That distinct chuckle felt like a thorn piercing ruthlessly into Sophie Winslow’s heart.
Stella Sutton... had seen the wretched sight of her being slapped by Barbara Coleman. And she had openly laughed at her expense. She had even seen Julian Sterling’s cold indifference, his complete lack of effort to defend her.
Even though Sophie had long stopped wanting Julian, being treated as a joke by the very other woman who had ruined her marriage still made her feel extremely humiliated.
Julian cast a cold glance at Barbara, told Stella they would talk later, and ended the video call. His placid eyes swept past Sophie’s reddened cheek, finally landing on Barbara’s face. His voice was icy and thin. "Aunt Barbara, what is the meaning of this?"
He didn’t immediately ask if Sophie was hurt. Not that she expected to see even a sliver of heartache for her on his face. Over the past seven years, she had long grown accustomed to his disregard for her. She had long learned to make peace with it.
Meeting Julian’s gaze, Barbara gave an involuntary shudder. After all, Sophie was still Julian’s wife. By laying a hand on Sophie, she was essentially slapping Julian in the face. Even if Julian didn’t care whether his wife lived or died, his own pride was far more important than Sophie herself.
At this thought, Barbara immediately pointed at Sophie. "Isn’t this all Sophie’s fault? The fact that you accompanied Stella to the hospital was exposed! And the hospital you visited is the very one where Sophie works. Who else could it be but her? The online post is full of filthy, deliberately provocative language! It says... it says that Stella is carrying your child! And that you two..."
Barbara couldn’t bring herself to say the rest. She could only glare angrily at Sophie. After all, Stella was still her son’s fiancée! They hadn’t even formally discussed whether to cancel the engagement yet. Wasn’t this a public slap to the second branch of the family? How was she supposed to show her face in their social circles anymore? How much would they be mocked in the future?
That was why she hated Sophie for being so incompetent! She had been sleeping with her husband for seven years, yet she still hadn’t secured the slightest place in his heart. She couldn’t reign in her husband’s wandering heart, and now she had ruined their branch’s marriage alliance!
Sophie was also somewhat surprised. She had only mentioned making a post to apologize to Stella, but she hadn’t actually done something like this. The timing of the exposure was so perfect—it really did look like her doing.
Taking out her phone, Sophie searched the keywords. Such a post did indeed exist. It was obvious that the whistleblower had chosen their words with extreme care. They had forcibly spun the illicit affair between Julian and his soon-to-be sister-in-law into a romantic tale of true love.
She couldn’t help but look sideways at Julian, only to find that he had been watching her for who knew how long.
A second later, sounding like an entirely uninvolved bystander, he asked out of the blue, "Do you really mind her that much?"
Julian hadn’t said anything explicitly, yet Sophie caught the underlying implication. Had he already concluded that she was so consumed by jealousy that she wanted to destroy Stella?
Being forced to take the blame for something she didn’t do made Sophie’s expression turn uncontrollably blank. "If it were me, I wouldn’t use such delicate phrasing to expose your little affair."
Why would she ever use embellished language to beautify their relationship!
Barbara didn’t believe her. "Of course you wouldn’t dare curse them out! After all, you don’t want Julian to kick you out of the house!"
Who in the Sterling Family didn’t know that Sophie wouldn’t be able to survive without Julian? Sophie was sick and tired of Barbara’s perspective, but she suddenly, pathetically, realized that she couldn’t refute it. After all, in the past, she truly had thrown herself entirely at Julian, tossing her dignity out the window.
Julian cast a sidelong glance at Sophie. He didn’t care if she wanted to defend herself. His gaze swept over her reddened cheek as he turned to the housekeeper, Ms. Coleman, who had come out after hearing the commotion. "Get the madam an ice pack."
Ms. Coleman snapped out of her spectator trance and hurried to comply.
