Chapter 82
The question caught her by surprise, and she stopped drinking her water. She was flabbergasted, but when she met Wesley‘s loving gaze, she snapped out of it. Darn. Susanna‘s right. He does like me. She thought Susanna was just matching people up at random, but the love in Wesley‘s eyes told her otherwise. She put her glass down nervously. “Mr. Zurich, 1—”
Before she could finish, Wesley confessed, “Emma, I like you. A lot.”
Emma was shocked, and she felt like running away. It had been years since someone confessed to her. She had married Trevor after she graduated college. Aside from Susanna, she had not stayed in touch with any of her college friends. She stayed at home and kept herself isolated from the world in case she got into any scandal that would hurt the Batesons. She only felt shocked from the confession.
Wesley noticed her uneasiness, and he slowed down. “I was attracted by your writing at first, but when we started getting along, I realized that you‘re a sweet and gentle soul. I feel like protecting you. I know you don‘t want to get into a relationship now, and I was about to hold my feelings back, but what happened just now told me I should stop doing that.” He looked at her and confessed genuinely, “I want to stand by you. I want to protect you and keep you away from any harm.”
Emma had to admit that she was louched that Wesley would give her that promise when she needed it most, but it was also a sign that she had to remain rational. She knew she must not drag Wesley into this mess of hers. She shook her head. “I appreciate your feelings, Mr. Zurich, but I know you‘ll find someone better than me.” She was divorced, hence she was not worthy of him. Wesley was a perfect man, and he deserved a better woman.
He knew why she said that, and it broke his heart. “You don‘t have to degrade yourself. You‘re a great woman too. You‘re brilliant, and you‘re perfect.” He tried his best to get her to overcome her psychological barrier. “I come from a regular family. My parents are just regular people as well. You don‘t have to feel trapped if you date
me.”
That was one of Emma‘s nightmares. Alice and Arianna looked down on her, and they had turned her marriage into a living hell. She could see that he was genuine, but still, she said while looking down, “I‘m sorry, Mr. Zurich.” She fell in love before, and she knew how it felt. She did not feel that same love toward Wesley.
The light in his eyes dimmed, but then he smiled. “I knew this would happen.” Ever since she divorced last year, she had been nothing but professional. Wesley could see that she did not want to get into another relationship, so he said nothing. He would have waited for her to open up if this had not happened. He stood up. “Let‘s go. I‘ll take you home.”
Emma quickly said, “It‘s alright. I can go back on my own.”
Wesley insisted, “I can‘t let you go home alone, not in this situation. You don‘t have to feel guilty or anything.”
Emma let him take her home. The other employees were staring at her when they came out of the office. They thought she was an ingrate who refused to provide for her father.
When they walked into the elevator, Wesley said, “I‘ll explain it to everyone when I come back.” After a pause, he said, “Tell me if you need any help with this.”
“Thanks.” She was grateful, but she thought she did not need any help for now. She would confront them the moment she got her hands on the paternity test results and cut all ties with them. However, things had gotten out of hand before she could even get her hands on the results, and it was thanks to an interview video uploaded by a famous content creator. It was an interview with Steven.
Steven had cooked up a sob story in the interview and accused her of everything he could come up with. He called her an ingrate for not providing for him. He accused her of going missing after he was sick. The content creator had millions of fans, and most of his videos talked about personal problems like this, so the video went viral the moment it was uploaded. Everyone called Emma an ingrate, and a lot of them called her far worse names.
She read through the comments, and everything started 10 spin. She had seen other celebrities or civilians getting canceled because of something they did, but she never thought that this would happen to her. Steven did not name and shame her, but the netizens could search for her.
Someone had uploaded her photo in the comments, and the netizens cursed her again. She could see that it had been taken very recently, and without her permission too. She was shaking with rage. They could not have taken that photo unless they‘ve been planning this. She took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down.
She then called Steven and cut to the chase. “What do you want?” ||
Steven scoffed. “Nothing. You wouldn‘t provide for me, so I complained a little to the Internet.”
She sneered, “And what would you get if you ruined my life?”
Steven snorted. “I don‘t care. You don‘t give us what you want, we‘ll make your life a living hell.”
They did not expect her to give them any money anymore because someone had already paid them to do this. Not long after they were kicked out of Alpha, someone contacted them and said they would pay them good money if they would slander
Emina as best they could. They even introduced a famous content creator to them, making it easier for the video to go viral.
Emma told him what she had done. “I‘ve gotten the paternity test results, and I‘ll be uploading it soon”
Steven was enraged. “A paternity test result? When did you do the test?”
Steven had no idea Emma did that behind his back. He denied that she was not his real daughter so he could get her to give him money. Angered, he roared, “So what if we‘re not related? You still have to provide for me! I raised you, and that counts for something! I know what you want to say. You‘re trying to say I got a lot of money from Trevor, aren‘t you? But you don‘t have any proof. I‘ll deny it! I‘ll deny everything! Try and get Trevor to testify for you! Oh, but he hates you! He‘ll never do that, girl!”
Emma could feel her heart break when he said Trevor hated her. Yeah, he hates my guls. There‘s no way he‘s going to testify for me, nor will he tell anyone I‘m his ex–wife. That‘d be embarrassing for him.