After hanging up the phone, Deanna noticed Lance's grim expression and asked, "Is something wrong?"
"There's a minor issue at the company, but it's nothing major. Don't worry, I can handle it," Lance replied, not intending to tell the truth and glossing over the matter.
Deanna gave him a suspicious look but didn't press further. Across from them, Eula's lips curled into a slight smile. She had a good guess about the phone call and pretended to be browsing her phone while actually looking for the news online.
Although Lance had ordered the news to be suppressed, Eula knew his people wouldn't be that fast. So she opened her phone and immediately saw the top news story. Feigning surprise, she exclaimed, "Oh my, Miss Jones, your two children are being cyberbullied!"
"Eula, shut up!" Lance shouted immediately.
But it was too late; Deanna and Old Ashley had already heard her words. The two little ones also stopped eating and looked at Eula in confusion. "Auntie Eula, what did you say about cyberbullying?"
Eula glanced at Deanna, who was warning her with her eyes, and laughed awkwardly. "Nothing, nothing. Just pretend I didn't say anything."
She put down her phone and awkwardly urged the two little ones and Deanna to continue eating. The children pouted in dissatisfaction. Deanna frowned and glanced thoughtfully at the phone Eula had put down.
She then turned to Shannon and instructed, "Give me my phone."
As soon as she spoke, Lance's voice interrupted. "Deanna, finish your meal before playing with your phone. Don't set a bad example for Gregory and Chloe."
He didn't want Deanna to know about the situation online. Deanna stared at him for a few seconds but eventually relented. "Fine, I'll check it after dinner."
Perhaps curious about what had happened, they finished eating in less than ten minutes. The group moved to the living room.
Eula excused herself, claiming she had an appointment with Ollie, and left the estate.
Deanna took out her phone and went online, immediately seeing the trending news. Her face darkened as she looked at the two children playing with their grandmother nearby. Suppressing her anger, she tried to speak calmly. "Grandma, why don't you take Gregory and Chloe for a walk in the garden? They ate quite a bit just now, and I don't want them to get indigestion."
Old Ashley didn't suspect anything and took the children outside.
Once they were gone, Deanna couldn't hold back her anger any longer and placed her phone in front of Lance. "Look at this! How could the Cain family do such a thing? It's outrageous!"
"I've already arranged for Xavier to handle it. The news will die down in half an hour at most," Lance tried to reassure her.
Deanna took a deep breath, her eyes cold. "Even if it dies down, I won't let this go!"
Initially, she thought that since their children had been in a fight, as long as the Cain family's demands weren't excessive, she would agree to them. But now that they had done this, she couldn't continue with her original plan.
Seeing her resolve, Lance nodded. "I never intended to let this go either."
However, half an hour later, the trending news hadn't died down; it had only intensified.
It turned out that after Xavier sent a legal notice to the Cody family on behalf of Lance, Devin's mother went live online, crying about how the Mercer family was bullying them. She also posted her son's hospital diagnosis online.
Netizens saw this and sympathized with her while condemning the Mercer family.
"Does having money make you special? Does it give you the right to beat someone else's child to death?"
"I used to feel sorry for Deanna because of what happened before, but now I see she's just as bad."
"Rich people are all the same. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Those kids are ruined."
Deanna saw Devin's mother's online statements and trembled with rage. Unable to hold back, she used her social media account to respond: "Nonsense! Twisting facts like this is unbelievable. I don't deny my children hit yours, but it was because your child provoked them first and said we were abusing our power. Isn't your Cain family extorting us? I've seen shameless people before but never anyone as brazen as you. For the sake of profit, you have no moral bottom line!"
Her message caused another uproar online.
Due to her previous work in pharmaceuticals and her status as Mrs. Mercer, Deanna had a considerable following online. Her post was quickly noticed.
Netizens began to discuss it hesitantly.
"Judging by Mrs. Mercer's message, is there something we don't know?"
"Based on past experiences, I think there's more to this story."
"Regardless of any twists, I still dislike parents who condone their children hitting others."
"I also hate school violence. These kids are so young and already putting others in the hospital-what will they do when they grow up?"