"Ahhh, Josie, you’re amazing! I can’t believe you actually posted the breakup letter online. Are you planning to sever all ties with the Sterling Family for good?"
Josephine stared out the car window, her expression blank. "The ties are already broken. Naturally, there’s no goodwill or loyalty left to salvage."
"That’s good. I’m relieved then," Clara said. After dropping that baffling remark, she hung up the phone.
Josephine frowned in confusion. That didn’t seem like Clara’s usual style at all. She wondered if something had happened. Her thoughts naturally drifted to the breakup letter she had posted online. Last night, fearing the Sterlings might try to scheme against her again, she had taken the initiative to make the breakup letter public. She had assumed that by doing so, the Sterling Family would stop pestering her, and any future encounters would strictly be as enemies. But knowing the Sterlings’ true nature, they probably wouldn’t let her off the hook so easily.
A sudden realization hit Josephine, and she quickly unlocked her phone. Sure enough, the Sterlings were sparing no effort to force her back into their fold. Grace had used her personal account to accuse Josephine of spiraling into depravity and sleeping around with unsavory men. Grace claimed that when her parents tried to intervene, Josephine had threatened them with her own life to force the separation, leaving them with no choice but to tearfully sign the breakup letter for her safety.
Josephine let out a bitter laugh of sheer disbelief. How could they even utter such blatant lies? But then again, the Sterlings were capable of swapping someone else’s child. Spouting a few fabrications was nothing to them.
The comments online were overwhelmingly hateful, completely skewing against her:
"Damn, this Miss Sterling is completely shameless. Instead of enjoying her life as a wealthy heiress, she chose to ruin herself. Anyone related to her is just plain unlucky."
"She’s a prime cautionary tale for high society. Look at Stella—beautiful, kind, and respectable. This trash isn’t even fit to shine Miss White’s shoes."
"If I were her parents, I would’ve broken her legs. I think cutting ties was the right move."
"Exactly. People like her don’t deserve parents or brothers. She should’ve been kicked out of the house ages ago."
"A useless brat like her, without her family’s protection, will probably just become a plaything for men. I wonder what an heiress like that feels like in bed."
"The guy above me should give it a try. She clearly likes it anyway. Who knows, she might not even refuse!"
The subsequent remarks grew increasingly vulgar and entirely devoid of basic decency.
To make matters worse, Stella had actually jumped into the fray, leaving a comment of her own: "Please go easy on her, everyone. My sister is just momentarily confused. I believe she’ll soon realize her mistakes and return to the Sterling Family. Please don’t hurt her."
Her comment was followed by a flood of replies, with many men joking that they needed to hurry up and find Josephine before they missed their chance to play with her. Others praised Stella for her kind heart and eagerly followed her account. In just a few short hours, Stella gained hundreds of thousands of followers, with seemingly the entire internet lauding her as a beautiful, benevolent soul.
Josephine hadn’t originally planned to care about the internet drama. Her only intention had been to make the breakup letter public; she hadn’t bothered trying to gag the Sterlings. Engaging in a petty war of words was meaningless. The higher they jumped now, the harder they would fall when the backlash hit.
However, as she scrolled through the comments, she spotted a few messages defending her:
"Josie isn’t that kind of person at all! She was completely forced into severing ties. Don’t let the Sterlings fool you!"
"Stella White is nothing but The Saint! You’re all being played by her!"
Even though these comments were spammed more than a dozen times, they were buried under the avalanche of malicious hate within seconds. The person behind the screen fought like a lone warrior, fiercely determined to seek justice for her. Josephine didn’t even have to guess who it was. In this world, aside from Clara, no one else would protect her so fiercely. At least for now, Clara was the only one who would stand by her side regardless of the cost.
Her eyes welled up with unshed tears. She patted the back of the driver’s seat and said, "Sir, let’s skip the car dealership for now. Find the nearest police station. I need to file a report."
Stepping out of the police station, Josephine held up the police receipt and snapped a photo. She logged into her verified social media account and posted a new update right beneath her previous post about the breakup letter. She attached the photo of the receipt and captioned it: "Regarding the rumors and defamation spread by the Sterlings against me online, I have officially reported the matter to the police. Screen recordings and blockchain evidence have already been secured."
