Annie stood where she was, completely still. She clenched her fists. There was nothing she despised more than people using Irene to threaten her.
The tragedies of her past life were still fresh in her mind.
That lunatic Sean was capable of anything.
After zeroing in on her one and only weak spot, he didn't hesitate to drive a knife into it.
He had made one thing clear—she couldn't keep living at the Steward residence. Next time, she might not be lucky enough to keep him out of Irene's line of sight.
Annie thought of the keys to the apartment Christian had left her before his trip.
Meanwhile, Gary finally recovered from the shock of the earlier slap. Seeing her pale face, he approached her with concern. "Are… Are you okay, Ms. Steward?"
Annie gave a small nod. "Gary, don't say a word about what happened today to Grandma."
Gary immediately understood her concern and agreed solemnly. "I understand."
Just then, a warm voice came from the stairs. "Don't tell Grandma about what?"
At some point, Irene had woken up. She was slowly making her way downstairs, her chubby cat tucked in her arms.
Annie felt her heart lurch.
She quickly turned with a sweet, meek smile on her face before hurrying over to Irene to support her.
"Grandma, why didn't you sleep a bit more? I was just telling Gary I'm moving out soon and was worried you'd feel lonely without me here."
Irene smiled in understanding when she heard that, and she lovingly patted the back of Annie's hand.
"Silly child, as long as you're happy, I'll be happy. It's not right for you to stay here when you're about to be married anyway."
She glanced around the living room, curiosity flickering in her eyes.
"By the way, where's Sean? Why haven't I seen him lately?"
Annie's heart skipped a beat.
Her smile stayed intact as she lied casually, "Oh, him? The company sent him on a sudden business trip. He'll be gone for a while, so he won't be coming for some time."
She never imagined that they would become the very thing that would expose Sean and cause their complete fallout that day.
Annie expressionlessly took screenshots of all the chat records and bundled the audio files, ready to post them.
She then typed out her caption and tagged Sean before hitting send. "You said you'd never been in a relationship before and that I was your first love, Dr. Frost.
"You said Cecilia was only a patient you once helped financially. You said you were never involved with her. Why don't you take a look and tell me what these are?"
The sweet voice messages that once made her heart flutter were now being blasted through the Internet for everyone to hear.
"Annie, I've never felt this way about any other person. You're the only one in my heart. Trust me. She's just a patient of mine. Nothing is going on between us, so don't jump to conclusions."
…
Each voice message and promise formed the sharpest, most ironic contrast to the way he defended Cecilia.
Once again, the narrative took a sharp turn as the entire internet went into a frenzy.

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