Chapter 213 Domestic Incident
After the anesthesia wore off, Lucas woke up. He stared at the familiar ceiling above him, looking somewhat dazed.
Sophia said, "You're awake?"
Sophia, who had been resting on the sofa, heard the sound and got up to walk to the bedside. Looking at Lucas's confused expression, she sighed inwardly.
"Are you uncomfortable anywhere?"
Lucas turned his head and saw the concern in her eyes, immediately feeling warmth in his heart.
Just then, someone entered from outside.
Lucas immediately complained, "Sophia, Timothy definitely reduced my anesthesia on purpose. My wound hurts so much... He did it deliberately..."
Timothy Wright, who had just entered, walked over and lightly tapped him on the forehead.
"You two-faced guy. If it hadn't been for my excellent medical skills, your intestines would have spilled out. And now you dare to badmouth me in front of the boss?"
Lucas voice softened suddenly. ‘Timothy, how can you say that? Fine, it’s all my fault—I admit it. I just ask you not to do this to anyone else. I can bear it myself, but we can't let..."
Timothy strode forward and pinched his chattering mouth shut with his slender fingers.
The hospital room instantly fell silent.
Timothy said flatly, "You're too noisy."
Lucas glared at Timothy indignantly, but the latter just smiled.
Sophia took a medical cotton swab, dipped it in warm water, and said, "Timothy, don't argue with him. His maturity level isn't much older than Emily's."
"His lips are dry. Let go."
Timothy released his hand at her words.
Lucas immediately huffed, "Sophia, look at him!"
"Timothy has a point."
Sophia dabbed a little water on his dry lips, smiling as she said, "Every beating you get, you deserve."
She knew Lucas was deliberately trying to lighten the mood and help everyone relax, so she played along.
After Timothy finished examining Lucas, he left the room.
Only Sophia and Lucas remained.
Sophia asked, "By the way, why did you put so much money in Emily's children's watch for no reason? She'sbarely old enough to understand—aren’t you worried someone might take advantage of her?"
Lucas turned his head toward the ceiling and said proudly, "All my money will go to Emily eventually anyway. Whether she spends it early or late, it's still spending. What's wrong with letting her enjoy the privilege early? I just like spoiling her."
Saying this, he wanted to video call Emily.
But as soon as he made the call, something went wrong.
Lucas shot upright, wincing at his wound. He caught sight of a man lurking in the background of Emily’s video, and his expression hardened instantly..
He quickly covered the phone's microphone, looked at Sophia, and gestured for her to come closer.
Lucas lowered his voice and asked, "Why is Emily at that cold William's house? Does he... does he know?"
Sophia nodded.
Seeing Lucas's chest heaving violently with anger, she patted his shoulder, signaling him not to panic, "He knows, but Emily hasn't acknowledged him."
Lucas pressed, "She still calls him Mr. Smith?"
Sophia nodded again.
Hearing this, Lucas breathed a sigh of relief. He picked up his phone again, chatting happily with Emily, completely delighted by her.
After hanging up, he quickly covered his wound, grimacing, "Sophia, quick! Call Timothy back. I think my wound has split open."
Sophia fell silent.
At the Johnson Villa back home, no matter what William said, Emily refused to move to his house at Crystal Lake Residences.
Left with no choice, William had James and Michael stay at the Johnson Villa, too.
With Sophia away, James and Michael took on the responsibility of putting Emily to bed. But Emily was very well-behaved and basically didn't need much coaxing—she went to sleep right on time.
William slept in the children's room next to the master bedroom.
He waited until the children were asleep, then quietly returned to his room, keeping the door ajar in case they stirred from nightmares and sought comfort.
Tonight, just a few minutes after he lay down, his phone vibrated violently.
It was a call from Tony.
Tony's voice was urgent and tense, "Mr. Smith, someone has posted a video on an overseas website showing you forcing yourself on Molly. We've already contacted the site administrator to take it down as soon as possible, but the video has already gotten over twenty million views and is still climbing."
