Chapter 330
Elise understood what her grandfather meant. If she truly slept with Matthew, then she couldn’t pretend as if nothing had happened, nor could she continue to enjoy Alexander’s love while ignoring everything, regardless whether Matthew and Alexander were brothers or not. It didn’t matter whether she didn’t want to or if she wasn’t the one at fault. Sometimes, though, fate was just that fickle and unreasonable. There was no room for argument.
It might be painful at first, but Elise knew deep down that people could eventually leave. If that was what fate intended, then all she could do was adjust her mindset and force herself to accept it.
But before that, there were some things that she needed to understand fully first.
“Did you save those photos?” Elise asked Robin.
“Well…” An uncomfortable look came over Robin’s face, but he quickly caught on as to what Elise meant. He tested the waters. “Did you actually…?”
But Elise’s words proceeded to extinguish his hope that had just flickered back to life.
“I’m not sure either.” Elise shook her head. “It’s just like you said; I wasn’t awake when those photos and videos were taken. I was indeed unconscious for a while, unaware of anything. I can’t confirm whether Matthew had actually done any of that to me.”
“I understand what you mean.” Robin nodded solemnly to indicate his understanding, but he was still troubled. “It’s my fault. I was so furious by that b*stard that I completely didn’t think of that. I didn’t save any kind of evidence…”
If that was the case, it seemed that the only proof of whether or not Elise and Matthew had intercourse was purely through Matthew’s say-so.
In truth, Elise wasn’t actually all that hurt by this. She was the victim at the end of the day. Even if she had lost her purity, the one who should be shamed and humiliated was Matthew. She would not feel like she was lesser because of this. Elise was in a rush to find out the truth simply because she wanted to tie up loose ends with Alexander; she didn’t want them to part in such a confusing manner just because of Matthew’s slanderous claims.
Seeing how her grandfather blamed himself, Elise couldn’t bear to keep asking any further. Instead, she comforted, “It’s okay, Grandpa. I’m your granddaughter; something as small as this won’t get me down. Don’t worry. I’ll deal with this
properly.”
Robin looked at her with a heavy gaze, his weathered eyes still filled with heartbreak. “I’m so sorry for you…”
Later that afternoon, Elise took a nice nap at home after a hot shower.
Unknown to her, however, Matthew had already begun a new round of counterattacks as she lay sleeping peacefully in her familiar bed.
Earlier when Alexander and Elise arrived at the Sinclair Residence, various magazine publishers and newspaper outlets received pictures of Matthew and Elise lying topless on a bed together, seemingly all at the same time. These photos were like a bomb, sending shockwaves everywhere. The entire entertainment industry went into overdrive to churn out articles, every outlet wanting to be the first to hog the top trending search by utilizing the controversy—’Alexander Griffith’s Fiancée Cheating on Him With His Own Brother -as the focal point. Some unscrupulous people simply skipped the magazine path, simply publishing the photos via blog posts or even videos to draw traffic. In just an instant, the internet was abuzz with discussion.
Presumably, Alexander had left Elise earlier to deal with this issue.
Inside the meeting room, the hastily-assembled emergency PR team sat around the table. They argued until they were red in the face, all of them putting their heads together over this PR nightmare for one reason, and one reason only-to prevent Elise’s name from being tarnished.
“…Shifting the public’s attention is the most important thing right now. Listen to me and find a B-lister to take the fall. We’ll certainly be able to shift a lot of the heat away like this.”
“That’s just treating the symptoms, not the cause. Why don’t we get in touch with those platforms and request them to take those topics down? It’s going to take more effort, but we’ll be able to root out the problem. We won’t have to worry about those comments spreading like wildfire. They’ll start spreading again at just the slightest mention otherwise.”
“I say that we just get the legal department to write up a letter to go after those major content creators who are purposely directing the narrative! We’ll make an example of them!”
“No, you listen to me…”
These public relation contingencies all had some flaw to them, but none of them
14.45 MUG.
Chapter 330
were up to Alexander’s standards. He sat there quietly in his seat, letting those at the meeting table to squabble like no tomorrow. Yet, he seemed to be in a completely different world, for the aura around him was so chilly that it terrified the others.
There was no doubt that Matthew decided to go for this dirty blow because he wanted to force Elise into a corner, to force her to be tied to him. But he was mistaken: Elise could be reasonable, but she would not be coerced. Such a drastic move would only make Elise even more sure to keep him away at arm’s length.
However, this wasn’t the problem that Alexander was considering. There was only one thing that he was concerned about no one would be able to get past him in the future to hurt Elise. Collecting his thoughts, he lifted his hand and rapped the table.
“Knock, knock–”
Instantly, the PR team fell completely silent. All of them turned their gazes in unison to their employer.
“Looks like you still don’t know what the name ‘Elise Sinclair’ means. I’ll say this once, and once only—as long as I, Alexander Griffith, still remain in this seat, then Elise’s reputation is also the Griffith Group’s reputation.” At that, Alexander lifted his left hand to look at his watch. “It’s 1.28 p.m. now. You’ve already wasted 18 minutes and 23 seconds. By 2 p.m, I hope that I will no longer see the name ‘Elise Sinclair’ on any social media platform. Use all means possible. If that is not the case by then, all of you will be handing in your resignation letters.”
The office descended into a suffocating silence. Other than Alexander, everyone else had the exact same expression, as if the same expression had been copied and pasted onto their faces, all deep frowns and solemness.
Alexander had given them only half an hour, but it wasn’t all that difficult to figure out which was Alexander’s most preferred way to deal with this PR case, considering their knowledge. Most importantly, asking Alexander any questions now when he was in this state was a surefire way for them to get a one-way ticket to death.
These people had only two choices: they could just stand there and do nothing, waiting for the seconds to tick down while the public grew even louder. They would take the blame before they packed their bags to leave. Or, they could stick it out and voice their questions to Alexander, only to be killed on the spot with that murderous gaze of his.
Both paths led to death, and no one dared to be the first one to make a move.
After a while, Cameron could no longer take it, and decided to give everyone a
frustrated reminder. “Are you all zombies or something? Mr. Griffith has spoken-do everything that you can to solve this, no matter the price. Get a move on already!”
At the last word, the group of people who had still been sweating buckets just moments ago promptly sprang from their seats and rushed out of the meeting room.
Once everyone was gone, the meeting room fell into silence again. Alexander tilted his head up as he leaned back in his seat. His eyes were gently closed, but a frown could be seen on his forehead, looking out of place on that chiseled face of his.
Cameron couldn’t help but console his employer when he saw Alexander’s tired form. “I’m sure Miss Sinclair won’t take all this to heart.”
Alexander merely sat there motionlessly without answering him. No one knew whether he’d heard him.
Cameron felt awkward at the lack of response. After a few seconds of silence, he brought up the task that Alexander had assigned to him earlier. “The general vicinity of the area where Miss Sinclair was found has been checked thoroughly-they still haven’t caught the culprit.”
“They still haven‘t caught the culprit.”
Upon hearing those words, Alexander felt like he had been given a harsh slap.
How many times had Matthew slipped away right under his nose?
The crux of the problem wasn’t whether Elise minded what the media said about her; instead, it was whether he could put Matthew in his place. If he had protected Elise properly, none of this would have happened.
It was time to put an end to everything.