Her account initially had very little traffic. Last night, to ensure people saw her breakup letter, she had even paid for a traffic boost. This time, she didn’t need to spend a dime. Thanks to the Sterlings making a massive fuss, countless netizens were already swarming her page. Previously, they had come just to hurl insults, though she had turned off the comments. She kept the comments disabled this time as well, but that didn’t stop the sheer volume of people flocking over to dig into the drama.
Very quickly, the news of her police receipt shot to the top of the trending lists. Instantly, the public narrative shifted.
"She actually called the cops? Is there something fishy going on here?"
"I did a quick search online. This Miss Sterling practically didn’t exist before today. There’s absolutely zero record of her having a messy private life."
"But why would parents smear their own biological daughter like that?"
"If Miss Sterling posted a breakup letter, it clearly means she was treated horribly in the Sterling Family."
"Don’t tell me even wealthy families have that toxic preference for sons over daughters?"
"The Sterlings aren’t some established wealthy family. They’re just nouveau riche. Trash to the core."
"Then it makes perfect sense! It’s classic misogyny. The whole family probably treated their daughter like a servant."
After hitting post, Josephine stopped paying attention to the internet. She had already involved the authorities; the Sterlings could throw whatever tantrum they wanted, as long as they weren’t afraid of going to jail.
Josephine then headed straight to the car dealership.
She planned to buy a mid-to-high-end car worth around three hundred and forty thousand. As she walked through the doors, someone accidentally bumped into her.
"Do you not have eyes when you walk?!" Before Josephine could even open her mouth, the other party immediately started cursing.
Josephine furrowed her brow. "If you have eyes, then you shouldn’t have crashed into me!"
"Josephine?" Stella pulled the aggressive girl back, looking at Josephine with utter astonishment. "You’re here to buy a car too?"
Stella and her companion had been heading to the luxury auto showroom next door. They were merely passing by and never expected to bump into her. It truly was a small world. Josephine had never imagined that she would cross paths with Stella just by shopping for a vehicle.
"What, are you the only one allowed to buy a car, and I can’t?" Josephine retorted.
She stared at Stella’s slightly swollen cheek, which even a thick layer of foundation couldn’t fully conceal, and felt her hands itching to strike again. Stella had been so wildly active online earlier, obviously hoping to incite a cyberbullying campaign against her. However, Josephine didn’t plan on targeting Stella so soon. She didn’t want to give the Sterlings the delusional satisfaction of thinking she was just fighting for their affection again. No, she had to peel off Stella’s hypocritical skin slowly, piece by piece.
Yvonne Young glared fiercely. "Who gave you the right to speak to Stella like that? Apologize immediately."
Hearing those words, Josephine remembered exactly who this girl was. Her surname was Young, and just like the Sterlings, she was one of Stella’s loyal flunkies. The Young Family was a bottom-tier clan, even worse off than the Sterling Family. In the very beginning, Yvonne had actually tried to suck up to Josephine, but Josephine hadn’t wanted anything to do with someone like her. Later, with just a few sweet words, Stella had coaxed Yvonne into becoming a faithful lapdog. In her past life, Yvonne had frequently joined forces with Stella to bully her.
Josephine scoffed, looking at Stella with dripping sarcasm. "You want me to apologize? Are you some kind of princess or Her Majesty the Queen? Why can’t I speak to you like this?"
Stella silently cursed Yvonne for being so stupid. She had always presented herself as gentle and dignified. Since Josephine hadn’t actually done anything to her just now, how could she demand an apology?
"Josie, you’ve misunderstood," Stella said smoothly. "She misspoke because she was anxious. If anyone should apologize, it should be you apologizing to her. After all, you did just bump into her."
Josephine crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you blind or just brain-dead? Do you want me to ask the dealership to pull up the security footage so we can see exactly who bumped into who?"
Stella quickly waved her hands in denial. "No, no need for that. I think this is all just a misunderstanding. Please don’t be angry, Josie. Yvonne definitely didn’t mean to do it. I’ll apologize to you on her behalf."
"Forget it. I don’t like arguing with dogs." Not wanting to waste any more time, Josephine turned on her heel and walked away.
"Who are you calling a dog?! You’re the dog! Your whole family is a pack of dogs!" Yvonne was absolutely furious as she whirled around and chased after Josephine.