After Alex had said that, Robert flashed a smile at his uncle.
"Uncle Simpson, this is my personal matter. Whether I will terminate my marriage with Emma or me getting together with anybody, I feel like these are things you don't have any right to interfere."
Alex's face immediately darkened.
"What kind of nonsense are you saying now! Previously, you have been kidnapped, which affected the stock price of the company. I have momentarily taken over your position to settle things and calm things down, but now that you're back, everyone has their eyes on you, on your next move. But contrary to expectations, you churned out so much scandal, and now the netizens are aiming their spears at you. No matter what, Wendy is still my niece, while she was dead because of that woman, you still have the conscience to be together with her. What do you think public opinion would look like? How do you think your mother would accept this? How do you think the Simpson family would receive this?"
Alex said this with such vehemence and authority, but Robert simply laughed.
"Uncle Simpson, don't you put on such a righteous face in front of me. We both know very well what kind of person we are. If you are really that concerned about that little tremor in the stock market, and if you really care about the shareholder's feelings, you should organize a shareholder meeting and kick me out of management so that the people in the industry know that I no longer have the qualification to carry on the duties of being the head of the Simpson Group. I know that you really want to get this going."
Alex's face began to contort.
"Are you going to go that far for that woman? What about your mother? Doesn't she have anything to say about this at all?"
"My mother is enjoying herself right now while travelling, Uncle Simpson. I advise you not to be a busybody, or else you might lose the chance to take over my position as the executive president of the company… I am willing to recuperate in silence and momentarily leave aside business matters, but don't even think for a second that you can now boss over me, or interfere with my personal things."
"You are really dead stubborn!"
Alex let out a roar.
"You just wait for the board of directors to hold a shareholder meeting. You better don't regret by then!"
After leaving this sentence behind, Alex turned around angrily and left.
Georgia began to ask with obvious worry in her voice, "I saw that the people commenting on the internet has been criticizing you a lot. Do you think it won't affect the company at all? Also, will your future be affected?"
Robert held Georgia's hand.
"While managing a company, if I really care about that little drop in stock prices, I cannot steer this company to a better development… The most important parts of a company is its technological, financial and development departments… and also this company which is raking in fortune has all of my trusted subordinates planted inside. Uncle Simpson is just taking my place at the moment, but it is his delusion if he thinks he can pull me down from my throne. As for the gossips circulating out there, it won't really deal a detrimental blow to stock prices, unless someone is scheming something… But for a huge company like us, it is normal to experience regular fluctuations in stock prices, besides being assaulted by other financial organizations. You don't need to worry about this kind of thing, I will make sure to take care of it."
Georgia didn't know much about business rules and principles, so she could feel more at ease after hearing Robert's confident speech.
"Oh right, didn't you say that we are going to fight back tonight? We can't be at a passive place all the time, I want to see how the Lane family expose themselves in the eyes of the public."
Robert revealed a cunning and lecherous smile for the first time.
"Tell me, if I publish the news about Flora's alleged abortion of her pregnancy on the internet, coupled with intimate photos of her and that man, what do you think would happen to the Lane family?"
"Of course, things would get interesting."
Georgia was eager to see this drama unfold, but too bad she couldn't be with the Lane family now.
Or else, she wanted to be in the middle of things to savor every twist and turn.
Robert immediately knew what Georgia was thinking just by looking at her eyes. He smiled at Georgia, "If the timing is right tomorrow, let's go to the Lanes to check things out. Tell me, do you think the Lanes could still put on an act with a smile on their faces at that time?"
"Wouldn't we be too evil if we do that?"
Georgia almost lost control of her facial muscles as she thought that Robert was now acting like a devilish third party who was going to aggravate an already worsening situation.
However, she liked him like this.
"Depending on the situation, do you think they would start a fight in the family, or would they forcibly bring her to get an abortion at the hospital?"
"I have planted someone to check things out for me. If there is any new development, we can go there and enjoy the show."
Georgia could barely contain her excitement to see the drama unfolding in the Lame family.
In order to fully enjoy the show, Robert had arranged for the news to be exposed tomorrow morning instead of tonight, so that they could make sure the timing line up perfectly at the Lames tomorrow morning.
However, just as Georgia and Robert was about to dig into their dinner happily, the doorbell of the villa rang once again. This time, the visitor was Robert's father, Aidan.
Georgia held Annie's hand to welcome him but she didn't know how to address him. In the end, she just addressed him as "Mr. Simpson."
Robert gave a simple greeting, "Mr. Simpson, is there anything I can help you?"
At that moment, Aidan was directing his gaze at Annie.
