Broken Vows and Buried Twins novel Chapter 68

By the third day, a woman claiming to be Melody's mother, Felicity, went live online. In the stream, she tearfully accused her daughter of being an ungrateful wretch who was leaving her own family to die.

Julian had previously buried the earlier scandal, allowing Weston Corp to weather the storm smoothly. Melody had assumed the worst was behind her. But she had severely underestimated the internet. The digital world never forgets.

The moment Felicity mentioned Melody's name on stream, the algorithm pushed the broadcast directly to all the users who had followed the initial scandal, causing thousands to flood into the live room.

Felicity sobbed on camera, claiming that Melody's father, Kaden Monroe, was dying of liver cancer and they couldn't afford the medical bills. She said she and her son had tracked Melody down, begging on their knees for her help, but Melody had flat-out refused to even let them through the door.

"She's living the high life now, staying in a massive villa and driving luxury cars. We never even dared to expect her to support us in our old age, but we are absolutely desperate right now. Her father has cancer, and even if we sold everything we own, we still wouldn't have enough for his treatment. I had no other choice. I am begging all of you, please help us..."

Felicity's sob story immediately ignited public outrage. Melody's reputation was dragged through the mud and obliterated.

Netizens flooded the internet with vitriol aimed at Melody, and Felicity seized the momentum to publicly dox Melody's address.

Because the upscale neighborhood had strict security, the angry mob couldn't get inside, but that didn't stop a swarm of independent journalists and paparazzi from staking out the perimeter of the complex.

The scandal was snowballing fast. If it kept escalating at this rate, Julian and Melody's affair was bound to be dug up and exposed all over again!

When Julian finally called, Hester was in the passenger seat of Gael's car, heading to the hospital. She didn't answer, simply muting the phone.

"Was that Julian?" Gael asked.

"Yeah."

"Not going to answer?"

"Nope." Hester kept her face blank. "He just wants to interrogate me and point fingers. Why should I waste my breath on him?"

...

Once she got home, Hester headed straight to the bathroom for a quick shower. She slipped into a set of soft, breathable pajamas and collapsed into bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

Gael had to head to the company. She handed the nutritionist's meal plan over to Celeste, gave strict instructions to look after Hester, and headed out.

Hester slept deeply, drifting in and out of a heavy fog. In her hazy state, it felt as though she were dreaming.

In the dream, she heard Celeste talking to someone. The voice sounded oddly familiar—it sounded exactly like Julian.

Half-asleep, she felt someone gently stroke her cheek. Moments later, the hand drifted down, resting softly on her stomach, lightly rubbing back and forth.

Was she dreaming?