Leonie looked at her daughter with a troubled expression.
She knew it was wrong to conspire with the Macclains against Estelle, but if they didn't play by the Crawleys' rules, there would be no place for his core family in either J City or B City.
Estelle, despite her fame in the industry and connections with a few high-profile families, was still just a designer with no real power. And now, her future in design seemed bleak.
For the sake of her children's future, they had to do something that weighed heavy on their conscience.
"Sallie, leave the room!" Stanley commanded with a stern voice.
"No!" Sallie shook her head, tears in her eyes. "Even if you won't help Estelle, don't kick her when she's down, please!"
Hans stormed in, "Dad, Mom, if you dare hurt Estelle, I'll never forgive you!"
Hans, now a high schooler, stood nearly six feet tall, his handsome face marked with indignation.
Leonie clenched her teeth and after exchanging a glance with Stanley, made a decision. She turned to the Crawleys, "I'm sorry, we can't do what you're asking. Take your money back!"
She pushed the card back across the table.
The man on the other side sneered, "Kids don't understand the way of the world, that's understandable. But as adults, you should know better than to make decisions without weighing the consequences!"
Stanley frowned, "We're out of this. We won't delete the post or slander Estelle. Do what Mr. Cliff will, but we won't do something we don't want to."
"Yes!" Leonie nodded firmly. "There's no point in trying to persuade us. We might love money, but we won't sell our souls."
Leonie scoffed, "They're doing fine. They're about to break into B City's elite."
"They're dreaming!" Sallie's face was icy. "After all they've done to Estelle, if the Lamonts let them off, I'll livestream my own harakiri!"
"What nonsense are you talking?" Leonie scolded. "Estelle's in hot water, trampled beyond recovery. I doubt the Lamonts would want to get involved."
"That's impossible!" Sallie said confidently. "Just wait until Jonathan gets back. If he doesn't make the Crawleys and Estelle's parents pay, then I don't know what!"
"Why are you so sure?" Leonie asked.
"Because," Sallie almost blurted out that Estelle was the wife of the Lamont Group's CEO—Jonathan adored her. How could he let anyone who hurt or schemed against her get away with it?

Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Find me in your labyrinth (Stella and Jonathan)
Norah isn't a girl, but a twenty -five year old beautiful woman that loves Xavier Fleming/Gonzalez/Hanson....
Update 3103 hasn't been received and it hold pertinent information. Please fix it for us. Thank you....
This is great! I love the updates....
Now Xavier needs to call in the reinforcement, Gabriel and Jonathan to settle this. Thank you for the updates....
May we please have updates. Thank you...
Xavier will always protect Norah he must admit this to himself and Norah. I believe after they return from this , he'll need to approach Norah 's parents and he'll get support from Jonathan and Ella....
I like how you are getting all the different love interest committed, thank you for the updates....
Hoping Manly have his own love story here, atleast a short one...
Emily has finally stood up for herself. Now with Charlie's support, her mother and sister in law will be as quiet as church mice....
Another epic ten updates... this is great! I'm sooo enjoying this. Thank you for the updates....