Justin Battleson was momentarily baffled upon hearing Charlotte Thompson’s words.
Somehow, he detected a trace of jealousy in her remarks.
"Are you jealous? Hmm?" Justin’s voice was teasing as he hooked his finger under Charlotte’s nose, an affectionate undertone in his question.
Charlotte’s brows furrowed, clearly uncomfortable with Justin’s words and his unexpected proximity to her.
She didn’t respond, but instinctively wanted to step back.
Justin was taken aback, clearly not anticipating Charlotte’s reaction.
Before he could react, Charlotte had escaped from his arms.
She stood aside and spoke calmly, "I have no interest in Mr. Battleson’s private life. I’m just upset to be blamed for such a pointless thing."
"I hope that Mr. Battleson can handle these unsubstantiated matters as soon as possible, so you can provide a suitable working environment for your employees, Mr. Battleson. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have other things to attend to."
Charlotte spoke and did not wait for Justin’s response before making a swift exit, as if her feet had wings.
Watching her confident retreat, Justin Battleson’s heart was filled with a mix of emotions.
He called Michael Richard, eager to understand the attitude of the people in his company towards Charlotte today.
"Get rid of these people, and this news. I don’t want to hear anything else related to this news in the next ten minutes."
"Yes, Mr. Battleson," replied Michael Richard promptly.
Meanwhile, at Evelyn Curtis’ end.
Evelyn Curtis, who was abruptly hung up on the phone, was fuming. She gritted her teeth and smashed her phone on the ground in a fit of fury.
With a loud "smack", her phone shattered instantly.
The cracked screen reflected Evelyn’s pale, enraged face.
She gritted her teeth, wishing she could tear Charlotte apart.
If it wasn’t for Charlotte, she wouldn’t have had to abandon her carefully constructed gentle facade in front of Justin.
"No." Evelyn looked at herself in the mirror, even she felt repulsed by her dishevelled state.
She absolutely couldn’t sit idly by!
As long as Justin doesn’t know about the incident at the hotel, he will always feel indebted to her.
As long as he felt indebted to her, she would never let that despicable Charlotte exploit the situation.
She was determined to leverage Justin’s guilt towards her.
Evelyn took out her backup phone, and according to the template sent to her by Grace Williams, she posted a tweet and attached a picture.
The post was succinct, but the underlying message was clear: she was a victim.
Sure enough, in no time, the internet had a change of heart. Even those who were initially not on her side, began to sympathise with her and started condemning Charlotte.
Evelyn took a look at the insults towards Charlotte on her tweet, feeling a sudden surge of satisfaction.
But before she could enjoy her moment, all the news and discussions about Charlotte and Justin Battleson vanished from the internet, including the denunciations of Charlotte on her own tweet.
Evelyn found it suspicious. Just as she was about to call Grace to inquire if there was something went wrong with their PR strategy, she received a message from Justin.
It was a text message. She hardly ever received texts from Justin, and she was a bit excited. On opening it, she read: Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn NoveI-Fire.ɴet
"Eight o’clock, meet me at Stinfield Apartment."
The message was brief and to the point, which was typical of Justin. Evelyn was overjoyed.
It seemed that Charlotte was nothing to worry about after all.
Even though she had been quite outspoken earlier on, Justin was coming to see her immediately.
Evelyn understood this was probably Justin’s choice.