Chapter 86
"Mr. Johnson, I've already looked into it. Those posts just popped up all of a sudden. I have no idea what happened."
"But what we can confirm now is that someone is definitely trying to stir things up on purpose, trying to ruin you."
This is outrageous!
Brian swept everything off his desk onto the floor, his face turning red with anger.
He wasn't stupid. Even without his assistant saying it, he could tell someone had set him up.
Although he'd made plenty of enemies in the business world over the years, with his clever way with words and sharp thinking, he'd always managed to get through tough situations.
Even if those people had issues with him, they wouldn't go talking nonsense online.
So after ruling out all other possibilities, only Emily's side was left.
But where did she get the nerve to go against him?
It was one thing for her to stir up public opinion online and get people to attack Sophia to vent her anger, but was she really trying to go head-to-head with him?
'That damn girl, she's really gotten bold!' He cursed in his head.
"Find out, go find out for me!" Brian pointed at his assistant viciously. "Focus on Emily's side, see if she's behind this."
"And find out where she's living now. If it really is her, I'm definitely going to teach her a lesson!"
"Yes." The assistant agreed and hurried off to handle it.
Brian wasn't in the mood to work anymore either. He grabbed his coat and went home.
Sophia had been staying home for several days now. She didn't go out during the day, only at night, not returning until dawn. Nobody knew where she went.
Obviously she was going to bars to drink.
The internet was full of messages, all criticizing her. Even if one or two people spoke up for Sophia, they were quickly attacked.
Sophia had spent quite a bit of money, but it didn't make even a ripple, so she gave up.
Harper knew Sophia had been in a bad mood these past few days and tried to comfort her a few times, but Sophia completely ignored her.
When Brian got home, Sophia was sound asleep in her room.
Bang! The door was kicked open, and Brian stormed in aggressively. "What time is it, and all you know is sleeping! Do you know I've been dragged down because of you?"
The loud yelling jolted Sophia awake from her sleep. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and sat up irritably. "Dad, I was sleeping. Don't bother me."
"You still have the nerve to sleep?" Brian was so angry he wanted to strangle Sophia. "It's all because of you, everything is because of you! You've been causing trouble out there, and now I'm getting cursed at online along with you!"
"Get up right now and clean up those messages online, you hear me?"
"Dad, what does this have to do with you?" Sophia didn't understand, until Brian showed her the latest news. Only then did Sophia realize what had happened.
"This... how is this possible?" Sophia was stunned.
The thing about her mother being a homewrecker and breaking up Brian's family happened over twenty years ago. Why were netizens bringing it up for discussion now?
And they were all talking about it like they had facts and evidence, as if they'd been there and experienced it firsthand.
"Dad, someone must be deliberately targeting you." Sophia quickly caught on.
"No kidding, what's the point of telling me this?" Brian paced back and forth angrily, pointing at Sophia. "I don't care what you have to do, make this die down right now!"
He was a very selfish person to begin with. When Sophia was being attacked online before, he wasn't that anxious. At most, he blamed Sophia for embarrassing the Johnson family, afraid it would affect him.
But now that it had affected him directly, he couldn't stay calm anymore.
Sophia felt very wronged, but didn't dare talk back. She obediently gathered her things to figure out a solution.
What solution could there be? Just throw money at it.
As long as she spent enough money, she could hire enough trolls to manipulate the discussion online and flood the feeds. That should take care of it.
Five days passed in the blink of an eye, but things didn't go as smoothly as Brian had hoped.
Someone was definitely working against him. No matter how much money they threw at it, those posts that had died down would always flare up again.
Even random comments from regular people had tens of thousands of likes. This created a vicious cycle.
The more popular the posts became, the more regular people saw them. The more people saw them, the more discussion they generated, round and round, endlessly.
Emily was also keeping a close eye on what was happening online.
A few more days passed, and the new place was finished being renovated.
When Emily was packing her things, William came over too, and even called a car to help Emily move.
When they arrived at the new place, Emily opened the door and took her first breath of fresh air. Her whole being felt refreshed from the inside out.
Especially the knot that had been stuck in her heart for so long finally disappeared. That spring breeze blowing in her face was like medicine, making her feel lighter.
"Moving feels so good," Emily said after everything was unpacked.
William smiled at her. "Come on, lunch is on me, to celebrate your new place."
"How can I let you pay?" Emily quickly refused. "Since I'm the one moving, naturally I should treat. Don't fight me on this."
"Besides, I need to thank you," Emily said with emotion. "I know my father has been getting attacked badly online these past few days, and you had a hand in that."
"If it weren't for your help, it definitely wouldn't have had this kind of effect."
William opened his mouth to deny it, but Emily beat him to it.
"You don't need to deny it. I know it in my heart."
Even if William didn't say it out loud, Emily knew very well that on her own, she couldn't have stirred up this much of an impact.
Even if netizens loved gossip, they wouldn't have dug into the Johnson family this thoroughly, even finding out what Harper did before she married her father.
Obviously someone had pushed things along behind the scenes. She hadn't done it, so that left only William. Who else could it be?
"Thank you," Emily said to him very sincerely. "Thank you for everything you've done for me. I'm very grateful."
She spoke with real feeling, each word crystal clear.
But William couldn't feel happy about it. Was all that was left between him and Emily just "thank you"?
For everything he did for her, she always had "thank you" on her lips. Even if he just comforted her with words, she didn't forget to thank him.
Without a doubt, Emily was grateful to him, but at the same time she was very distant, as if their connection was only this much.
This made William feel like there was an invisible barrier around Emily, and no matter what he did, he couldn't break through it.