Chapter 92: Don’t Tell Me You Weren’t with Fourth Uncle That Night?
Willow Summers’s heart was a maelstrom of emotions. Her background wasn’t exactly prestigious; her parents were nouveau riche, a world away from the heiresses of truly established, wealthy families.
From a young age, her parents had taught her to climb the social ladder, to cozy up to the wealthy, and to use them as a stepping stone to marry into a prominent family, elevating her social class and bringing prosperity to their entire family.
Every penny the family invested in her was meticulously recorded, a debt she was expected to repay.
No older woman had ever shown her such concern, worrying that she was too thin or that her hands were cold.
The phone on the table rang. Willow Summers blinked back her tears and answered the call.
"Willow, have you seen the news? Someone’s posted an exposé online about Jane Lancaster knowingly being a homewrecker!"
Willow Summers froze for a moment, then hastily hung up and opened the link the caller had sent.
"Jane, you need to see this! Someone’s slandering you online!" After a quick scan, Willow Summers immediately forwarded the link to Jane Lancaster.
Jane Lancaster took a few minutes to read the contents of the exposé.
The post claimed that five years ago, the Lynch and Lowell families were collaborating on a major project. To solidify the partnership, the Lynch family had proactively proposed a marriage alliance.
At the time, Caleb Lowell had only recently taken power and was desperate for the support of a powerful family-in-law, so the two sides hit it off immediately.
At the project launch ceremony, Mr. Lynch had even publicly declared that Caleb Lowell was like a son to him.
Caleb Lowell had also frequently invited Miss Lynch out, even accompanying her on a skiing trip for a romantic date.
Around that time, Beverly Lynch had also posted a lot on social media, with romantic captions that clearly suggested she was head over heels in love.
However, not long after that skiing trip, Caleb Lowell’s attitude suddenly grew cold. Shortly after, he was publicly seen with Jane Lancaster.
So, what reason could Caleb Lowell possibly have to give up the Lynch Family, who could offer him their full support?
Because Miss Lancaster was shameless enough, skilled in her methods, and incredibly clingy, of course.
While the young couple was on their skiing trip, she dragged Pauline Shaw along, meticulously plotted an "accidental" encounter, and stole Caleb Lowell’s heart.
After snatching someone else’s fiancé, this Miss Lancaster didn’t stop there. She constantly encouraged her good friend, Pauline Shaw, to antagonize Miss Lynch.
And wasn’t it just recently at a banquet where, after being exposed for stealing a man, she flew into a rage out of humiliation and got into a physical fight with Miss Lynch?
...
The writer of the exposé not only had a compelling writing style but also included photos to corroborate the timeline, making it highly credible.
Not only that, but they had also given it a rather explosive headline: "The Hero Who Acted Righteously, Turns Out to Be a Homewrecker..."
The comment section even featured a link to Jane Lancaster’s recent interview, with many people expressing their shock after reading it.
The comments were all over the place, but many people expressed that the act of stealing someone’s fiancé alone was enough to prove her low moral character.
There’s no way to whitewash knowingly being a homewrecker!
Mama Knight was furious. "Nonsense! It was clearly Young Master Lowell who pursued our Miss!"
Willow Summers analyzed calmly, "The audience doesn’t care about that. As long as Young Master Lowell and Mandy really did have a marriage agreement, Jane will be nailed to the pillar of shame as a homewrecker."
It’s always unfair to the woman in these situations. No one would condemn Caleb Lowell for two-timing or for moving on without a break; they’d only blame the woman for seducing him.
There were photos of Caleb Lowell in the exposé, and many people were commenting on how handsome he was, becoming instant fans.
When they learned he had waited faithfully for love for three years, everyone was moved to tears.
But even as they shed tears for his love story, it didn’t stop them from furiously cursing Jane Lancaster as a homewrecker, undeserving of her position!
Jane Lancaster commented objectively, "It really couldn’t have been easy to find all these photos."
Willow Summers grew anxious. ’Is this really the time to be saying that?’
Jane Lancaster’s public image was too memorable. Three years ago, she’d been a trending topic for heroically saving someone, an act that left her critically injured. Many people still remembered it.
Now that this homewrecker rumor had surfaced, casual observers were flocking to the drama. The post was gaining more and more traction, with tens of thousands of replies.
"This post is getting so much attention. A lot of people are even flooding the TV station’s official social media accounts. We have to find a way to suppress this quickly."
Mama Knight didn’t understand. "How can people believe such baseless rumors? Can’t we just sue the person who started them?"
"It’s a burner account someone registered specifically for this. It might not be possible to catch the person behind the rumors," Jane Lancaster said.
"But you’re right, we definitely need to sue. I’ll get my brother on it right now."
She forwarded the link to Julian Lancaster, but he was probably busy and didn’t reply right away.
Suddenly, her phone rang. Jane Lancaster picked it up and saw it was Caleb Lowell.
"Jay, don’t worry. The Lowell Group will issue a statement to clarify this for you."
Caleb Lowell was also surprised when he saw the trending topic. He hadn’t expected something from five years ago to affect Jane Lancaster.
In the end, he felt that he had been an inadequate fiancé, causing her this trouble.
Even if Jane Lancaster didn’t ask, he felt he had to explain things himself.
"Back then, the Lynch Family did express interest in a marriage alliance, but it was just a casual mention. The idea from both families was that we could get to know each other first, and if it wasn’t a good fit, we wouldn’t force it..."
"Jay, I had already fallen for you by then. There was no way I could force myself to accept someone else. So, before that skiing trip, I had already told Uncle Lynch that the marriage agreement was off."
But Clayton Lowell didn’t understand that his nephew’s heart was already taken. He couldn’t bear to lose the benefits the Lynch Family had conceded and thought it was a shame to give it all up.
So after learning he was going skiing, he used my name to invite Beverly Lynch...
It wasn’t until he saw the post today that he realized how much Beverly Lynch had been looking forward to that skiing trip back then.
She had never forgotten him; even the boyfriends she found later all bore a resemblance to him.
She had even attacked Jane Lancaster at the banquet, pushing her to the ground.
"Jay, I’m sorry you got hurt." Caleb Lowell felt a pang of guilt. "Is your hand okay?"
Jane Lancaster truly felt such a minor injury wasn’t worth the fuss. "It’s already healed. Beverly Lynch didn’t do it on purpose. And you don’t need to apologize for things in the past."
Caleb Lowell: "Ultimately, I was the one who didn’t handle it well, which is why you’re caught up in these homewrecker rumors."
Jane Lancaster didn’t argue further. In any case, the right to issue a statement was his.
Just before hanging up, Caleb Lowell suddenly asked, "Jay, why didn’t you come find me that night after you hurt your hand?"
Jane Lancaster: "I did look for you. They said you weren’t there. When I called you, your fourth uncle answered. He said you had left with him."
Caleb Lowell fell silent. That night, Clayton Lowell had been dead drunk. Even if he’d answered the phone, any normal person would have been able to tell he wasn’t sober.
’But even though she must have known something was off, she didn’t press the matter. Instead, she went home and slept with a clear conscience...’
He desperately wanted to ask, ’Do you really care that little about my whereabouts?’
From Caleb Lowell’s silence, Jane Lancaster could sense a hint of blame.
She thought for a moment and said deliberately, "Even if I didn’t trust your fourth uncle, I have absolute faith in your character. Why? Don’t tell me you weren’t with your fourth uncle that night?"
Caleb Lowell’s heart tightened.
After a long moment, he heard his own calm voice say, "No. I was with my fourth uncle."