Chapter 6

As Elise stepped out of the embassy the next day, her phone exploded with messages from Louisa.

"Eli, you have to check out what's on the trending page"

Confused, Elise proceeded to do as she was told. Upon reading the trending post, she was horrified.

As it turned out, a large group of Alexandra's fans had gone to a restaurant owned by her adoptive parents the previous night. The news reported that they were all hospitalized due to food poisoning from consuming spoiled seafood.

The restaurant had since been shut down pending an investigation.

Instead of pictures of Alexandra's adoptive parents, the media outlets had used photos of Elise's late parents instead.

Elise immediately called the news agency to request a correction.

The person in charge stammered endlessly and ultimately refused the request. It was only when Elise threatened to call the police that he hesitantly revealed the truth.

"Mr. Gerald Smith was the one who sent us those pictures!"

Elise felt like she would faint. She decided she was done listening to the explanations and hung up before heading straight to Gerald's office.

She needed a proper explanation!

When she made it to his office door, she barely had time to knock before she heard one of Gerald's best friends, Jack Foster, express in a bewildered voice, "Even if you were trying to protect Alexandra's adoptive parents, you could have used any other pictures instead of Elise's parents'! You, of all people, should know about her temper. She's going to be furious when she sees it!"

His protests only elicited a weary response from Gerald. "Well, it was Elise who poisoned Alexandra's fans!"

Jack cried out in disbelief, "Are you serious?"

Gerald pressed his finger over the bridge of his nose and frowned in irritation.

"Yesterday, she intentionally showed up at the restaurant and staged that 'chance encounter' with me. Not just two hours later, Alexandra's fans caught food poisoning.

"Alexandra's adoptive parents are honest people. They'd never knowingly buy spoiled seafood and pass it off as premium ingredients. Who else could have been behind this if not Elise?

"I was too foolish to assume that she had learned her lesson. She's still trying to frame Alexandra!"

Every word he spoke felt like a sharp knife plunged into Elise's chest. That pain was harrowing.

How ironic.

The sincere love she once held for him was now used as leverage for him to pin all the blame on her.

It looked like the viewers were wrong.

Gerald had never loved her at all.

In the end, she was the one who had foolishly mistaken the responsibility he had assumed as an elder for affection.

These past ten years of her life were a sickening joke!

She felt dazed as she went home.

As it turned out, somebody leaked the address of her place online. They thought that Alexandra and her parents lived there, so the online mob would storm the place.

When Elise got home, her front door had been vandalized, and the lock had been pried open.

The walls that her father had carefully painted were covered in graffiti, while all the furniture her mother had curated had been smashed to pieces. Even the framed family picture had been torn to shreds before being discarded in the toilet.

Elise did not throw a tantrum. All she did was stare numbly at the chaotic state of the house.

Then, she packed her remaining belongings and hired a professional cleaner to clean the house. After that, she hired a real estate agent to sell the house below market value.

After everything was done, she went to the airport.

Ten minutes before boarding, she drafted a post. She attached the restaurant's ingredient purchase invoices, along with her parents' death certificates, before tagging Alexandra and the official Smith Corporation account.

The post was captioned: "My parents passed away ten years ago. Can somebody explain to me how they are supposed to operate a restaurant that only opened last week if they are dead?

"If you're wondering who the person behind the food poisoning cases is, I believe this invoice tells you everything you need to know."

Within five minutes of posting, it had gone viral.

Then, Elise's phone blew up.