Emma Johnson figured that once this whole mess blew over, she’d need to have a serious conversation with Liam Williams.
Even if they couldn’t let the outside world know, they had to at least be clear with each other. They could even get a quiet divorce. No matter how outstanding Liam was, she couldn’t imagine spending the rest of her life with him.
A man like that—too noble, too untouchable—was never meant to be held onto, even if she had him now.
The next morning, Emma didn’t come downstairs for breakfast. Liam sent a maid up with her meal, but she sent it back untouched.
Was she fighting him with silence? Liam frowned, displeased. She was the one who’d done something wrong. He hadn’t even blamed her too harshly, and yet she was the one acting resentful?
He assumed she wouldn’t agree to go to the office with him. But just before he left, Emma had packed up and silently followed him into the car.
“Sister-in-law, I really didn’t mean it yesterday,” Amelia White said, her voice soft and apologetic as they were about to leave. “I thought you’d actually betrayed big brother. I lost my temper. Please don’t hold it against him because of me.”
Emma felt a lump stuck in her chest, unable to rise or fall. But when she looked into Amelia’s innocent, pitiful eyes, she couldn’t bring herself to blame her.
Though Amelia had triggered the fight, at the end of the day, the real problem was between her and Liam. She didn’t want to take her anger out on anyone else.
“It’s normal to lose your temper. Anyone would have. And your arm—I didn’t mean to hurt you yesterday,” Emma said, unsure if Amelia would believe her, but she felt she owed her an explanation.
“I understand. I’m just glad you don’t blame me, sister-in-law.”
Amelia’s sweet smile was disarming. Her easy forgiveness left Emma unsure how to react. She managed a faint smile in return, then left Sunrise Manor with Liam.
Old Wang, the driver, felt like the air in the car was about to freeze solid. It wasn’t a glacier, but it might as well have been. He wished he had thick polar bear fur to shield himself from the cold.
Luckily, half an hour later, he pulled up to the company building. Once the young master and his wife had both gotten out, the temperature inside the car seemed to rise again. He drove back to Sunrise Manor with relief.
Though Emma’s hand had been treated the day before, it still throbbed with pain. She made sure Liam never saw her injured palm. Since he hadn’t asked for his morning coffee yet, he didn’t know.
She planned to wait until noon to go to Brookhaven General Hospital and find Elijah Clark to properly tend to her wound. Liam already knew she’d gone there before—he was probably angry anyway. There was no point hiding it from him. She and Elijah were as innocent as a blank sheet of paper. If Liam wanted to be mad, let him. He hadn’t listened to her explanation last night, and that still stung.
The only problem was how to avoid prying eyes. She’d have to call Elijah and arrange a meeting. That way, she could slip past the hospital staff.
Once Liam went to his morning meeting, Emma stayed in his office and picked up her phone to call Elijah. Just then, a message from Mia Lewis popped up.
[Emma, check Weibo!]
Confused, Emma opened the app, wondering what fresh disaster awaited her. When she saw the photos and a short video, she froze.
The video showed Elijah leaving Brookhaven General Hospital with Mia. It had been taken around five o’clock the previous evening, after work. She hadn’t expected the media to stake out not only the Pinnacle Corporation’s gates but also the hospital. No stone left unturned.
Mia was wearing the same Gucci suit she’d had on at noon yesterday. She was holding Elijah’s arm in a familiar, ambiguous way. And Elijah’s gaze at Mia was gentle and doting, as if filled with endless affection. When he noticed the reporters, he seemed surprised. Mia shrank closer to him, looking like she had no idea what was happening.
Under the reporters’ questioning, Elijah and Mia admitted they were in a relationship. They said they’d been in love for a long time, and that Emma had been their matchmaker. In Elijah’s heart, Emma had always been like a sister to him. None of the reporters had expected that answer. They pressed him on why he’d had a huge fight with President Liam the night before last.
Elijah’s gentle face wore a calm, plain smile as he told the media it had all been a simple misunderstanding.
Mia chimed in, saying she’d been there that night too. They’d heard a false rumor that Liam was having an affair with some actress, so they’d come to question him for Emma’s sake. The fight had been impulsive. Later, they realized it was all a lie.
As for the photos, Mia claimed she was baffled.
“I was there that day, but I never took any pictures. Who knows who’s so disgusting they’d frame us like this? It’s too much,” Mia said angrily.
The journalists exchanged glances. Clearly, they all chose to believe Mia and Elijah. Besides, Mia was the owner of The Waterfront and had a certain reputation. There was no reason for her to lie.
Emma stared at the screen, stunned. She hadn’t expected her friend to be such a convincing liar—almost movie-level. At the same time, she couldn’t help but feel moved. Mia had dragged herself into this mess just to help Emma clear her name.
Emma didn’t know why Mia had agreed to play this scene with Elijah, but she was certain Mia wasn’t really Elijah’s girlfriend now. It was too fast. And in such a sensitive time, no less.
She knew where she was supposed to go at noon. Now, she just wanted to thank her friend. Even if exposing her relationship with Elijah couldn’t completely divert everyone’s attention, it had undoubtedly eased a lot of the pressure on Emma.
After the meeting, Christopher Martin brought the news to Liam.
“Seems like she has a couple of reliable friends. I see,” Liam said, watching the Weibo video with a faint, cold smile. He hadn’t expected Elijah to go this far. But this way, the suspicion surrounding Emma would be cleared. Elijah couldn’t have done it alone—someone had planned and arranged it carefully.
Was it William Thompson?
But how could he have predicted that Elijah would show up at Sunrise Manor? Besides, in recent days, William had been scrambling to destroy evidence of his conspiracy with Secretary Lewis.
The latest news was about the human life incident in Nanhu Village. William had planned to pin all the crimes on a manager and send him to prison. But even so, his company’s operations were already in trouble.
Still, Liam wasn’t about to stop there.
Since he wanted to teach William a lesson, he couldn’t just attack him on one or two fronts. For a man like William, who lived in the shadows, catching his mistakes was too easy.
Liam wanted to make William feel the pain of being slowly sawed apart. Let him understand the consequences of crossing him.