Chapter127 Condemned by the Entire Internet
The next morning, Miranda was woken by her phone vibrating frantically on the nightstand.
"Bzzzz..."
Miranda frowned, reaching out from under the covers to fumble for her phone.
Half-opening her eyes without looking at the screen, she swiped to answer, her voice hoarse with sleep.
"Hello?"
On the other end, Lisa's voice was urgent: "Miranda, check Weibo's trending topics now. Thomas is slandering you and posted about it online."
"What?" The last traces of sleepiness vanished completely.
She shot up from bed, her expression cold as she opened the trending post.
[Thomas: @MirandaMiranda, I know I've wronged you, but I've confessed everything to my wife and sworn to return to my family. Please stop harassing me.]
Below was an attached image, a blurry screenshot of chat records with extremely explicit and suggestive content.
Miranda stared at those lines, feeling a surge of absurdity rush through her.
"Ha."
She couldn't help it. She laughed in anger.
Miranda scrolled through the screen expressionlessly, her fingertips turning white.
"Miranda, did you see it?" On the phone, Lisa asked cautiously. "The PR department is already drafting a statement, but there are too many paid trolls on the other side. We can't suppress it."
"Not only that."
Lisa paused, her tone growing heavier. "The Elara family just announced they're going to blacklist our company. Several partners we're currently negotiating with just called to say they're suspending cooperation and watching how things develop."
Miranda narrowed her eyes, a cold glint flashing in them.
She exited Thomas's Weibo and opened Elara's homepage.
Sure enough, Elara hadn't been idle either.
Five minutes ago, Elara had reposted Thomas's Weibo with a lengthy statement.
[Elara: I thought if I backed down, I could have peace. I didn't expect Miranda to be so greedy. Taking 1.28 million wasn't enough, she continues harassing my husband. Since Miranda, you won't be decent, I don't need to save your face either.]
[That 1.28 million was transferred to you by my husband behind my back, which constitutes marital property. I've already commissioned lawyers to file suit in court to recover this sum and sue Miranda for spousal interference.]
After reading this, Miranda ran her hand through her hair.
"What hopeless stupidity."
That day in the office, she'd shown Elara all the evidence, yet Elara still chose to believe her husband.
"Miranda?" Hearing silence on this end, Lisa called out anxiously.
Miranda snapped back to attention, taking a deep breath to make her voice sound as calm as possible.
"I'm here."
She quickly organized her thoughts, ordering in a grave tone: "Lisa, notify everyone. All company employees get three days of paid leave, working remotely from home. Lock down the company entrance completely and activate all security systems. If anyone comes to cause trouble at the company, have security film everything. No physical confrontations. File police reports for everything."
Hearing this, Lisa's eyes welled up, her panic subsiding considerably.
At a time like this, the boss's first thought was for employee safety.
"Got it, Miranda. I'll send the notification immediately and have everyone evacuate."
After hanging up, Miranda got out of bed.
She walked barefoot across the carpet to the floor-to-ceiling windows and pulled open the curtains with a swish.
Blinding sunlight poured in, but it couldn't dispel the chill in her heart.
She picked up her phone, about to contact her lawyers, when the screen suddenly lit up again.
Miranda clicked it open, feeling her stomach churn.
This was a set of so-called "ironclad proof of the affair."
The first image was a hotel check-in record, with the name column maliciously photoshopped to read "Miranda."
The second was a photo taken from behind, showing a woman wearing the same outfit as her, leaning against Thomas's embrace.
Miranda recognized this photo. Elara had shown it in the office that day. That was the real mistress!
But now, Thomas was publicly claiming this was her.
[Thomas: Here's the evidence. Everyone, see this woman's true face.]
The comments section instantly collapsed into chaos, a tidal wave of abuse.
Miranda looked at those vicious words, her fingers gripping the phone turning white at the knuckles, nails digging deep into her palm.
After the anger came extreme calm.
She exited Weibo and directly dialed a number.
"Ring... ring..."
The phone was answered after two rings.
"Miranda?"
Christian's warm voice came through the receiver. "Why are you calling so early? Did something happen?"
Hearing her brother's voice, Miranda's constantly tense nerves relaxed for a moment, her nose tingling slightly.
But she quickly adjusted her emotions and got straight to the point: "Christian, I need a favor."
Christian seemed to be in a meeting, with the sound of shuffling papers in the background, but he immediately lowered his voice, his tone turning serious: "Tell me."
"I need the best lawyers in the industry for reputation rights and commercial defamation cases."
Miranda's voice was terrifyingly calm. "Also, help me contact some marketing accounts and PR teams. I need to be ready to fight back at any moment."
Christian was silent for a second, keenly sensing something was wrong.
"What happened?"
"Someone's throwing dirt on me." Miranda paused, her voice softening. "Can you keep this from Mom? Her health isn't good. If she sees what's online, I'm afraid she'll..."
"Don't worry, leave it to me." Christian's tone was steady.
After hanging up, she let out a long breath.
Having family to back her up felt good.
After splashing cold water on her face in the bathroom, Miranda sat at her computer to organize evidence.
If they wanted to play the evidence game, fine. Let's see who gets scared first.
Special Police Training Base.
The sun beat down mercilessly, the air thick with the smell of sweat and dust.
Clifton stood on a high platform in black tactical gear, his posture ramrod straight, his gaze sharp as a hawk's as he surveyed the team members grappling in the mud below.
"Too slow! Add five more sets!"
Clifton's cold voice cut through the noisy training sounds, making the team members below shudder and move even more fiercely.
Just then, a buzz-cut young man hurried over from the distance, clutching a phone tightly in his hand.
Seeing who it was, Clifton's brow furrowed slightly. He raised his hand to signal the team below to continue, then turned and walked into the temporary office behind him, unbuttoning his cuffs as he walked, revealing his forearm's smooth lines.
"Boss, I have results from what you asked me to investigate yesterday."
The man stood at attention, speaking rapidly. "That Thomas really did cheat. His real mistress is pregnant, three months along. Tests show it's a boy."
"To protect this illegitimate child and keep Elara from acting, Thomas pushed your wife out as a scapegoat. And this isn't Thomas's first affair. He has another illegitimate daughter who's already four years old."
At those words, rage instantly surged in Clifton's eyes, veins bulging on the back of his hand.
The man hesitated, then delivered the worse news: "Last night around midnight, Thomas made a post tagging your wife, trying to crucify her as a mistress. He posted fake evidence too. Now the entire internet is cursing her."
"Ha." Clifton laughed coldly, the reaction of extreme fury.
Someone dared touch what was his. Certain people must think their lives are too long.
He turned around, taking the silver mask from the shelf, his fingertips lightly stroking the cold edge. "You continue training with the team."
"Yes, sir!" The man could tell from the boss's demeanor that someone was about to have very bad luck.