If this had happened domestically, it could have been dealt with immediately.
But the other party had chosen an overseas website.
Actually, William had been mentally prepared for this since the incident first occurred.
Any secret that could make someone like Henry swallow his anger had to be more than just drugging.
William calmly instructed, "Contact Mark about this and let him handle it."
"Okay! I'll go right away!"
After confirming Lucas's emotions were stable, Sophia arranged for a male nurse to care for him.
She planned to return to her estate in Seraphim that evening to check on Lyra, who was filming there, and see how she was doing.
But just as she got in the car, she received the video Joe had sent her.
No matter how much the person in the video was disguised, she recognized at a glance that the man wasn't William. But at the same time, she had to admit that this man's back really did look like William's.
The content of the video was truly disgusting, but because of its sensitive nature, it was spreading like wildfire on overseas networks.
The person who posted it had given the video a truly horrifying title:
[A Country's Richest Man Sexually Abuses Female Secretary—How Can Justice Be Served!]
Although the video was posted overseas, censored screenshots quickly made their way into the domestic internet.
[Perverted CEO and Beautiful Secretary]
[Work by Day, Bed-Warmer by Night—A Working Person's Nightmare]
[Female Secretary Completely Disappears After Resisting]
Sitting in the car, Sophia scrolled through trending topic after trending topic, her expression grave.
Molly was going all in, no longer caring about the consequences.
Even if William later explained that he was framed, by then, the online trending topics would have already caused irreparable damage to the company's stock price.
The lost market capitalization might not be recovered even if Molly were killed.
Did public opinion attacks affect people in high positions?
Yes! But not necessarily.
Sophia knew William wouldn't just sit and wait, but he had underestimated some netizens' hatred of the rich.
Given the chance, regardless of truth or falsehood, they would put themselves in the role of judge and begin their malicious attacks.
In response to the false trending topics online, Peace Group quickly launched emergency public relations.
On public platforms, the group immediately clarified that the person in the video wasn't William, while also releasing evidence of Molly's violations and illegal actions at work, stating that her dismissal and pursuit of compensation were normal procedures.
But the onlookers online didn't believe any of it.
Sophia saw the comments under the clarification announcement and wasn't surprised.
Some netizens, driven by emotion, spontaneously spread vicious curses online. Little did they know, they were the cheapest knives in the hands of the masterminds behind this incident.
Sophia had someone book a flight back home for the next morning, then drove back to the estate.
After just one night of fermentation.
The complaint email address Peace Group had set up was filled with emails full of abusive language from netizens.
The PR department had prepared a series of response plans, but they couldn't keep up with wave after wave of revelations from the other side.
The next morning, someone exposed photos of Molly accompanying William to a banquet, only to be kicked out of the car in an embarrassing scene.
There were also reports that Molly had been injured and hospitalized for a week, but despite Peace Group being such a large company, no leader had visited to show concern. She had even received her termination contract and liability notice while hospitalized.
Although people nowadays like to take photos of everything with their phones, few can capture things so timely and completely.
High-definition photos and videos spread widely across the internet.
Most importantly!
Just as Molly's parents came out crying that they hadn't been able to contact Molly for a long time, someone posted photos:
[In an underground parking garage in Arcturus, Molly was tied up and put into a car.]
These revelations are coming one after another in rapid succession.
It was like a trap custom-made for William in advance.
Sophia had slept with Lyra at the estate last night. Seeing that Lyra had adjusted her mood well in Seraphim and looked even better than herself, she was genuinely happy for Lyra.
When Sophia learned that Philip would bring Cheryl abroad for a cameo—the same movie Lyra was filming—she immediately decided to have Joe assign bodyguards on set.
Sophia took the earliest flight to Empire City. There weren't many people in first class.
She arrived a bit late.
The seat next to hers was already occupied by a man.
A somewhat familiar cold sandalwood scent, mixed with a clean and pleasant aftershave, drifted into her nostrils.
...It was actually him.