Chapter 71
Once this recording gets out, who knows how many people will be talking behind Emily's back about how she doesn't care about family ties.
But none of that mattered. She didn't care at all what outsiders thought. She only cared about what William would think.
"Do you think I'm heartless, too?"
Emily asked softly, "They say you shouldn't air your dirty laundry in public, but now I want to expose what Sophia did to everyone. You must think I'm heartless too, right?"
"How could I?"
William shook his head seriously, staring intently into Emily's teary eyes as he gently tucked the messy strands of hair by her temples behind her ear.
"I can tell you very clearly that I support everything you do. Don't do what I think you should do - do what you most want to do."
These words had been brewing in William's mind for a long time, and now he finally said them.
There's a saying that goes: women are weak, but mothers are strong. Seeing Emily like this, William believed it.
She must be in so much pain. Her daughter was bullied, and as a mother, she couldn't get revenge for her daughter. Instead, she had to watch Sophia smugly get away with it, free and easy. How could she swallow that hatred?
Since the law couldn't get revenge for her, Emily could only choose other methods. How could he possibly hold Emily back in this situation?
Besides, William truly agreed with Emily's approach and didn't think she was wrong at all.
"Emily, I support you."
William emphasized again, "No matter what you do, I support you. I'll say it again - don't ask yourself if you should do it, ask yourself if you want to do it."
When William said this, Emily froze, not knowing what to do, unable to come back to herself for a long time.
She had never been supported so firmly by anyone before. She had thought that once William knew about her extreme thoughts, he would definitely scold her harshly, saying this kind of behavior was unacceptable, and might even take the opportunity to lecture her with some big principles that would annoy her.
Just now, when she asked William if he supported her, Emily had even prepared how to argue back at him. She never expected that he would actually choose to support her and say something so far beyond her expectations.
"I mean everything I said."
"Thank you."
Emily's lips moved for a moment before she softly thanked him.
The smile on William's face stopped abruptly.
But seeing the faint distance in Emily's eyes, he swallowed those words.
William looked down and changed the subject. "Alright, let's not talk about these unhappy things."
William helped Emily tidy up. "I can see you're not in the mood to cook, and I'm not much of a cook either. How about we take the kids out to eat?"
"Since Nina got scared, you haven't gone out these past two days. It would be good to let the kids get some fresh air, what do you think?"
"That's not necessary."
Emily wanted to refuse. "Although I made some money from the variety show, I can't waste it."
"I still haven't found a job yet. You've already bought the ingredients, so let's just eat at home."
"How could I let you pay when I'm inviting you out to eat?"
William raised his eyebrows and smiled at her. "Of course I'm treating. Come on, let's go out to eat."
He left the kitchen and called to the kids in the bedroom to come out, his movements relaxed and voice cheerful, as if the earlier unhappiness didn't exist at all.
Emily watched this scene from behind, lost in thought.
Although she didn't really want to admit it, she had to say that her life didn't seem so boring when William was around.
Usually, she had to juggle work and take care of the kids. After William left, he sent Aiden right over, making Emily even busier than before, with no time to enjoy the good things in life.
But after William came, the burden on her shoulders lightened considerably, and her pace slowed down too.
Although Nina's emotions hadn't been very stable these past few days, watching her get better day by day, plus William running around outside for her, Emily didn't feel tired at all. Instead, she felt relieved.
Is this the benefit of having someone to lean on?
How strange - she had never thought before that she should pin her hopes on a man.
But now having William with her really made her happy. She even looked forward a little each day to him coming to keep her and the kids company.
The children ran out of the bedroom. When they heard they were going out to eat, they were all delighted. Even Oscar's face relaxed quite a bit, and Nina rarely showed a smile.
Emily smiled knowingly, shook her head, and drove all those thoughts from her mind.
Why think so much? As long as she was safe and healthy, and the children were all happy and growing strong, that was the best outcome, wasn't it?
Before leaving, Emily did as she said and actually posted that recording online.
Sure enough, it immediately caused huge waves online. In this quiet afternoon, netizens flocked online to gossip. Emily successfully topped the trending searches again, and this included William's secret contribution of fanning the flames.
Since Emily wanted to ruin Sophia's reputation, he naturally had to add fuel to the fire. That way, Emily would be happier.
Besides, what Sophia did was simply outrageous and disgusting. She deserved to be condemned by public opinion.
As for the police, they were working hard to find evidence. He didn't know if they could find any. Emily wasn't hopeful about this matter.
Sophia wasn't stupid. The police had already summoned her - anyone would know to quickly destroy all evidence. Would she wait for the police to investigate? It wouldn't be so easy for the police to catch Sophia now.
Emily didn't edit or hide anything in that recording - she just posted it directly without any caption, just the audio.
After listening to the recording and combining it with what happened on the variety show a while ago, netizens immediately figured out the whole story.
"I can't believe this was Sophia's doing. When I watched the show before, I thought she was a pretty good person. I didn't expect her to be so vicious."
"Right, didn't they say Emily and Sophia were sisters? So she's the aunt of these kids. How could she bring herself to do something like this? It's absolutely unconscionable! This kind of person has no conscience at all!"
"What sisters? They don't have the same mother. Haven't you heard that where there's a stepmother, there's bound to be a stepfather?"
"From this recording, you can tell that Emily definitely isn't loved by her father in the Johnson family. Otherwise, Sophia definitely wouldn't be so arrogant."
"Why don't the police arrest her? Isn't this evidence?"
Netizens discussed it heatedly, saying all kinds of things.
Emily didn't say anything or deliberately guide anything. William was the same.
If you had to say they did anything, it was just that William secretly contributed some traffic. That was all.