Chapter 45

The internet exploded in an instant.

Nine hundred thirty-seven thousand! The staggering figure detonated across comment sections.

"Holy shit! Mrs. Lowell actually spent that much of Sophia's money?"

"I'd have called the cops ages ago. That's not a mother—that's a bloodsucker!"

"Sophia has every right to sue. No mother should exploit her daughter like this."

Keyboard warriors switched sides overnight.

Emily's fans immediately jumped to her defense.

"Nine hundred grand for a secretary? Give me a break!"

"That money obviously came from the Lowells. Now she's biting the hand that fed her."

"Nine hundred thousand? At my salary, it'd take 150 years to save that much!"

Emily's smirk froze as she stared at her phone screen.

Victoria's hands trembled violently.

She never expected Sophia to expose their financial dealings so publicly.

"How dare she!" Victoria snatched a maid's phone.

Her shrill voice pierced the air when the call connected. "Sophia! Are you trying to drive me to my grave?"

Sophia flipped through documents, chuckling. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't play dumb! What's the meaning of those online posts?" Victoria's chest heaved. "You want the whole world to condemn your own mother?"

A fountain pen twirled between slender fingers.

"First, I wasn't the one who leaked it."

"Second," Sophia's gaze turned glacial, "where were you when the internet crucified me?"

Dead silence filled the line.

Victoria's nails dug crescent moons into her palms.

"Were they wrong?" she suddenly shrieked. "What's so terrible about a mother using her daughter's money?"

Remembering the earlier public sympathy, she straightened her spine.

"Withdraw the lawsuit. Issue a public apology. You can still be the Lowell heiress."

Sophia watched dusk paint the sky outside.

Her reflection in the window glass wore a sardonic smile.