Knowing that there was nothing he could do after talking to William, Archer had no choice but to call Talitha, I can’t reach Richard either.
“How could that be possible? I don’t believe you, Uncle Archer. I’m your niece! How could you not help me?” Talitha shouted angrily. “Are you not helping me because of Valeria? Uncle, you’re being ridiculous!”
Archer was irked at her accusation, “You can always call your parents if you think I’m ridiculous and no help to you. Your parents must be able to save you since they’re so powerful anyway!” Then, he hung up as soon as he finished his words.
Meanwhile, Hardy was appalled at the idiocy Talitha was displaying. He had no time for her blind arrogance and pride under this situation, so he called for his assistant, “Send Miss Anderson back to her hotel.”
Seeing the distaste on Hardy’s face, Talitha burst into tears. Nothing had been going her way the entire day, and her tears were still streaming when she called Raelyn, “Mom! Paisley and I fell into Richard’s trap. You have to help us…”
Raelyn, who was rather defensive of her family, got furious when she heard Talitha, without considering that Talitha was the one who had set Richard off. “How dare he! If he leaks any of the videos, we’ll call the police! He has gone too far this time.”
Meanwhile, Hardy was speechless as he listened to their useless conversation. He asked his assistant to send Talitha back to the hotel before leaving with Paisley immediately.
On their way back, Hardy called his PR department, “Find someone to delete any videos about Paisley as soon as they are published. Make sure to cover up every single news about her!”
Paisley sobbed as she said, “Hardy, is there really no turning back?”
What do you think? Hardy hissed.
“I’m sure you can come up with something else! Are you just going to let my reputation get ruined like this?” Paisley was mad and anxious right now.
“I have no choice.
“Why are you so useless? It’s fine that you are not as good as William, but can’t you even beat Richard? Richard avenged Abbie as soon as she was bullied, and you’re just going to sit here and watch me become a joke? What good would it do you anyway? I’m telling you, you’re going down with me too!”
However, Hardy remained silent with a darkened face. Seeing that, Paisley was even more irritated. She was going crazy as she thought about how the video of her kissing a stranger would be spread across the internet, and she might as well just die from the humiliation.
“Hardy, you’re just useless! No wonder Valeria doesn’t like you. I wouldn’t too if I was her!”
As he heard Paisley’s words, Hardy couldn’t contain his anger any longer, so he slapped her. It was so hard that her head jerked to the side, and Paisley immediately felt her cheek burn with pain.
Tasting the blood in her mouth, Paisley held her cheek and turned to look at Hardy, whose eyes were flaming with anger, “You are the one who did the wrong thing and messed with the wrong person. Where did you get the confidence to think that you could tell me what to do now? Don’t you have any shame?!”
Hardy’s outburst not only silenced Paisley, but he also shocked his assistant. After all, Hardy had been the best brother anyone could have wished for to Paisley. He must be very angry to have hit her like this.
Therefore, his assistant didn’t dare make a sound on the rest of the way back to Hardy’s villa. As soon as the car stopped, Hardy got out of the car and strode into the building without looking back, leaving Paisley behind.
Paisley’s face was still burning with pain. She got out of the car while holding back her tears and swallowing her pride. Meanwhile, the assistant waited for Hardy’s further order in the car silently.
Paisley covered her face as she entered the living room. Hardy was already sitting on the sofa and he was looking at her coldly,”Have you realized your mistake?
He sounded gloomy and frightening, unlike his usual self. Paisley shivered at this and nodded obediently, “Yes.”
“Think before you act next time!” Hardy said through gritted teeth. Paisley losing her reputation meant the same for him. “As for what happened today, there’s nothing we can do about it. There’s no way around this.”
Hardy and Paisley were bound to go through everything together. Because of her, his reputation would be ruined as well. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what his business partners would think of him. Everything had been going well for Hardy since he took over the company, and it was the first time he was faced with such a challenge.
He clenched his jaw as he hissed, “Do you think I don’t want to help? I would beg and apologize to Richard or even let him humiliate me if that’s what it takes to cover up the news. But apparently, he wouldn’t even give me the chance to do that. I’m going to lose my reputation because of you. How am I supposed to run the company after this? What do you think my business partners would think of me?”
Paisley sobbed as she said,”I’m sorry.”
“It’s good to hear that you know what you did wrong. Now go back to your room.”
Paisley’s tears didn’t stop when she went back to her room. Seeing that, Hardy heaved a long breath and leaned back on the sofa. Then, he took out his phone and checked the news a little unwillingly. The video of Paisley and Talitha at Climax Space was already all over the internet.
Although the PR team of Acma Corporation was doing their best to delete those posts, it was futile. The news that came out at noon had gone viral, and people had already started to connect it to Paisley and Talitha.
Currently, the post that morning seemed to be gaining attraction again. As he saw this, Hardy smiled bitterly and threw his phone aside in exasperation, “Richard Clark! You’ll pay for this. Just wait and see!”
At the same time, as Paisley and Talitha’s recent video had gotten everyone talking on the internet even before midnight, Andrew was swelling with pride as he had succeeded in his first try of setting someone up. So, the group went to a bar to celebrate his achievement.
Abbie and Valeria raised their glasses to Andrew with a smile,”Here’s to you, Andrew! Thanks for helping!”
Andrew was a little shy, “Ahh… I didn’t do much actually… ”
“You did great, so much better than someone… ” Abbie glanced at Raymond, who was sulking ever since he knew Andrew was the one who had planned everything.
He could understand them taking action against Paisley, but he wasn’t happy with them for including Talitha. She was his cousin, after all.
But there was nothing he could do other than being unhappy. It had already happened, and he couldn’t stop it even if he wanted to.
Hearing Abbie’s complaint about him, Raymond sighed, “I’m not… It’s just that, the thought of Talitha’s ruined reputation makes me a little…”
“Well, why didn’t she think of this when she ruined Abbie’s reputation?” Valeria chuckled coldly. “We don’t blame you for caring for Talitha since she’s your cousin. But you should be able to tell from what’s right and wrong, right? Talitha started it, not us!”
“Talitha isn’t that bad. Paisley must have…”
“Come on, how nice could Talitha be if she’s friends with Paisley?” Valeria replied defiantly.
Meanwhile, Abbie’s face darkened too, “Raymond, stop being a party pooper. Just go to Talitha if you care that much about her.”
Raymond scowled as he heard this. After glancing at Valeria, then at William and Richard, who were expressionless, Raymond stood up abruptly and left without saying a word.