Chapter 148 Suddenly Remembered, They Are No Longer Husband and Wife
After this speculation came out, everyone seemed to finally snap back to reality.
"Right, aren't Amelia and William married? So what was Isabella doing at that auction?"
"According to previous investigations, Isabella wasn't even invited. She went with William as his plus-one."
"Yeah, I remember there was a trending topic back then - over all these years, William had only attended a few occasions like that, and usually Amelia was by his side, but that time it was Isabella!"
"What about Lika? Did Lika go with Jeffrey or on her own?"
"Now this is interesting. According to the investigation, Lika had her own bidding paddle. When the news broke about Lika's fake donation, they listed that there were no records under Lika's paddle number, which means Lika was invited to attend."
For a moment, all kinds of voices started brewing online.
Countless people began digging up the original reports and videos.
"I suddenly noticed something interesting - Isabella didn't just crash the event, and look, she even wore a wedding dress-style gown. What does that mean? Was she openly provoking?"
At that time, Isabella's gown with the wedding dress design became the biggest talking point about her.
"Didn't Isabella say she would never be a homewrecker? So what does this mean? Amelia wasn't dead yet."
...
The online sentiment shifted very quickly. Before, people were criticizing Amelia for being a woman who, for wealth and money, wouldn't dare speak up even when her husband was repeatedly seen out with other women.
Now they were criticizing Isabella for being intimate with someone she knew had a wife.
"Isn't there a livestream going on? Answer us, Isabella! You were just drawing your funeral invitations earlier, which means you're watching. Respond now!"
This comment immediately got countless likes.
Suddenly, the pressure was on Isabella.
Isabella was no longer in the livestream frame at this moment.
Having experienced being secretly recorded before, she didn't dare speak carelessly in backstage areas anymore.
So right now, she was sitting in her car ahead of time.
Only her assistant was with her at the moment.
"Ms. Taylor, what do we do now?" The assistant looked very anxious. "There's no way to clear this up now. Who knew Lika was actually Amelia? We're done for..."
Isabella's face was completely twisted. She shot the assistant a harsh glare, and the assistant immediately shut up.
From the recording venue in the distance, eliminated singers were being brought on stage for exposure, and singing could be heard from afar.
Isabella took out her phone and called Carl.
Carl was also very anxious, so he answered right away.
"Ms. Taylor, what should we do now?" Carl was completely panicking.
In all their previous plans, the option that Lika was Amelia had never existed.
Back then, they all thought Lika was finished and were preparing how to escalate the situation to get Lika blacklisted.
So now, he had no idea how to fight back.
"There's still time."
Isabella said stubbornly, "Before the livestream ends, I can stall by claiming I haven't seen the online comments."
"But the situation is escalating. There are experts on Amelia's side constantly expanding the influence of the hashtag #TheRealFakeDonorIsIsabella."
Isabella closed her eyes, her mind racing, and finally, she looked toward William.
...
On the other side, William was standing somewhere backstage.
He kept looking toward Amelia's personal dressing room.
He was waiting for her to come out.
He had to talk to her properly.
His mind kept replaying everything about Lika these past days.
Otis's words kept echoing in his head.
"What condition Lika's body was in during the first few episodes - I think anyone with eyes could see it clearly."
Yes, he knew.
He had even blamed Jeffrey.
Blamed him for letting her work when she was so seriously injured.
Now thinking about it...
Her serious injuries were all caused by him.
He thought back to what happened when he was hospitalized at Evergreen Hospital a couple days ago.
That morning he had recovered, and his assistant was handling his discharge paperwork.
On a whim, he remembered what Dash had said.
He wanted to ask about Amelia's condition when she was hospitalized.
Thinking this, he did it.
He went to the front desk, found a nurse, and wanted to pull up Amelia's medical records.
"Alright, Amelia, you said? What's your relationship to her?" the nurse asked while clicking her mouse.
He instinctively wanted to say he was Amelia's husband, but then he suddenly remembered they had already divorced, so they weren't married anymore.
So in the end, he just said, "I'm her friend."
The nurse looked at him strangely. "You're her friend but didn't visit once during all those days she was hospitalized? And you won't just ask her yourself? Unless you can prove you're a family member, we can't randomly disclose patient privacy."
William was speechless.
Now thinking about it...
William closed his eyes. His emotions were very complicated right now. He felt everything had become very chaotic.
Why was Amelia Lika?
Amelia's attitude toward him.
And these past days, her concealment from him.
All of this, piece by piece, seemed to be telling him that something had slowly started to change.
But he couldn't figure it out, and couldn't do anything about it.
An indescribable dull pain came from his heart, leaving him at a loss.
Just then, his phone started vibrating.
William took it out and looked - it was a call from Finn.
As he hesitated whether to answer, he saw Isabella standing to the side.
"William." Her voice trembled, her eyes red and full of tears.
"What should I do?" Tears flowed from her eyes. "I didn't know Lika was her. Now looking back at the previous episodes, I feel so... guilty."
Her tears seemed endless.
She cried miserably, her voice breaking:
"You know I didn't want to hurt her, but now with this situation... William, tell me, what should I do for her to forgive me?"
William looked at Isabella.
He didn't know how to answer.
William's phone was still vibrating, Finn's call still urging.
Isabella's gaze also moved to William's phone.
Looking at his phone, she continued crying, "Will you take her home? William, will you... not want me anymore?"
Meanwhile, on the other side, in Amelia's personal dressing room.
Amelia saw in the group chat—
A new narrative had appeared online:
"Actions should be judged by intentions. Isabella attended the charity gala genuinely wanting to promote awareness for sick children, while Amelia just wanted to compete with Isabella."