Chapter 207: Julie Was Schemed Against
When she felt the person in her arms move, Julie was shocked.
Lucas woke up this fast?
That useless Paxton!
Her mind raced, wondering whether to knock Lucas out again or start calling for people when she realized the person she was holding wasn't Lucas at all.
The man beside her had a narrow, elongated face. Though he was a man, his features were soft.
If it wasn't Orval, who else could it be?
In an instant, Julie's expression changed. Blood rushed to her brain, and her cheeks flushed red.
Of course, not from embarrassment, but from shock and anger.
"How can it be you?"
"Ms. Crawford? I don't know either." Orval looked equally panicked and said, "I just drank a glass of water, and when I opened my eyes, I was here."
Though Orval wasn't a good actor, at this crucial moment that would decide his fate, he could still pull off looking innocent.
Julie's eyes widened even more.
They'd been set up!
"Clothes! My clothes!"
Julie couldn't care about anything else and immediately tried to get dressed.
But before she could fully get up from the couch, Faith kicked the door open.
"Ms. Crawford, your people hit me. Don't you plan to give me an explanation?"
Faith had learned her fighting skills from Amelia, and Byron had trained her lower body strength.
So ordinary doors were nothing to her.
The door flew open instantly.
Julie and Orval were lying on the couch, one disheveled, the other completely naked.
"Ms. Crawford, why aren't you wearing clothes? What are you doing with this man?"
Seeing the naked Julie, Faith showed just the right amount of surprise and shouted loudly.
Her voice was loud, quickly attracting countless guests from the party.
People had been watching them since Julie and Faith's earlier argument.
So when Faith went outside looking angry, people wanted to see the drama unfold and followed her.
Unexpectedly, instead of the anticipated fight between Julie and Faith, they witnessed an even more shocking scene.
"Isn't that Julie? She really doesn't pick her moments."
A member of the Crawford family, actually having sex with a man at a charity event like this, couldn't she wait?
This was huge news.
More people gathered, including several media people attending the party.
Someone pulled out a camera and started photographing Julie.
"Don't shoot! Are you looking to die? Nobody shoot! Get out! Get out!"
Julie covered her chest with both hands, screaming like crazy.
But no one left.
This kind of scene was rare.
Who wouldn't watch when there's gossip?
Because everyone stayed, Julie couldn't get up to put on her clothes. She could only huddle next to Orval, using him to shield her body.
"Get out! Paxton! Paxton!"
She kept telling people to leave while shouting Paxton's name.
But after shouting for a while, Paxton seemed to have vanished.
Just then, someone arrived.
It wasn't Paxton, of course, but Max.
Behind him stood a group of Aurevia Studio executives.
Seeing this scene, he frowned slightly, then graciously had his staff help pass clothes to Julie and had people close the door.
"Ms. Crawford, come out after you're dressed."
With that, he closed the door.
Julie clutched the clothes and told Orval to close his eyes before quickly getting dressed.
But her mind was blank.
She couldn't understand why things had turned out this way.
Yes, people had seen her body, which she had planned for.
But the man beside her wasn't Lucas.
That did her no good at all.
Where was Lucas? Why wasn't he in the room? And where was Paxton? Had he betrayed her?
Very likely.
Otherwise, things shouldn't have turned out this way.
The more Julie thought, the more confused she became.
Lucas was out of the picture now.
She could only try to clear her own name first.
"Orval, would you do one more thing for me?"
"What?" Orval looked confused, making Julie feel he was easy to manipulate.
"Take the blame for this, and I'll give you a better future."
"Okay."
Julie was somewhat surprised.
Orval agreed too readily.
She hadn't even promised him anything yet.
Just then, Max's voice came through again.
"Ms. Crawford, are you dressed? I'm opening the door."
She clenched her fists, silently glanced at the bewildered-looking Orval, and trembled as she said, "I'm dressed."
The door opened the next second.
The guests crowding at the door to watch the excitement had been dispersed by Max, but everyone had only took a few steps back. They didn't completely leave.
Again, who wouldn't watch when there's gossip?
In the crowd, Amelia had already come out of her room and was quietly watching.
Faith stood beside her.
Only Lucas, the "male lead" in Julie's plan, was absent.
