Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Even though Samantha had always known them to be greedy, all they used to do was constantly ask her for money. On that day however, it was clear that they wanted to destroy her completely.

She had accepted that they did not love her and Corey, but how could they twist the facts and be so ruthless?

Samantha was incredibly angry and she felt extremely sad too.

A beep was then heard and the door to the apartment was opened. Rochelle did not even bother to change her shoes and strutted in in high heels. It was only when she saw Samantha in one piece that she could finally breathe easy.

Rochelle kicked away her high heels and sat on the sofa. She glanced at the cell phone in Samantha’s hand, then opened her arms and hugged Samantha tightly without saying anything.

Samantha closed her eyes as she was hugged.

Rochelle patted Samantha’s back gently. Her usually hoarse and cold voice had turned very soft at that point and she said, “It’s okay. I’m here.”

Samantha sniffled a few minutes later. Once her emotions eased a little, she sat up straight and said, “You’re still the best, Chelle.”

Rochelle flickered her hair back domineeringly and replied casually, “Why of course!”

She reached for a wet tissue from the table and wiped Samantha’s cheeks. Following that, she got up and walked into the kitchen, where she poured a cup of warm water and brought it out. “Have some water to drink.”

“Mm.” Samantha finished the water slowly, and once she had calmed down completely, the fragility under her eyes faded away and was replaced by composure.

Things have already happened and all she could do was face it.

Samantha picked up her cell phone again. The first thing she did was call the nurse and ask about the situation in the hospital.

The nurse on the cell phone said anxiously, “Things aren’t looking so good, Ms. Larsson. Even though security has chased all the reporters away, it’s like some of them have magic powers or something. They would manage to sneak in and knock on the door from time to time. I get startled whenever I hear a knock on the door because I’m afraid that they’d go crazy and just break in.”

Samantha had roughly guessed that such was the case.

Since the news had become viral, the reporters would definitely stare at them like hawks in order to get the latest scoop and gain more publicity. Furthermore, based on what Samantha understood of her parents, they were probably the ones who hired many of the reporters. If they could stir up sentiment and get some pictures, they would be able to base their fictitious stories based on the photographs.

“Lock the door. If they break in, call the police. I’ll handle this as soon as possible. We can’t let them affect Corey!”

“I understand.”

Samantha’s anger burned even more vigorously after she hung up.

She was not half as angry when her parents targeted her, but she was absolutely furious when Corey was involved.

They caused Corey’s life to teeter on the edge of death after what they did to him not too long ago. He had been unconscious since then and still, they were coming for him again…

Samantha suppressed her anger, picked up her cell phone, then prepared to check the situation from Waybo.

Rochelle then slammed her tab on the table and said angrily, “This group of keyboard warriors are just idiots. They just repeat what others say. Whenever someone starts it, others just follow along and start pointing fingers. God, I’m so pissed right now! I’m going to find all these people and slap them in the face!”

Samantha could not help but glance at the tab’s big screen. Although she knew that the netizens’ comments were definitely going to be harsh, she did not expect it to be much harsher than she thought.

Netizen 1: [Whenever there’s news about this Samantha person, you can’t help but go WTF. If it happens once, then twice, it can’t be fake all the time. There has to be a problem with her!]

Netizen 2: [I think so too. I saw a video exposing her enjoying herself with a couple of random men. It’s real, for sure. The actress who came out and admitted it was just trying to cover for her. It’s good to have money. Even if something goes wrong, you can easily solve the problem by spending money!]

Netizen 3: [Such a terrible character and morally corrupt person. It’s no wonder that her biological parents can’t stand her anymore and decided to come forward to knock some sense into her. If I gave birth to a daughter like this, I’d rather strangle her to death. What a disgrace to her family and all her ancestors!]

There were also a few sane netizens who said, [Don’t just listen to one side of the story. There might be other factors that we don’t know about.]

However, that person was immediately attacked by another group, who said that the person only had the guts to talk crap because they were a cyber trooper hired by Samantha or perhaps even Samantha herself. Those sane netizens were scolded so badly that they ended up deleting their comments.

If anyone else had been the one to cast aspersions on Samantha, everyone would be eagerly waiting for the tables to be turned. However, when it was Samantha’s own parents making those claims against her, there would be a tendency for everyone to believe it was true. Each person fancied themselves as internet police, cursing uninhibitedly under the pretext of upholding justice.

Had Samantha’s mettle been any weaker, she would have become a shut-in after all that scolding.

Fortunately, she had developed a heart of steel after experiencing the same kind of ridicule from Timothy. Those comments from the netizens were nothing.

She even comforted Rochelle. “Calm down, Chelle. You don’t have to take these things too seriously.”

Rochelle felt infinitely distressed when she listened to Samantha’s calm tone. Just how much suffering did Samantha have to go through to maintain that kind of calmness?

Samantha used to be a very hot-tempered and spirited woman.

Rochelle got up, went to the kitchen, and opened the refrigerator. From there, she took out a bottle of iced mineral water, uncapped it, then raised her head and finished the entire bottle in one breath.

It hardly did anything to suppress her anger.

She returned to the living room, sat down, and said calmly, “Sammy, your parents had a very clear purpose in mind when they instigated this incident. They want to disgrace you in public and make everyone detest you. That way, all you can do is go back to them, rely on them, and continue to be their cash cow. They’ll exert control over Corey as well so you won’t be able to resist their orders anymore.”

Samantha nodded. “I agree.”

“What’s your plan to deal with them?”

It had to be said that Simon and Cynthia were a lot smarter to use the pressure of public opinion. They were the ones who acted first and had the upper hand, for they had seized the key moment to sway public opinion.

In the public’s eyes, Samantha had no credibility and integrity. How many people would actually believe what she said if she went forward to clarify things?

By then, the wave of cyber troopers would rise again, saying that Samantha would never repent and the likes. In that case, she would no longer be able to absolve herself of the false accusations.

After all, it was easier to start a rumor than stop it when it came to netizens and the internet.

There was no way to ignore that matter either. If it was left just like that, Samantha would continue to be harassed by the reporters and Corey would no longer be able to spend his days in peace.

Rochelle’s thoughts were the same as Samantha’s. If they wanted to mount a counterattack, they had to deliver a resounding blow with one strike. As a result, it was difficult for her to come up with a perfect solution at that moment.

Both Rochelle and Samantha were silent for some time when Rochelle suddenly remarked, “Hey Sammy, there’s actually a really, really, super easy way to solve this..”