Back when Celine and Justin went missing during the operation, the Mitchell Family wanted to take Nathan back and give him the surname Mitchell. Michael had taken a great deal of effort to forcibly snatch him back from the Mitchells. Now that Celine was pregnant with her second child, Cooper was dead set on the child bearing the surname Mitchell.
Cooper himself didnât dare to go back to visit the Mitchell Familyâs ancestral grave on New Yearâs Day and other festivals. He said he didnât give a damn about doing so, but in reality, he didnât dare to visit his familyâs ancestral grave because he was too ashamed to face his ancestors! That was because he had given up the surname of Mitchell and registered himself as a member of the Michel Familyâs household.
Ordinary Cethosians were extremely obsessed with their family names, not to mention the distinguished families with a legacy of a few centuries.
Beyoncé, Cooperâs mother, abandoned her surname and family after falling in love with Woody back then. Leaving everything behind, she came to Cethos penniless and gave birth to Cooper. However, no one knew she was a member of the Michel Family and the daughter of the Michel Familyâs head until her death. It wasnât until more than 20 years later that the head of the Michel Family missed his daughter while on his deathbed and sent somebody to find out about her. Now, Alice had fallen in love with Daniel, yet she chose to run away and cast aside her love for him for the sake of her career.
Beyoncé chose to give up everything for love, whereas Alice chose to secure her career. She kept everything she had except for love, and this was the choice made by most of the women in the Michel Family. What about Sophia? She chose a path that had never been taken by anyone before. She chose to fight to the end together with Michael! However, nobody knew where this path would lead toâ¦
As Daniel cried hopelessly, Harry comforted him, saying, âAlright, thatâs enough. Youâre already in your thirties; donât you feel embarrassed to cry like this? Alright, stop crying. The sky is getting dark; itâs time to go home and have dinner.â
In the end, Daniel forced himself to stop crying. He then lit a cigarette and smoked it slowly. Michael, Harry, and Justin smoked together with him, and the four men smoked cigarettes while sitting on the lawn at the private airfield.
Harry said with a sigh, âNow that I think of it, Justin, youâre the lucky one, for youâve overcome the odds.â
Daniel couldnât be together with the woman he loved right now, whereas Michael had an uncertain future ahead of him, leaving Justin the only person who had finally overcome all sorts of hardships. He got back together with Celine and was expecting his second child, making him a winner in life aside from the fact that Celine was a little mentally retarded right now. His eldest son was quite promising, and he would soon be a father again. He had had a rough life, for everyone had witnessed his miserable past.
Justin blew a ring of smoke before chuckling foolishly and sweetly. Now that he had gotten back together with Celine, everything in the past seemed like a nightmare to him. Luckily, it was dawn, and he had woken up from the nightmare. Everything was fine, except that he broke into a sweat out of fright. The world was once again filled with sunlight when he drew the curtains. He said, âI think that youâre luckier than I. Youâre expecting your second child now.â
Harryâs relationship with Sarah didnât seem to have many difficulties. They had never been apart from each other as Justin and Celine were, nor was their love story as heart-wrenching as that of Michael and Sophiaâs. Also, unlike Daniel and Alice, Harry and Sarah could be together with the person they loved, so what had happened to Harry was enviable.
Harry blew a ring of smoke sadly and watched as it slowly disappeared. Then, he said, âJust a while ago, Sarahâs dad tried to have her kidnapped on her way home from work, but I got wind of it in advance and stopped him. This was already the fifth time he had tried to lay a hand on Sarah and Sour Face. That father of hers had totally lost his mind; he harmed them again immediately after I let him off. So, in a fit of uncontrollable rage, I had him thrown into the high seas to feed him to the sharks. When I went back on it and had him picked up later, a leg was all that was left of him. Sarah doesnât know this yet.â
Everyone fell silent at his words. What a man he is! Heâs so ruthless as to kill his father-in-law! Harry now had his heart in his mouth for fear that Sarah would find out about this.
Justin said, âItâs alright. At the very least, your father-in-law couldnât make mincemeat out of you anymore. Look at how miserable Mikey is. Heâs afraid of being made into minced meat every day.â
Michael, who hadnât a hope of remarriage, and Daniel, who didnât have a hope in hell of getting a wife for himself, were silent the whole time.
