Kicked Out, Flash-Married, and Now He Won't Let Me Go

Chapter 139: Chapter 139: Their Counterattack

Vivian knew from the very beginning that Annie’s ultimate goal was to get that ten million. Exchanging a child for ten million—she couldn’t help but think it was incredibly easy money.

Julian had refused. As for Grandma Faulkner, she had no intention of being blackmailed by Annie, either.

The Faulkner Group’s legal team firmly rejected Annie’s demands. The two sides negotiated for an entire afternoon, with Annie eventually dropping her asking price from ten million to eight million. Still, Julian refused to compromise. Ultimately, the negotiations broke down.

What happened next unfolded earlier that evening, right when Vance Wyatt suddenly checked his phone and pulled Julian outside for a private chat.

Annie had hired a PR firm to leak the incident online. She had likely paid for a bot army as well, given the massive amount of trending traffic. The internet was buzzing with discussions about Grandma Faulkner bullying a pregnant woman, painting Annie as a tragic victim.

The narrative spun was that she was an older woman who had finally managed to conceive. She had gone to the hospital for a routine prenatal checkup, only to be maliciously pushed down a flight of stairs by Grandma Faulkner. She had supposedly only sought out a lawyer for reasonable negotiations with the Faulkner family, yet the other side blatantly refused to offer any compensation!

In a lengthy, emotional essay, Annie portrayed herself as incredibly pitiful. She even attached medical records of her surgery and the loss of her baby, cementing her image as a helpless victim.

Ignorant of the truth, the public’s innate sympathy was easily manipulated. Countless netizens joined the discussion, expressing their pity for Annie. Some even went out of their way to spam Julian and the Faulkner family’s official accounts on X, condemning them for refusing to pay up.

However, the Faulkner Group’s legal team and public relations department were no slouches. They immediately issued a clarification, explicitly revealing that Annie had demanded an exorbitant ten million in hush money.

They also pointed out the suspicious coincidence that the security camera in that specific stairwell happened to be broken. Thus, there was absolutely zero direct evidence proving that Grandma Faulkner had caused Ms. Annie’s miscarriage.

Furthermore, the stress of the incident had landed Grandma Faulkner in the hospital. Her doctors confirmed that her health was already frail; she couldn’t handle such severe shocks, and her current condition was highly critical.

Once the PR team made their move, the entire situation became crystal clear.

The internet quickly split into two factions. One side still sympathized with Annie for losing her child and believed the Faulkner family ought to compensate her regardless. They argued that the Faulkner family was filthy rich, and since Ms. Annie was an overseas Chinese returnee who had lived a wealthy life abroad, ten million wouldn’t even be considered a massive sum to someone of her status.

The other faction aligned with Vivian’s thoughts. They felt the whole ordeal reeked of a massive conspiracy and that this woman named Annie was definitely bad news!

The PR strategy proved highly effective. After Julian finished explaining the situation to Vivian, she pulled out her phone to scroll through X. While there was still plenty of ongoing discussion, Annie’s side seemed to have run out of funds for her bot army. Slowly but surely, public opinion was shifting in favor of the Faulkner family.

"The public isn’t completely blind after all!" Vivian praised.

This was a relief. Annie had only managed to manipulate a small fraction of the populace. All things considered, the tide was turning in the Faulkner family’s favor.

Feeling much more at ease, Vivian let her exhaustion catch up with her. She reclined her seat, leaned against the small headrest, and reached around to grab her plush throw pillow from the back seat.

It was a convertible blanket pillow. Folded up, it acted as a cushion; unzipped and unfolded, it became a cozy blanket. Vivian loved this clever design—it was incredibly convenient and easy to store.

"Julian, I’m feeling a little tired. I skipped my afternoon nap today, so I think I’ll sleep for a bit," Vivian mumbled softly. Right before she fluttered her eyes shut, Julian considerately dimmed the car’s interior lights.

The drive from Concordia Hospital back to the Faulkner estate wasn’t particularly long. Within half an hour, they had already arrived at The Faulkner Estate Entrance. The familiar villa stood before them, completely pitch-black.

When Vivian opened her eyes and realized they were home, she paused in mild surprise.

Come to think of it... aside from Ms. Shaw, who lived there full-time, and a few hourly maids hired to deep-clean on weekends, the Faulkner family employed surprisingly few domestic workers.

It made sense. Julian used to be incredibly busy and practically only came home to sleep. Ms. Shaw was more than enough to take care of Grandma Faulkner on her own. It was only recently that Vivian and Rachel had moved in. The unoccupied rooms rarely needed more than occasional dusting.

Usually, Ms. Shaw would leave a light on for Julian, knowing he often worked late into the night. It was an incredibly thoughtful gesture.

After an exhausting day, who wouldn’t want to come home to a brightly lit house and the comforting realization that someone was waiting for them? It was a deeply heartwarming feeling. Vivian believed so, and she figured Julian felt the same way.

Because of this, arriving to a pitch-black house felt rather jarring to Vivian. Julian seemed to share her sentiment.

He parked the car in the underground garage and immediately flipped on all the main lights. The massive house instantly lit up.

Vivian took the stairs from the garage up to the main floor. Gazing at the empty, echoing living room, she couldn’t help but murmur, "Back when I still lived with my parents, I used to think that when I got married, I’d want it to be just the two of us in our own little world.

"But now... this house is so massive and empty. It doesn’t actually feel that great, does it?"

Vivian missed Grandma Faulkner dearly. The old lady was like the anchor of the household. Whenever she was around, Vivian could truly feel the comforting essence of home.

Julian didn’t answer.

Vivian blinked in surprise, wondering why he was ignoring her. She tilted her head and followed his gaze, realizing he was staring intently at a specific spot on the second floor.

The realization suddenly hit her. Right. She had almost completely forgotten about Rachel.

Hadn’t Julian sent Rachel home this morning? She had even called around noon to say she wanted to visit the hospital, so she must have been at home then. Where was she now?

Vivian stared at the open door on the second floor. The pitch-black interior practically confirmed that Rachel wasn’t there.

Whenever Rachel was home, she usually stayed cooped up in her suite with the door tightly shut. That went double for when she was sleeping. Since Julian had just flooded the house with light, if she were asleep in her room, she would have definitely woken up by now. The utter silence could only mean one thing: she wasn’t home.

It was already ten o’clock at night. Where on earth could she have gone?

Vivian was puzzled, and it seemed Julian shared her confusion. However, he didn’t dwell on it for long. He simply turned his attention back to his wife. His gaze softened the moment it landed on Vivian.

"Are you hungry?" he asked. "We still have some ingredients in the fridge. If you’d like, I can whip up a late-night snack for you."

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