"This girl is your daughter?"
Aidan asked Georgia, to which she nodded.
"She is my daughter and her name is Annie."
After saying that, Georgia lowered herself and spoke to Annie.
"Annie, greet this grandfather here."
Annie obediently called out, "Grandfather, hello, I am Annie."
However, Aidan continued to stare at Annie as if in a trance, which made Georgia sense that something was off.
"Is there something weird on Annie's face?"
"I just feel that…"
Aidan suddenly chuckled.
"Annie here looks so much like my little sister."
Aidan's sister would be Robert's aunt. Georgia had never seen nor heard about Robert's aunt, so she could only gape at Aidan with doubts on her face.
Robert shook his head at Georgia.
"Do I have an aunt?"
Robert asked Aidan.
"Your aunt passed away because of drowning when she was eight. That's why you never get to know her."
After saying that, Aidan lowered himself in front of Annie.
"Can I hug you?"
Annie felt that this elder man was very gentle, so she nodded.
Georgia didn't stop Aidan from carrying her into his arms. Aidan then asked the two of them, "Isn't this child yours too? Robert, what is happening between you and Miss Lane? According to my sleuthing, this child is not yours, but Annie does resemble you. Can you see that?"
Robert started to laugh as he heard that.
"Whether or not Annie is my actual daughter, I see her as one anyway. Something like bloodline verification would only be important if you care too much about it, but if I don't put any attention to it, I wouldn't care about the outcome of this thing. I won't change my attitude no matter what."
Aidan indeed did investigate Georgia and Robert's past, and according to the evidences he got, the two of them had undergone bloodline verification. The outcome was that Annie was not Robert's biological daughter.
Despite that, when he first laid eyes on Annie, it was like he was looking at his own sister. Annie's huge eyes were especially identical to the people of the Simpson family. Could it be that the bloodline verification have gone wrong?
Aidan felt very strange, but he didn't press further. He walked to a sofa in the living room with Annie in his arms and sat down. Georgia and Robert both followed.
"That fiasco has been going around for a day on the internet, and I anticipated that you would announce something immediately to deal with it. But even until now, you are still staying silent. Do you want to come under fire for such a long time? I initially wanted to arrange for the company to deal with it, but after giving this some thought, I still think that I need to get your opinions."
Aidan began to describe his plan.
"Do you want to play the long game? For a war of attrition of words, it's not like you can gain control over your success even if you want to do that."
Aidan was well aware that how the internet was being used today. It was a channel for netizens to vent their frustrations.
If it was something explosive, rumors would spread at light speed. Even if they tried to deny the rumors, it wouldn't be something most people would see.
He didn't agree with how Robert wanted the rumors to slowly die down by avoiding suspicion stealthily.
However, Robert revealed to Aidan the information that he had learnt.
"Those evidences indeed create a lot of confusion, and it resulted in a huge mess in the Lane family. Their only son is found taking drugs, and the daughter is going to be treated as the murderer in that car accident. You don't think the opinion would all go against them?"
"Since you're so confident, then I would refrain from interfering this time. When the fiasco about those rumors settle down, the paper company of the Lane family would naturally dissolve, and Eden would be seen as the culprit in the accident involving Wendy. I won't let him continue to live in this world, and keeping him in jail is too light of a punishment for him. As for the other members of the Lane family, they will never have a good life again… I won't interfere with what is happening now, but you have to promise me not to stop me when I deal with what comes after this."
Aidan was ready to compromise. He wanted to deal with the Lane family now, but it was apparent that Robert wanted to use this fiasco about the internet rumors to clear Georgia's name and to restore her reputation. Aidan wasn't someone who would interfere with his children's relationship.
Since Robert was fond of Georgia, and now he could prove that Georgia was not the culprit in that accident involving Wendy, he couldn't meddle in his son's relationships since he was already resented by him in the first place.
The two of them came to an agreement, and after that Robert invited Aidan to stay longer to join him during dinner.
Aidan kept talking to Annie, which showed that he was fond of her. After finishing up their meal, he then left the villa.
Georgia and Robert decided to retire to bed at ten o'clock. They wanted to rest as much as possible to enjoy the show tomorrow.
However, Robert suddenly received a call, which made him look glum.
"Has something happened?"
Georgia asked worriedly.
"Something happened to Travis. There were people lurking in the hospital, and they seemed to be planning to inject a deadly medication to Travis. Luckily, my men discovered that and stopped any unfortunate things from happening."
Georgia's face immediately turned pale after hearing that.
"Have you caught the person lurking in the hospital?"