"Ms. Crawford." Max's expression wasn't pleasant. He said in a deep voice, "I didn't know you acted so recklessly. If I'd known, I wouldn't have invited you. You've ruined Aurevia Studio's charity event. How do you plan to compensate?"
Julie's expression immediately worsened.
She thought Max had helped her earlier because he wanted to protect her, but now he turned around and demanded compensation?
What she didn't know was that Max having his staff give Julie clothes and closing the door for her to dress didn't mean he wouldn't hold Julie accountable.
It was just that he preferred to be proper about it.
And now, it was time to hold her accountable.
Julie clenched her fists tightly and suddenly pointed at Orval beside her.
"He set me up! He's liked me for a long time, deliberately tricked me into the room, knocked me out, and tried to rape me. Luckily you came quickly. I just woke up, and he hadn't had time to do anything to me yet. I'm a victim too!"
This statement served two purposes: first, to clarify she hadn't been raped, and second, to explain why she was lying naked with Orval.
She couldn't say she'd failed to frame Lucas and got framed herself instead.
So she could only throw all the blame on Orval.
Max immediately looked at Orval.
"You're a newly signed artist with our company, right? Is this true?"
Julie looked at him as well, her eyes carrying an subtle threat.
However, to her surprise, Orval directly shook his head in denial.
"No! I don't know why I'm here either! A waiter brought me a glass of water. I was thirsty, so I drank it. When I opened my eyes again, I was in this room."
Julie sharply turned to look at Orval, her eyes full of shock and anger.
"That's not true!"
They had clearly agreed in the room at that point.
Orval was supposed to take all the blame as she said.
Though he would be committing a crime, because it was "attempted," and she would write a letter of understanding, so he could easily get out of the case.
Afterward, she would give him lots and lots of money, even send him abroad to develop his career.
Orval had agreed readily then, so why did he suddenly change his mind?
But she didn't have time to think about this carefully. She just stared hard into Orval's eyes.
"That's not true! You're lying! I was the one who was unconscious, not you! You better think carefully before you speak, or when the truth comes out, I won't let you off!"
These words seemed to be defending herself, but were actually threatening Orval.
How could Orval not understand?
But he maintained the same attitude as before.
"Mr. Lowe, everything I said is true. I don't know anything, and I wouldn't dare do anything to Ms. Crawford. Besides, I'm not just anybody—if I committed a crime, I'd be ruined forever. Why would I do something so stupid?"
Max looked deeply at Orval, as if trying to figure out whether what he said was true or false.
Julie panicked.
"Mr. Lowe, you believe him over me? What's my status? Would I be interested in him? If I really liked him, would I need to rape him?"
This actually made some sense.
Just then, a female voice suddenly spoke up, "Last time I came to Luminance Art Gallery, I noticed there were cameras in the garden area, pointing right in this direction. Why not check if the cameras caught anything."
Julie looked toward the voice—it was Amelia.
Her pupils constricted.
Why was Amelia here?
The sleeping pills should have lasted until the party was completely over.
Had she not drunk them at all?
Julie quickly thought—had Amelia sensed something was wrong early on and deliberately set her up instead?
If so, that would explain Orval's strange behavior.
Amelia had bought off Orval!
For a moment, her mind was in chaos, and she just stared hard at Amelia.
She was like a fierce tiger, ready to strike back at any opportunity.
But she was destined to have no chance to strike back.
The surveillance footage was quickly retrieved.
Max didn't avoid anyone and watched the surveillance in front of everyone.
In the footage, Orval stumbled into the lounge, clearly disoriented, and soon collapsed on the couch.
Then, not long after, Julie came in.
She clearly entered on her own initiative. Then, she first looked around, then closed the door like a thief. She quickly took off her clothes, went to the couch, and embraced Orval.
Max didn't avoid anyone, and people nearby all saw it too.
"Isn't Ms. Crawford the one who initiated this?"
"Orval looked like he'd been drugged."
"Anyway, it doesn't look like Orval raped Julie. Instead, Julie took off her clothes and hugged Orval."
"Ms. Crawford is lying."
"No wonder Orval gave up his great future at Aurora Media to be a newcomer at Aurevia Studio. He was avoiding Ms. Crawford!"
Everyone started chattering.
Julie's expression was awful.
With suppressed madness, she said, "This video is wrong! Someone's framing me!"
In the crowd, Amelia's lips curved slightly.
This video was indeed wrong.
It had been specially edited.