Hands trembling, Erica answered after a while, "No time. I need to find Tessie and Julianna." She believed she was innocent and she didn't need to be afraid of what the public thought about her. She knew the malicious rumors going viral online were fake.
But she had underestimated the power of a mob mentality!
Matthew insisted, "If you show your face in Y City University now, you could be in danger!" Many media outlets had bought this story and reposted it. It went viral on the Internet. So, most people would know about it by now.
If Erica showed up on the steps of Y City University, she'd be mobbed by angry people who might try to take matters in their own hands.
"But I…"
"Come to my office now. Don't rush off to find Tessie," said Matthew, trying to persuade her patiently. He had to make sure she was safe.
Since he insisted, Erica had to agree first. "Okay."
The driver chauffeured her to ZL Group. Matthew was waiting for her in his office.
Seeing her come in, he got straight to the point. "Mr. Chai just called me."
Erica was stymied for a moment, and then remembered he was the boss of Champion Group. "Oh, why? Did he ask you to cut him a check? It's cool. I did smash the things in his operations department."
"No. That's not why he called me."
"What? Then what did he say to you?" 'Didn't Neville Chai talk to Matthew about the bill?' she wondered.
Matthew fixed his eyes on her face and said, "Mr. Chai said you are interesting. He also asked if you have a sister. You apparently made a good impression."
Erica was thrown for a loop. 'What's wrong with Neville? He really wants a girl like me to be his daughter-in-law? Doesn't he have enough drama in his life?'
"What did you say to him?" Erica bent over his desk, playing with a pen.
"I told him a girl like my wife wouldn't be a good fit for his son."
Matthew didn't expect Erica to be so capable of winning people's hearts. Neville Chai only met her once, but he was already fond of the girl and wanted her to be his daughter-in-law.
"His son?" Erica thought carefully about Watkins' handsome face in her mind, and said, "He's indeed very handsome. I think I will like—"
Before she could finish her sentence, Matthew interrupted, "Think it over before you say anything." His cold voice was full of warning.
Looking at his gloomy eyes, Erica realized that he was right to be annoyed—she shouldn't enjoy talking about another man around her husband. "Ha-ha, it was just a joke.
She put down the pen in her hand, slowly walked up to the man standing in front of the window, and naturally wrapped her arms around his waist. "I have such a handsome husband; why would I be looking at other guys? Ridiculous, don't you think? Matthew?"
The man's anger had vanished when she hugged him, not to mention that she called him Matthew in such a sweet tone.
He reached out his hand, pinched her face, making her mouth an O shape, and scolded coldly, "Be honest with me. I don't like flattery!"
Erica protested and pried his fingers off her face. "Jeez, you don't have to be such a bully! You can't take a compliment?" She rubbed her jaw where he grabbed her.
Speaking of bullying, Matthew had to get back to the point. "Whatever. Don't worry about the news on the Internet. I'll take care of it."
"It doesn't matter. I won't cop to something I didn't do." She was quite strong-willed and determined. She wouldn't back down easily.
Taking a deep look at the slender girl in his arms, Matthew tightened his grip and said, "Okay."
Erica closed her eyes and took in the man's scent. "How do you know I wasn't the bully, though? They caught it on video. Looks like Phoebe was telling the truth. Why go to bat for me? Why not just throw me to the wolves?"
"You think I'm blind?"
"What?"
"I saw it with my own eyes, that…" '…she hit you.' Matthew couldn't finish his sentence. He was overcome with pain when he thought of it.
And she thought it was sweet. He did care about her—a lot. But she kind of wanted to deal with this herself. Get revenge her way.
"You saw some of it, but not all. What if she was just fighting back? What if I attacked her first, and she was just defending herself?" she asked.
Matthew felt that she was testing his intelligence. "More than ten people just stood by and watched that girl hit you. They knocked Hyatt down and wouldn't let him up. If you were the bully, how could that happen? I know what I saw!"
Erica grinned. Matthew was indeed smart. "Thanks for the vote of confidence. But don't worry. It didn't hurt that much. I did force her head under a faucet, and slapped her. A lot." She wore a smug smile at that point. "Standing in the rain getting soaked bugged me, and she seized the chance to smack me around a bit."
She didn't like getting wet. And her own experience of having her head shoved in the sink, plus the heavy rain, really put her out of sorts. She wasn't at 100 percent then. Under normal circumstances, she would have never let Lenora get the upper hand. But more than 10 on one? There was no way she was going to win with odds like that.
Matthew looked at the grinning girl and sighed silently. What did she want? A medal for being frank?
Erica suddenly thought of a very serious problem. She looked up at the man and said, "You knew Ethan's not my kid long ago, right?"
Matthew already looked into that, and it was in the files he left for her to read. Tessie and Tam were the real parents. Despite the fact that he found the baby wasn't hers, he never said a word about it.
Judging from his calm demeanor, Erica guessed that he knew, even before he investigated.
He smiled mischievously and nodded.
Sure enough! "I figured. When did you know?" Erica felt distressed. This man had already known Ethan was not her child, and she still pretended like he was. She felt like such an idiot.
"Remember what I told you in the kitchen the other day? I said I knew a secret."
"I remember… And that's the secret you were talking about?"
The smile in his eyes became more and more obvious. "Yes!"
Erica pouted her lips. She even tried her best to cover it up, too. But it turned out he knew everything, all this time. And just let her dig herself deeper and deeper. What a jerk!
"But how did you find out? Why were you so sure?"
Matthew answered all her questions patiently. "You told me I was the first guy you kissed—that's when I started wondering. Then, when your mom wanted to get you vaccinated, you told her you had a C-section and didn't need the vaccine. But I've touched your belly. There's no scar."
Anger began to rise in the girl's eyes. Matthew held her hand and continued, "The next day, your dad took your ultrasound report to the hospital so he could find out for himself. And you can guess the rest."
He didn't need to keep talking. Now she knew perfectly well what happened.
In a gloomy mood, she withdrew her hand and pounded on his shoulder. "So you worked with my parents to cheat me, and then you didn't tell me you knew what was going on. So, what? Were you ever going to tell me? Or were you just sitting back, laughing at my attempts to be a parent?" 'He's about as bad as Mom and Dad! They must be related!' she thought angrily.
Matthew knew that the girl would be angry, so he held her in his arms and comforted her. "We just wanted to know if Ethan was really your kid. We didn't pry into anything else. Like this thing between you and Tessie. I didn't touch that till you asked me."
"Humph! Who knows! Maybe you already knew Tessie was lying to me, but you wouldn't tell me. You just pretended to investigate when I asked and just now let me know what you found out!" She knew better now. She'd never believe Wesley, Blair and Matthew ever again!
Matthew kissed her forehead and said, "No. I didn't know anything about Tessie and Tam until today."
He felt bad for Erica. She'd shouldered a huge burden for her friend, and all her friend did was lie about her. Some friend!