"Robert, someone told me before this that you were investigating the incident surrounding Travis. What's the progress now? Have you found out what happened all those years ago?"
Robert shook his head.
"It was too ancient. It is very hard to find out what has actually happened to Travis ten years ago."
Georgia was suddenly washed over by a tinge of sadness. Thinking about the miserable fate of the Lane family, Georgia asked tentatively, "About Chester's death, I always have this hunch that it was the Lane's doing. Robert, can you clear Travis of the blame he is forced to shoulder? I don't want to see him get confined to a mental hospital after coming out of the hospital. He's making progress with his memories, but I think that if he really ends up in a mental hospital after getting discharged, there will be a lot of people using this to target him."
What Georgia had said make Robert feel a little guilty.
The thing about Travis causing Chester's death was actually the result of him not interfering with intention in the first place.
Robert had let his mother tweak with the internal workings of that incident. This matter wouldn't have any truth to be found. He was just putting the blame on Travis' head so that Georgia would come begging to him.
He was just helping Travis to find out what had transpired ten years ago. As for the truth surrounding Chester's death, he didn't put much effort in investigating it.
He always viewed Travis as his love rival, and seeing him getting jailed, Robert naturally thought that this development was to his advantage. Therefore, he didn't order anyone to make clear of that matter.
However, seeing that Georgia had confirmed her feelings to him, Robert started to persuade her.
"Gigi, you have nothing to worry about. Travis had room to maneuver about Chester's death, so I will send my men to find out the details and to leverage my connections. Now that Travis has lost his mind, I would think of a way to get him out of the hospital and extinguish his criminal record."
Only then did Georgia could breathe a sigh of relief.
"That's right, wasn't there someone who wanted to target Travis just tonight? Has the culprit been caught?"
"He was caught, and my men were interrogating him as we speak. We will know the outcome tomorrow, so you should get a good night's sleep today. Anyway, I think that the person that we have caught is just a minion. He probably doesn't know who is behind this either."
Georgia naturally wanted to know the truth of the matter, but she knew that it was unreasonable to think like this.
"Got it. I will accompany you to have a good night's sleep today, so you need to rest well too. Don't overwork."
Ever since Annie started to live in this villa, Georgia had been sleeping with Annie in another room, which made Robert feel a little jealous.
However, he couldn't just come out and ask Georgia to leave her daughter alone and come to sleep with him.
Robert had thought about his plan and realized that if Annie continued to stay here, that would mean Georgia would never sleep together with him in the same room again.
Robert felt a little restless while he turned this thought in his head. It was really a sweet dilemma.
In the morning the second day, a few of the biggest media outlet on the internet revealed an explosive piece of information with pictures, which blew away the netizens.
The subject of this revelation was the man of the moment just yesterday. All the netizens were ready to dig into the details.
It turned out that the Lane family that was at the receiving end of sympathy just yesterday was the protagonist of an ugly scandal.
Emma's mother found out that she was pregnant after getting a test at the hospital, and this forty-something years old lady was preparing to undergo an abortion surgery.
At the same time, there were photos of Flora being depicted with a man. It was a young guy.
So, the wealthy lady was providing for a gigolo… And another wealthy lady was pregnant due to cheating… The news continued to circulate on the internet.
Netizens enjoyed reading up on gossips about the rich, and the Lane family who were initially being sympathized was now the very image of disorder and messiness in the wealthy circle.
Everyone was feeling sorry for Emma's father, Owen because her wife was exposed for providing for a man out there which implied that Owen must have some defect in the bedroom department. Everyone was secretly laughing at him.
The direction of the rumors changed from everyone cursing at the shameless Georgia to the news about Mrs. Lane's affair with a young gigolo.
Not long after this, another media outlet revealed that Owen had been frequently hooking up with young university students out there.
The whole morning, everyone was simply lamenting the fact that the lives of the riches were such messy affairs.
The netizens couldn't know Emma or Georgia personally, so they would turn their eyes to explosive news such as those.
Even though everyone was still scolding Georgia and Robert while sympathizing with Emma because the Simpson family as a whole was very cruel towards the Lane family, now that outrageous news such as cheating leading to pregnancy and hooking up with university students immediately took over the headlines. The impact of such news was of course more profound than the family affair yesterday depicting a love rivalry between sisters.
Early in the morning, Robert and Georgia got into their car and left their villa stealthily.
Robert had a lot of cars, so he wouldn't be found out that he was gone from the villa even though there were reporters standing by outside.
Robert was about to fulfil his promise yesterday. They were going to watch the fiasco unfold right in front of their eyes at the Lanes.
At this exact moment, the Lane family was in a turmoil.