Leanna returned to the Crossley Residence in the evening. Just as she was about to go upstairs, Lloyd stepped out of his study and said impassively, "I told you that there are rules in the Crossley Family. Since you live here now, you have to abide by them."
She replied with a smile, "I'm sorry, Mr. Crossley. It's my terrible memory again. With your reminder, I won't make the same mistake."
Lloyd's face fell when he heard that.
Leanna went on to say, "By the way, I've published a clarification as per your request. When will you fulfill your promise?"
Lloyd refuted, "Do you think your clarification is good enough?"
"How could you say that, Mr. Crossley? I feel wronged." Leanna started talking nonsense with an innocent expression. "I asked the best lawyer in town to draft the clarification for me. He said that since I was representing the entire studio and not just myself, I had to be careful with how the statement was worded and minimize the impact on everyone else. The clarification was posted after a lengthy process of deliberation."
She shifted the blame to Freddie easily.
Lloyd frowned as he doubted her statement, and his expression remained dark.
Leanna continued, "I'm a businesswoman myself, Mr. Crossley. Regardless of what happened, most netizens are standing up for me. If I side with Miss Crossley at this point, I'll be criticized. Several people suspect that I've received some benefits or have been threatened. If I still do it now, their suspicions will be proven right. You're a businessman yourself, Mr. Crossley, so I'm sure you'll understand why I've chosen to publish such a clarification."
Lloyd squinted his eyes. He wasn't aware that Leanna was such a calculating person back then. He snorted. "It seems that there are some clever people behind your back."
Leanna replied, "Well, I'm on good terms with many wonderful people. Anyway, I'm not comparable to Miss Crossley, who can solve all the problems with money."
Lloyd knew that she was hinting at everything that had happened so far, so he silently returned to his room with a cold expression.
Once the door was closed, Leanna pocketed her gaze. As her smile faded, she shuffled to the second floor.
The moment she arrived at the studio the next morning, many notifications popped up on her phone. Before she could take a look, Zoe dashed into her office and panted, saying, "Good news, Nana!"
Leanna asked tentatively, "Is there a mega sale going on at a nearby mall?"
Zoe was stumped for a moment before refuting, "What on earth are you talking about? Haven't you scrolled through Twitter today?"
"I was about to do that. What's wrong?"
"It's about Elliot, the guy who took part in the designers' competition with you. Do you remember?"
Leanna nodded. "Yes, I do. What happened to him?"
Zoe replied, "He posted a tweet 20 minutes ago, claiming that Queenie cheated in the competition. He even showed us evidence of Queenie transferring a large sum of money to him. Also, he said that Queenie only became the winner because she bribed the judges, whose names have been revealed."
Hearing that, Leanna was rooted to the spot.
Lewis had talked to her about this issue the day before, and she didn't expect that it would be solved so soon.
Just then, her phone started ringing. She picked it up and realized it was Lewis.
However, he admitted that he had no idea Elliot would post such a tweet, for he hadn't managed to contact him so far.
After the call ended, Zoe said, "Look, Nana! He just posted a new tweet."
When Elliot posted on Twitter a while ago, many people, who had been criticizing Leanna over the internet, doubted his claims. There were also speculations that the reason he defended Leanna and shifted the blame to Queenie was that he had received money from the Pearson Group.
Faced with such doubts, a well-prepared Elliot posted the conversation between them in the car that he had secretly recorded when she persuaded him to help her cheat in the competition.
The recording revealed that Queenie had asked Elliot to imitate her style and complete the work in the semi-final.
Following that, Elliot posted another tweet with several photos of him being hospitalized. In the photos, he was soaked in blood and he even attached his medical record.
He claimed that Queenie intended to silence him forever, so she sent someone to kill him. After escaping from death's door, he realized that he had done the wrong thing. Therefore, he decided to expose Queenie and give himself a second chance.
The tweets soon caused a heated debate on the internet.
The organizer of the competition and the Pearson Group announced that they were paying attention to this matter and would file a police report.
Seeing all that, Zoe let out a long breath. "As the saying goes, what goes around comes around. The wrongdoings of Georgina and Queenie have been exposed, and it's exhilarating."
On the other hand, Leanna rested her chin on her palm and said slowly, "Queenie is usually cautious. Since she has given Elliot so much money, why would she even think about killing him? Moreover, she can't possibly deal with Elliot on her own, unless—"
She caught herself as she realized something all of a sudden.
Zoe didn't detect the anomaly as she uttered, "They must have a secret deal, and they started biting each other after the deal fell apart. Anyway, just let them go on biting one another. We'll just watch the show from the sidelines."
Leanna came to her senses and nodded in agreement.
An hour later, Queenie posted a tweet as well.
To everyone's surprise, she admitted to cheating in the competition and apologized to the organizer for affecting the fairness of the competition by seeking Elliot's help. In addition, she was willing to give up her ranking.
However, she denied bribing the judges and attempting to kill Elliot. She dismissed Elliot as framing her for not being happy with the amount of money.
Their pathetic fans started arguing with each other on the internet.
Like what Zoe had said, both sides were biting one another.
Leanna decided to stop reading those comments, choosing to wait for the outcome.
However, after giving it some thought, she reckoned that she had to visit Elliot at the hospital in the afternoon.
If Elliot was telling the truth, the person who had attacked him could very well be Ron.
Queenie was a careful person; she was averse to bearing any responsibilities, so it was unlikely that she had taken the huge risk of hiring someone to kill Elliot.
Moreover, Elliot was about six feet tall. Barely anyone could hurt him badly with a strike.
There's only one possibility.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Love’s Change of Heart