Julian’s words abruptly cut off Sophie’s simmering, unexpressed thoughts. However, her heart remained completely undisturbed by his "concern." In her eyes, this wasn’t a lifeline thrown in her hour of need, nor was it genuine care or concern; it was merely a product of Julian’s lifelong upbringing. It was a habitual, superficial courtesy completely devoid of sincerity. The biggest mistake one could make was to flatter oneself.
Julian looked at Barbara again, offering his solution and stance. "Allowing this to escalate will do no one any good. For the sake of the Sterling Family’s overarching reputation, Stella and Charles’s engagement will end here. We will publicly announce that the two were never engaged."
Barbara’s expression stiffened. She certainly hadn’t expected Julian to take this attitude. She had originally come to angrily demand answers and assign blame. But now... it seemed there was absolutely no other way out?
Holding the ice pack, Sophie’s gaze landed on Julian’s handsome, aristocratic face with a hint of self-deprecation. So, this had been Julian’s goal all along. He wanted to use this opportunity to completely sever Stella’s engagement to the second branch, making it so that he and she could be more legitimate in the future. Julian was clearly already impatient to give Stella a proper title...
"Ms. Coleman, see our guest out."
Julian hadn’t been consulting with Barbara in the first place. After speaking, he gave Sophie an unfathomable look, turned, and went back upstairs.
Barbara was furious, but she didn’t dare voice her anger against Julian, the handpicked heir who was about to seize absolute power. She could only glare viciously at Sophie as she left. "Housewives are nothing but useless trash. Aside from clattering pots and pans, you have zero real skills. So what if you have a pretty face? If you could compare to Stella in competence or cunning, would you have ended up like this? Sophie, you brought this on yourself!"
Sophie didn’t even have the energy to snap back. Even she now felt that her years of dedication and foolish hopes were the result of absolute delusion.
Sophie headed to the bathroom. Her skin was fair, so even though she had dodged the brunt of Barbara’s slap, her cheek was still slightly red and swollen. She washed the skin Barbara had touched with clean water and took a moment to compose herself.
Now that the incident at the hospital ER had been exposed, she had no inclination to be anyone’s scapegoat. After asking Ms. Coleman, she learned that Julian had returned to the bedroom.
This time, she remembered to knock. After all, this would no longer be her home in the future, so she had the self-awareness to act like a guest.
The door wasn’t tightly shut, and there was no sound from inside. Sophie waited for a moment before a voice finally drifted out from within.
"Did your Aunt Barbara go looking for Sophie?" Judith Jacobs’s voice rang out through the phone’s speaker.
Julian emerged from the bathroom and walked over to the cabinet, bending down to look for something. "Yes."
"The news about you and Stella going to the gynecology department together—did you leak it, or did Stella? Were you trying to make Sophie take the fall and face the second branch’s wrath?"
These words caused Sophie’s pupils to constrict. She hadn’t expected such a ridiculous possibility. Had she really become the fig leaf for their twisted romance?
But Julian didn’t answer the question. It was unclear if his silence was a tacit admission or if he simply disdained to answer.
Judith spoke again, laughing as she said, "This won’t blow up too much anyway. You can nip it in the bud before it gains traction. Sophie is dead set on you; she wouldn’t bear to cause you any distractions."
"I know."
Julian replied this time. His tone was nonchalant, making it impossible to tell which of Judith’s words he was agreeing with.
Standing at the door, Sophie silently tightened her grip. She hurriedly tilted her head back, struggling to calm her emotions. No longer bothering to play by Julian’s rules of knocking like an outsider, she simply pushed the door open and walked in.
Hearing the sound, Julian cast a sidelong glance but said nothing. The call had already been disconnected.
Sophie didn’t spare him a second glance. She had even less desire to explain the scapegoat situation now; it would only make her look like a fool helping her betrayers count their money. She walked over to the safe, entered the passcode, opened it, and took out her treasured medical books.
Julian’s gaze rested on her slender back for a couple of seconds. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t noticed her foul mood. But he made no effort to ask about it. He turned and walked back from the balcony with his long strides.
However, as he passed by Sophie’s vanity table, his attention was drawn to a file folder resting on top. His footsteps came to a sudden halt.