In the end, the four men spent half of the night smoking, using Michaelâs cell phone as their ashtray by stubbing out their cigarettes on its screen.
âHey! This cell phone is pretty nice; itâs usable even in such a state! Stay still; let me take a photo and post it on Twitter!â
â¦
Sophia was also aware of Aliceâs departure, but she was too busy to see Alice off. The presale for Dragon Eye cell phones was around the corner, so she had tons of matters to attend to.
While she was busy, her assistant suddenly said happily to her, âMiss Edwards, someone anonymously sent the evidence of Lucy instigating Nicholas Yates to throw mud at us to your official mailbox. I have sent the evidence to your laptop separately.â
Sophia immediately checked the folder her assistant sent over. The folder contained quite a few gigabytes of files, including the phone recording of how Lucyâs assistant instructed Nicholas to purposely drop and break his cell phone to smear Dragon Eye. There were also some screenshots of some text messages, including conversations and voice conversations detailing how they had orchestrated the whole incident.
The assistant said happily, âWith these pieces of evidence, we can prove that thereâs no problem with the cell phonesâ quality, and the ratings will rise very soon!â
Sophia didnât even finish looking at the files before she deleted them right away; she dragged them into the recycle bin and even emptied it. She said, âThereâs no need to care about these pieces of evidence, for theyâre all fake. Weâll be playing right into the enemyâs hands if we really release these pieces of evidence.â
The assistant was baffled. âI have had these pieces of evidence verified, and theyâre all genuine! Weâll be able to save Dragon Eyeâs reputation as soon as possible by releasing them right now!â
The release of Nicholasâ videos lent weight to his accusation that Dragon Eye cell phones had quality issues. As a result, questions and comments of disappointment poured in, and Dragon Eyeâs anticipation scores in many online forumsâ surveys plummeted.
The release of these files would save Dragon Eyeâs reputation, proving that Dragon Eyeâs operating system hadnât been breached into and that everything was a malicious plot by their opponents!
Burying herself in work, Sophia said, âWe canât release them even if theyâre genuine. Donât worry, for someone is more anxious than us.â
The assistant didnât understand what Sophia meant; however, since Sophia had spoken, she naturally didnât dare to decide things for herself. Therefore, she deleted the files along with the email, pretending as if this had never happened.
Meanwhile, back in the Mitchell Groupâs office, Sandra kept waiting, but no news came. The anticipation for the low-end version of Dragon Eye cell phones was diminishing online, and Sophia should have received the files she had sent her. Why was there still nothing going on on Sophiaâs side? She would be able to save her cell phonesâ reputation as long as she released the evidence to prove that this incident was under Lucyâs instigation!
Nicholas could also play up his pitiable persona by claiming that he had been threatened and that he was forced into doing everything against his will. Everything he had claimed online was falseâhis cell phone wasnât hacked, nor had his personal data been stolen!
Sandra would then go under the radar for a while. Once this incident went out of the limelight and sank into oblivion, the matter would be played down and trivialized into nothing, and Lucy wouldnât be able to place the blame on her. With that, she would be saved, and so would Glory Entertainment and Nicholas, the money-spinner! By then, she would sit idly by and watch the dogfight between Sophia and Lucy!
Sandra waited for quite a few days, but nothing happened on Sophiaâs side. She had enough trump cards in her hand, but she didnât use any of them. The day of Dragon Eyeâs global sale was drawing near, and its presale in Cethos would start soon, yet the quality issues hadnât been solved!
Sandra was more anxious than Sophia. She kept waiting for Sophia to make a move and come to a face-
off with Lucy so that she could seize this opportunity to find a way to survive and save her own skin.
Sophia didnât make any moves, but a lot was going on with the Taxation Bureau and the police. In a fit of desperation, Sandra eventually chose to clutch at straws by having someone spread the pieces of evidence anonymously. Besides trying hard to make it look like the evidence was released by Sophiaâs team on purpose, she shifted all the responsibility to Lucy! Now, she shall wait for Lucy and Sophia to face off!