her phone. "But this recording can't be released."

"True," Edward said, spinning around in his chair. "Don't know who the person on the other end is, but judging by their tone, they're probably not simple."

Being as sharp as he was, he quickly caught Gwen's implication.

Gwen hummed in agreement. "Yeah. But I didn't expect Lynn to move so fast. Looks like she really wanted to leave Justin."

She wondered if Justin would find it all laughable once he figured everything out.

Edward clicked his tongue. "Speaking of which, with something this major happening, Justin actually went abroad. Don't tell me he went to find Lynn?"

Gwen nodded. "That's just his vindictive personality. After being played by Lynn, of course he'd personally bring her back."

She just didn't know what crazy things he'd do after bringing her back.

Lynn had been too naive, thinking she could easily leave after doing all this. But she hadn't considered that after operating for so many years, the Sterling Group couldn't possibly lack connections.

Even if she went to some obscure little country, the Sterling family could quickly find Echo and force her to reveal Lynn's location.

Gwen shook her head, too lazy to think about it further.

This matter had nothing to do with her, so there was no need to dwell on it.

Edward had only come to chat about this. After finishing, there wasn't much else.

He stood up. "I'll head to the company then. If you ever need help with anything, remember to find me."

"Okay." Gwen agreed.

Late at night in a bar, Justin drank glass after glass of alcohol, unable to drown out the wrenching pain in his heart.

In the end, he'd still gone abroad and brought Lynn back. But he couldn't bear to truly hurt her, so ultimately he'd just handed her over to the police.

According to his father's wishes, they hadn't originally wanted to make such a big deal out of it—just torture her properly, then send her somewhere desolate.

But... he'd softened.

He remembered he really had wronged Lynn in the past.

Right after Lynn went abroad, he'd gotten together with Gwen. He'd even married Gwen and had a child with her.

He'd always felt he owed Lynn in that regard, so he wanted to make up for it with everything he had.

When Lynn cried and begged him to let her go, he discovered he still had feelings for her after all.

He closed his eyes, recalling bits and pieces of the past, only to find that the figure in his memories wasn't Lynn—it was Gwen.

How could it be her?

She was supposed to be the person he hated most in this life.

Gwen had taken advantage of his vulnerability, forcing him to marry someone he didn't love and have a useless child.

Yet this guilt in his heart seemed to lean more toward Gwen.

Come to think of it, he really had wronged Gwen.

Justin opened his eyes and stumbled out of the bar, pulling out his phone to dial that familiar number.

The call wouldn't go through. Only then did he remember he'd been blocked.

Blocked...

Gwen was too ruthless. They'd once been the most intimate of partners, yet now things had become so cold between them.

Furious, he threw his phone down and grabbed a passing stranger. "Lend me your phone."

His drunken appearance was truly frightening. The stranger, scared, pushed him away and tried to leave.

Finally, his assistant couldn't stand watching anymore. He stepped forward and handed over his phone. "Mr. Sterling, use mine."

Justin eagerly grabbed the phone and dialed Gwen's number.

As the ringtone sounded, the call connected.

"Gwen..." His voice was hoarse, tinged with tears. "I'm sorry... I wronged you."

Gwen immediately wanted to hang up, but Susan stopped her.

Susan whispered, "Let's hear what he wants to say first."

Justin cried, "I'm sorry to Charlie. I didn't do what a father should. I'm truly sorry, but... but you can't blame me... You were the one who took advantage back then. You forced me to marry you. You..."

After barely two sentences of apology, he couldn't help but start shifting blame.

Susan found it laughable.

Before the divorce, Susan hadn't brought up the truth from back then only to save her best friend some dignity.

After the divorce, she still hadn't said anything because she felt it wasn't necessary.

But now, hearing this scumbag so shamelessly blame everything on Gwen, Susan finally couldn't hold back.

She grabbed the phone. "Justin, you're nothing but scum!"

"You still think Lynn had no choice but to leave back then? She actually just looked down on you! When the Sterling Group had problems, she ran faster than anyone. You think Gwen took advantage—the truth is you got drunk and forced yourself on Gwen!"

"Back then you were a stray dog nobody wanted. Gwen was the one caring for you, comforting you. And you have the nerve to blame her? Are you even human?"

After finishing this tirade, Susan finally felt satisfied. She immediately hung up.

But hanging up wasn't enough. She directly sent Justin all the information she'd dug up about what Lynn had done abroad.

Gwen couldn't stop her in time.

Susan said firmly, "Gwen, don't try to talk me out of it. Scum like him should face reality sooner rather than later. Otherwise, constantly blaming heaven and earth like this is just disgusting to watch!"

After doing all this, Susan was finally satisfied.