Evelyn stood by the bedside while April thought about what to do about the situation. April and June’s little fracas was a trending video on the internet.
Everyone who followed the sister’s rivalry was taken with the revelation of April’s alleged extramarital affair. Once again, the tides were not on her side. People were beginning to analyse things and June got the longer end of the stick this time.
April turned to her mother with flaming eyes. “You caused this! Why would you bring up the child thing?! Did you collude with your daughter to disgrace me?!”
Evelyn leaned in shock. “You wanted me to put her on the spot. You asked me to do what I did.” She explained. “I never knew-”
“You should have known!” She roared. “I don’t clothe and feed you so you could carry an empty head! Now look at this mess! I asked you to put her on the spot about Ethan’s death and all you did was return me to square one.”
Evelyn stuttered, unable to understand how she was to be blamed for the outcome of a plan handed over to her. “You told me to do it. You said I should use the fact she went to see him as-”
“And so?” April cut her off with a frown. “Are you defending yourself? Are you trying to pin this on me?!”
Evelyn bit her tongue. The last thing she wanted was to get her daughter angry. She had been putting up with a lot of things for the sake of her darling husband. She couldn’t let it all go down the drain.
“I’m sorry.” Evelyn bowed her head. “I made a mistake.”
April threw a dirty look at her mother, huffed and ground her teeth as she thought about their next action. After some minutes, she spoke.
“Since you acknowledged your faults, it’s only right that you take responsibility.”
Evelyn’s eyes widened. “W-What?”
“Do you have a problem with that?” She snapped, eyes raging.
Evelyn shook her head.
“Thought so. Do well to remember that your husband’s life is in your hands. I advise you to choose your words wisely and try not to be a failure this time.” She stood up, then smirked. “You already know what happens to failures.” She made a cutthroat gesture. “You might end up feeling suicidal.”
Evelyn swallowed, as sweat dripped her spine. She was no fool. April had made a threat to her life as well as insinuated she was behind Ethan’s death. Just how far was she willing to go?
The fact that she couldn’t tell if her daughter could kill her like she did other members of the Lontoc family was scary enough to make her mind her words around the killing maniac she’d groomed as a daughter.
Evelyn decided when she got her husband back, they would leave South City. She would leave the entire madness that was her life and begin a new life in another country.
She had a secret account with just enough money to aid her successful migration. Her husband was the only thing hindering her from leaving the city. As the day progressed, she felt her daughter was becoming more inhumane and it was only a matter of time before she became a casualty.
There was no one left but her. That realisation brought a permanent feeling of rising dread and unease in her bowels.
“Now that we are on the same page, I’ll get through the plan.”
April spent the next few minutes informing her mother on what she was to do and soon, they were filing the video set to be dispersed through the media.
*****
June was seated in her room, working through the last batch of designs for the Ambrose Corporations deal when she received a series of texts on her private line.
Due to the frequency, she picked up her phone and went through the string of messages from Carson, Lucy, Joel and her lawyer. They were all saying one thing.
Apparently, a video was trending on the internet and they sent her a link to watch. June felt a feeling of rising dread when she saw the thumbnail of her mother seated on a chair, looking distraught.
She clicked on the play button and soon, she was watching a video of her mother detailing how wicked and vile she was to accuse her sister of having a child by another.
Evelyn sat in the video and gave a convincing speech about how June was aware of her sister’s miscarriage after Ethan’s lock-up and how she had weaponized a widow’s late husband to push false narratives.
Long story short, it was not a good day to be June Rivera as the netizens, believing the old woman’s words, picked a side that wasn’t June’s and went on to bash her so severely. It was a nightmare.
June felt her anger increase and a deep rage pulled her towards the edge. She hated to admit that seeing her mother be so actively against her was gut-wrenching despite the many years of ill-treatment meted to her. ‘
She still found it hard to understand what was so terrible about her that her mother would hate her enough to champion such allegations she knew were false about her.
One of the days, she would have a conversation with her but today was not that day. June immediately called her lawyer and they deliberated on the best way to go about things.
Meanwhile, Rafael sat in his office when he received the video from his assistant with a caption, asking for orders on his next point of action. After watching the video, and reading some comments, Rafael was ready to kill.
He placed a direct call and ordered, “Make it disappear. I want everyone partaking in the pushing and making of that video to teach a lesson and all the commenters sued for all they’ve got. Is that clear?”
“Yes Boss.”
The results were immediate. A cease and desist letter was served to many media houses, forcing them to retract the video and tender a public apology. Suddenly, everything was turning and by the next day, June was flat-out confused.
Everyone was suddenly apologizing for their defamation and she got numerous offers to come air her opinion and side of the story. The former video had disappeared without a trace.
Another surprising thing was the fact that Rafael decided to cook breakfast for the family. Luis was noncompliant about it as he thought his father was trying to outshine him but when he saw the genuine happiness on his auntie’s face, he tried not to look so uncaring.
June clasped her hands when a yummy plate of pancakes was placed in front of her. Luis received a plate too as did Rafael who served himself. June quickly showered praises for the meal.
“It looks so lovely!” She said with loving eyes. “You are simply the best husband!”
Rafael took the liberty to share a minute-long kiss with her in the presence of Luis who scowled, muttering something along the lines of he could make a better-looking and tastier plate.
Soon enough, the family devoured the meal together, having a great weekend free from stress or the world’s chaos outside the walls of Rafael’s mansion.
Meanwhile, April was losing her mind. Everything, the millions she’d invested in pushing the videos were lost and she received a series of threats of exposure from the people she paid to do her dirty work.
It seemed like a strong force was suppressing the video and sending her to a tight corner of threats and debts. Nevertheless, she tried to keep the video alive but when it seemed like things were getting out of hand, she let it go.
Days passed and she was left with the aftermath. People questioned the legitimacy of the video and fingers subtly pointed towards her. It seemed like the entire thing she orchestrated had once again bounced back.
This time, she was certain June couldn’t do such a perfect job. JL was merely afloat with their contractual jobs which was nothing compared to JL. She couldn’t afford to handle a scandal so big without breaking the bank or becoming wretched.
April was so confident in June’s inability to handle it that she started nursing thoughts on the fact that her sister might be having dealings with someone in the underworld.
April paced through her room with her phone in hand. She needed to know the backing behind June. Things were going too smoothly for her to be mere coincidence or luck.
With one ring, the phone connected and April dished her orders. “I want you to follow June. Make sure you have pictures of who she meets and details of the said meeting.”
“Do a clean job. Follow from afar. I will not entertain mistakes.” She ordered.
“Yes, boss.”
April dropped the line and stared out of her window. “Let’s see what secrets you have in your cupboard.” She muttered to thin air.