Chapter 50 From Siblings to Lovers
The moment the Imperial City competition ended, John grabbed his trophy and raced back to Emerald City, heading straight for the Smith Group to find Andrew.
They'd both played the role of Sophia's brother for seventeen years, but Andrew, that damned lunatic, had completely lost his mind and actually wanted to marry Sophia. If he couldn't be her brother, he'd become her husband, maintaining his legal claim to her in some capacity.
And then just cast John aside? Like hell!
Without their family connection, Sophia wouldn't acknowledge them as brothers anymore. If Andrew was determined to marry Sophia and claim her for himself, then John would fight for her, too!
After all, in Sophia's mind, neither he nor Andrew was a good man, who knew who would win in the end!
If Sophia could read John's thoughts right now, she'd definitely slap him twice.
These lunatics had completely lost their minds, treating her marriage like some kind of game!
Unfortunately, Sophia had no idea that John and Andrew had reached this level of insanity.
She only received a call from Tony Harris, her informant planted within the Smith Group, saying that John had stormed into the CEO's office and punched Andrew without a word, then they'd gotten into a fight and were both now hospitalized.
"A fight would only cause minor scrapes at most. Is hospitalization really necessary?" Sophia frowned, suspecting that Tony had been turned and was deliberately playing up Andrew and John's injuries to make her feel sorry for them.
Tony's expression was grim, his lips twitching unnaturally. "Ms. Johnson, here's what happened..."
The story began with John striding into the CEO's office, grabbing Andrew by the collar, and delivering a heavy punch to his right cheek while cursing, "You pervert! You actually want to marry Sophia? She'd never be interested in a boring old man like you!"
Caught completely off guard by the punch, Andrew licked the blood from the corner of his mouth. The metallic taste seemed to trigger something in his genes that he'd been deliberately suppressing, a flash of cruelty flickering in his eyes before he grabbed a crystal ornament from his desk and hurled it at John.
"You think you're so tough, talking big in front of me, but you still don't have the guts to take Sophia away, do you?"
Fortunately, John dodged quickly—the ornament only hit his shoulder. If he'd been half a second slower, it would have cracked his skull open.
"Don't act like you're so capable! When you couldn't convince her to come back, you decided to marry her instead. Using such shameless tactics, are you even human?"
"What business is it of yours if I marry her? John, don't tell me you have feelings for her, too."
"Fuck you! You think I'm as shameless as you? But if you want to marry her, absolutely not! She'd marry me before she'd ever marry you!"
The two fought while arguing, sometimes with John pinning Andrew to the ground and beating him, sometimes with Andrew on top trying to break John's arm.
Everything in the office that could be smashed was smashed, and anything they could grab became a weapon.
A crowd of employees gathered outside to watch, but no one dared go in to break it up—when John and Andrew fought, helping either one would be wrong.
It wasn't until both men were lying on the floor, unable to move, that someone finally called an ambulance to take the brawlers to the hospital.
The final tally: John had a dislocated right arm and a gash on his forehead that looked like it came from an ashtray. Andrew had a broken left leg and a deep cut on his right cheekbone. Not to mention all the other bruises and wounds from their hand-to-hand combat—both were equally battered.
After hearing the whole story, Sophia rubbed her temples and sighed.
She'd almost forgotten, when these two lunatics fought, how could it just be minor scrapes like normal people?
The most ridiculous part was that even while beating each other up, they didn't forget to drag her into it, arguing about marrying her while they fought.
With so many employees watching, who knew what kind of elite family scandals those gossip outlets would cook up online!
"Ms. Johnson, aren't you... going to visit them?" After not hearing anything from the other end of the line for a while, Tony felt a chill down his spine and carefully probed Sophia's attitude about the situation.
"What's there to visit? Aren't there enough juicy stories for the entertainment reporters already?"
She hung up directly, then sat in thought for a moment, even suspecting that Andrew and John's office brawl was specifically aimed at her.
Andrew couldn't possibly be unaware of the impact that he and John fighting at the Smith Group would have.
John might act without considering consequences, but surely Andrew wouldn't be that stupid?
Yet it had still happened, and they'd dragged her into the center of the controversy. Were these two conspiring to pull her down with them?
The news spread faster than she'd imagined. In just two or three hours, the top five trending topics were all discussing the incident.
#Twisted Love in Elite Families? Smith Group Brothers Fight Over Love!#
#Fake Heiress to Elite Wife? Just How Charming Is the Smith Group's Fake Daughter?#
#From Siblings to Lovers: Forbidden Romance in Elite Families#
All of this spread like wildfire throughout Emerald City and beyond, with an efficiency that seemed natural yet felt like someone's calculated plan.
At Oakwood High School, James was eating lunch in the cafeteria when he heard quite a few people pointing at him and whispering.
"The girl from the Smith Group on the trending topics is his sister, right? Pretty cunning, after being kicked out of the Smith family, she managed to seduce both Smith family heirs. She must want back into the Smith family, right?"
"Well, the Johnson family did go bankrupt, though they used to be wealthy, too. Who can understand how these rich people think and operate?"
"You mean the Johnson family might be behind this whole thing?"
"I don't know if the Johnson family is involved, but with his sister pulling something like this, how could he not know about it?"
"I've seen his sister—she definitely has a stunning face. No wonder she could bewitch both Smith Group heirs!"
James might be an ordinary person, but no matter how gentle and kind his usual personality, he couldn't stand people talking about Sophia this way.
He slammed down his fork, radiating coldness as he glared at those gossiping people. "People with dirty minds see everything as dirty. The Smith family members got into a fight. What does that have to do with my sister? Stop spreading rumors and damaging my sister's reputation, or I can sue you for defamation!"
James had never argued with anyone before—his most threatening line was something he'd learned from Sophia.
But perhaps because his usual image was so proper and he spoke so clearly and logically, when he mentioned suing for defamation, the others didn't dare continue their gossip. They figured that, given James's character, he really might call the police over Sophia.
If the police got involved, this wouldn't just be casual celebrity gossip anymore.
Ethan Martinez shot a cold look at the group of gossipers. James's business was his business; how could he just stand by?
He cleared his tray and turned to look at James. "With something this big happening, you should call Sophia first to check on her. Don't worry—if anyone dares spread more rumors behind your back, I'll definitely help you stop them!"