Chapter 375
I’ve poured my heart into raising you, and you go and do something that drags the Gilbert family name through the mud. How could you do this to me?” Mandy’s face was raging. like thunder as she berated her daughter, her voice heavy with disappointment.
Summer’s lips twitched into a faint, wry smile. “What have I done? I’m a victim here, too, Mom. Can’t you at least try to get the full story before you jump to conclusions?”
“You said to someone over the phone last night that everything was under control, and now it turns out you were planning something evil again,” Aiden interjected, shaking his head in disbelief as he approached.
Summer shot Aiden a frosty glance, knowing full well that her mother’s fury had something to do with her meddling brother.
At that moment, Mandy’s voice carried through the tension. “If I hadn’t figured out what was going on, I wouldn’t have slapped you earlier. Your phone conversation with that person is all over the internet now. How do you plan to explain that? The Gilbert family’s reputation is in tatters because of you. What’s your excuse?”
Summer pressed her lips together tightly, her hands clenching at her sides. Reputation, reputation–it was always about reputation with her mother. In her mother’s eyes, nothing and no one could ever trump the family’s image.
“If you’ve already made up your mind about what happened online, why bother asking me at all? What difference does it make?” Summer said with a light chuckle, masking the hurt. “What kind of attitude is that?” Mandy frowned.
Summer remained silent, her eyes downcast, the imprint of her mother’s hand vivid on her cheek. Her face, already worn thin from stress, looked even more pitiful under the mark of
violence.
Mandy watched her daughter quietly for a moment before relenting. “Enough. Have your agency take care of the mess online. We can’t have the Gilbert family’s name tarnished because of this.” With that, Mandy turned and left. She didn’t want to walk into her office and face whispers about having a daughter with such spiteful intentions.
Summer watched her mother’s retreating figure, the chill in her eyes deepening. She soon pulled her gaze away and fixed it on Aiden. “Are you satisfied now?”
Aiden frowned. “This is your own doing. What does it have to do with me?” If she didn’t keep stirring up trouble, there wouldn’t be any scandalous headlines online.
Summer gave him a blank look and walked towards the mansion’s grand entrance.
Meanwhile, Leo had just woken up to find several missed calls on his phone, all from Collins. Puzzled, he dialed one back. The call connected quickly.
“Collins? Were you trying to reach me about something urgent last night?”
Collins was seated in front of his computer, his face weary from a night with little sleep but still alert. “Have you checked Twitter in the past couple of days?”
Hearing this, Leo immediately understood what he was referring to. “Yeah, I’m aware of what’s going on Twitter,” he responded.
Collins raised an eyebrow. “Ah, so you know already?” He had thought Leo might have missed the viral truth bomb on Twitter the night before.
Leo walked over to the floor–to–ceiling windows and drew the curtains. “Yeah, Zach’s already got people drafting a legal notice.”
“I hope the legal notice is for Jay. The malicious slander, followed by an apology online claiming he was misled and trying to come off like a victim–it’s just disgusting.” After a pause, Collins snorted. “Does he think his useless apologies were enough?”
“Exactly, that’s why I don’t intend to–wait, Collins, what apology?” Leo asked, sounding
confused.
What apology? Misled by whom? It seemed like they were not talking about the same
incident.
