For several seconds, the scene seemed frozen in time.
Then, a wave of mockingughter swept through the crowd.
"Oh my God, look at her now! She looks ridiculous!"
"Goddess? More like a stray dog, if you ask me."
"Quick, quick, get a picture of her like this. We have to post it online."
Aurora had never experienced such a humiliating, nightmarish moment in her
entire life.
It felt as if everyone around her was eager to kick her while she was down.
As the daughter of "the other woman," she was fair game for anyone''s ridicule or
scorn.
She didn''t even remember how she managed to walk out of thepetition hall.
No sooner had she stepped outside than Sellers and Sherman came rushing
toward her.
Seeing Aurora disheveled and broken, they both stopped short, stunned.
They had never seen her like this-so vulnerable, so defeated.
But once the shock faded, it was reced by a tidal wave of anger and helpless
concern.
Sellers clenched his jaw. "It has to be Ste!"
Ste''s scandal hadn''t even cooled off, and now Aurora''s parentage had been
sted all over the news.
It was obvious-this was Ste''s revenge.
Sherman hurried to steady Aurora, just about to ask if she was all right, when her
knees buckled and she copsed in his arms.
The revtion that Aurora was an illegitimate child sent shockwaves through high
society.
She had always been the reigning socialite, the one every prominent family
wanted to marry into.
Her reputation was wless-until now. And suddenly, she was nothing but a
scandal.
Families that prided themselves on heritage and propriety scrambled to distance
themselves from her.
Even Williams Group stock began to plummet.
When Jonathan heard the news, he could hardly believe it.
He wasted no time and went straight to find Skyler.
Skyler was still flipping through Nora''s old files when Jonathan burst in, his report
leaving Skyler momentarily speechless.
He thought he must have misheard. "Jonathan, what did you just say?"
Jonathan''s face was ashen.
"Someone leaked the truth about
Aurora''s parentage. Even the story
about Father losing his memory
years ago is all over the inte.
Now the world''s tearing into
Aurora-and into Dad. Williams
Group held an emergency meeting
just now. They''re talking about
removing Aurora from the
Skyler''s voice was heavy, grim. "How did this happen? Why would something like
this suddenlye out?"
Jonathan had already investigated everything beforeing to Skyler. Heid out
the whole story.
By the end, Jonathan''s voice was cold as ice.
"Ste was just called out as an
illegitimate child herself, and now,
right after, Aurora''s secret is out.
This is deliberate retaliation.
Whoever leaked it knew every detail
about Aurora''s mother. Who else
could it be but Ste?"
Skyler hurled his teacup at the floor.
Crash!
The cup shattered, porcin scattering everywhere.
"That wretched girl!" Skyler''s voice trembled with rage. "Call her. Now. Tell her to
get home this instant!"
Jonathan nodded and turned to leave, but then hesitated, something urring to
him.
"Dad, do you think maybe Ste believes we were the ones who leaked her
secret? That she''s doing this to drag Aurora down with her?"
Skyler''s chest heaved with fury.
"This wasn''t some spur-of-the-moment decision. She''s been nning this for
ages! She resents me, she resents Aurora, she''s hated the Williams family for a
long, long time!"
Skyler was rarely so unhinged. "The
Williams Group-Nora poured her
whole life into thispany. Didn''t
Ste think, even for a second, that
blowing up this scandal would drag
thepany down too?!"