Avery rubbed her head. Only at that point did she realize she was in an unfamiliar environment.
That master bedroom was vast and spacious. Right opposite where Avery was at was a large full-length window, which enabled a wider field of vision from the room and gave one a panoramic view of the scenery outside.
Gazing at the sea of flowers outside the windows, Avery instinctively pushed open the floor-to-ceiling windows.
On the branches of the cherry blossom trees grew pale pink lustrous flowers that were as pure as snow. A faint floral fragrance permeated the air.
The scenery there was beautiful and comparable to Peach Blossom Acres that Cayden once brought her to. Yet, at that moment, Avery was not in the mood to enjoy the view.
She knew she had gravely offended the Moore family by calling off the engagement the day before.
I've not only offended the Moore family, but I guess I also broke the hearts of Grandpa and Aunt Alina, didn't I? They must've thought that I'm too insensible.
Still, there was nothing she could do about it...
While her imagination was running wild, her phone rang out of the blue. The caller was Nina.
Instantly, Avery answered the phone.
From the other end, a rackety yet worried voice sounded. “Ery, have you read the news today? The various media channels have posted the same article! I've shared the link with you on WhatsApp. D*mn it! I wonder which heartless creature is spreading such rumors! Hurry and take a look!”
Avery clicked open her WhatsApp while she was still on the phone. “All right. Let me take a look first.”
The moment she opened the app, she was greeted by a shocking title: The ugly side of b*tchy female employee publicly exposed; Dreams of marrying the rich crushed.
Avery's heart shivered, but she went ahead and tapped on the link without much deliberation.
As she was in the midst of a call while loading the article, the internet speed was affected and thus resulted in a longer load time.
Anxious, Avery uttered, “Nina, I'll call you back once I finish reading.”
“Sure. Look through carefully. But don't get too agitated. Your body and the baby in your belly are the most important.” With that said, Nina concluded the call.
Before long, Avery finished reading the article. Its content, like what she was told, was indeed jaw-dropping.
It revolved around Avery breaking off her engagement to Cayden during the ceremony the day before.
Even though the author had addressed the female protagonist as “Ms. Rumpley” instead of directly mentioning Avery's name, anyone with a clear mind could figure out who it was.
The author painted Avery as a vile and pretentious woman. It was also pointed out that she was not only great at feigning innocence but also vain and selfish in private.
According to the write-up, the said Ms. Rumpley was apathetic toward her old and sickly grandfather despite the fact that he was the one who brought her up. She was insistent on selling their house so that she could study abroad.
A lavish and extravagant way of living became a habit of hers while she was overseas. To sustain her luxurious lifestyle, she even resorted to shameless activities. Her personal life was, undoubtedly, awfully messy.
Unexpectedly, after the said Ms. Rumpley's return to the country, she became a high-ranking employee of a well-known multinational corporation. She made a move on the corporation's CEO and used her seductive charms to cloud his judgment. Because of her, he bribed and forced JK Media to clear her name and title her as the birth mother of the CEO's twins. It was pointed out that, in actual fact, she was not biologically related to the twins.
Assuming that she could marry into a wealthy family, the said Ms. Rumpley was getting smug. Little did she imagine that the acquaintances around her would expose her pretentious acts before she was engaged to the CEO. That ultimately resulted in her getting ditched.
The author claimed that she was Rita, a good friend of the said Ms. Rumpley met and had fun with while she was overseas.
In the same article, Rita also said that she had all the dirt on Ms. Rumpley in her hands.
She further explained that she had chosen to write that article because she admired that reputable CEO and did not want to see him get deceived. She was bent on exposing the true colors of the hypocritical and disgusting b*tch.
The author was logical with her argument. Not only was the article well-written, but it was also well-illustrated. Together with the text, there were several intimate photos of the said Ms. Rumpley with naked men while overseas attached.
Those promiscuous and obscene scenes were plainly unsightly and appalling to the eye.
While the faces of the men in those photos were all blurred, the woman's face, contrarily, was not covered up. As much as the images only revealed the woman's side profile, her resemblance to Avery was almost a hundred percent.
If not that Avery clearly knew she was not the female protagonist in those photos, she would have doubted if she had a twin sister.
All of the claims made were reasonable and substantiated with evidence, leaving no room for any doubts to be raised. Many were convinced that the rumors were true.
Throughout all, the author did not make known who Ms. Rumpley was, but every single word clearly pointed to Avery.
Even though Ackleton was an international metropolis with an exceedingly vast territory, the social circle of the upper class was relatively small. Besides, with how developed and advanced mass media now was as compared to the past, the public would have access to news and articles as soon as they were uploaded.
Hence, almost everyone knew the “Ms. Rumpley” in the article was none other than Avery—the woman who got wrapped up in a scandal a few months ago.
And naturally, the CEO of a multinational corporation was Cayden Moore of Trident Group.
About a few months ago, the CEO of JK Media, Robert, personally wrote a story with the title reading: Mr. Moore of Trident Group wins the heart of his woman after ten long years and is blessed with amazing twins! It was later widely published on all platforms of JK Media.
During then, everyone lamented how tough it was for Cayden and Avery to get together and was envious of how they had finally become an official couple. The public was stupefied by how the beautiful story of the prince and princess had changed within such a short time.
The lovely and kind princess had now become a hypocrite everyone hated. Many were beginning to suspect that Cayden had made JK Media whitewash Avery after he was blinded and deceived by her.
The whole situation sure was an unexpected plot twist that happened too abruptly.
In an instant, the whole Ackleton flew into an uproar.
The public exploded into a frenzy because of that shocking article.
Essentially, those media channels that had uploaded the article had thousands and millions of readers. Some other less-known social media accounts that had reposted or shared the write-up also had a rather impressive click-through rate.
Many netizens presumed that Cayden was being deceived and began leaving nasty comments to criticize Avery for being despicable and shameless. Despite so, some netizens questioned the authenticity of that article. They believed that JK Media was known for its fairness and authority, and its news releases were generally accurate.
They felt that the article was obviously trying to draw public attention and therefore deemed it fake.
In addition, there was also a minority of netizens who maintained a neutral stance. They thought that the matters of those prominent families had always been chaotic and complicated, and no one could exactly pinpoint what was right and wrong.
Amusement filled Avery as she read through those baseless accusations made against her in the article. For some reason, the panic within her abated, and she felt strangely calm.
Everyone has the right to say whatever they want. I can't possibly control them. Everything's all right as long as Cayden trusts me.
At the thought of Cayden, Avery felt her heart twinge bitterly.
There are just too many barriers between him and me... I'm nothing but a burden. I really shouldn't continue dragging him down...
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