Chapter 128: A Complete Showdown
After the meal, Raymond Ford returned to her personal rest area, still fuming.
’What a blunder. To think I let Melody Monroe get one over on me.’
She felt like everyone on set was looking at her funny now.
The likable image she had worked so hard to cultivate had been effortlessly torn down by Melody Monroe.
’How could Melody Monroe be so shameless? To actually have the nerve to ask me for money!’
Suddenly, a commotion erupted in the distance. Raymond Ford immediately shot to her feet and looked over.
Melody Monroe was slumped in a chair, her face twisted in pain. Her lips were already swollen, and red rashes were breaking out across her face, neck, and arms.
"Melody, are you okay?!" Talia Mercer was scared to death. ’Can an allergic reaction be this bad?!’ This was the first time she’d ever seen one.
"Quick, call 911."
"I already did!"
"Raymond Ford! What did you feed Melody?" Talia Mercer demanded, glaring at Raymond Ford in the distance.
A knot of panic tightened in Raymond Ford’s chest. She quickly explained, "I... I ate the same thing as Melody, and I’m fine!"
"There must have been something wrong with the food you ordered!"
"Don’t you make baseless accusations!"
Melody Monroe struggled to prop herself up. "Raymond, you know I have allergies. Did you... did you deliberately order seafood for me just now?"
"I..."
"It’s all my fault," Melody Monroe explained softly. "I wasn’t paying attention. I was just enjoying the food."
"Melody has severe allergies! There are so many things she can’t eat!" Talia Mercer raged. "Raymond Ford, since you knew that, why did you keep giving her food? Leaving aside the fact that you could trigger her allergies, it’s completely understandable why she wouldn’t dare to eat anything from you! I don’t get it. If you want to show off how popular you are, that’s your business. Why do you have to drag Melody into it?"
Melody Monroe hadn’t expected Talia Mercer to be so fierce when she went on the attack.
"I didn’t know! I really didn’t know Melody was allergic!" Raymond Ford shot back.
But anything she said now sounded feeble and unconvincing.
Melody was in this state, and Raymond had directly caused it. To make matters worse, both Melody and Talia Mercer were insisting she knew about the allergy. There was nothing she could say to clear her name.
"Raymond Ford, you have no idea how badly your fans have been slandering Melody online? And who was it liking those slanderous posts at two in the morning?!" Talia Mercer couldn’t hold back anymore and decided to let her have it.
"I don’t always run my own account. Sometimes people from the company handle it. As for my fans slandering Melody, I honestly didn’t know about that," Raymond Ford immediately retorted.
"Whether you knew or not is your own problem! But this whole situation is your fault! I don’t get it. You really didn’t know? Then why insist on giving her food? You knew Melody has allergies and can’t just eat anything, but you kept trying to give her this and that. And when she refused, your fans went online to cry about how sorry they felt for you while slandering our Melody! Tell me, would any of this have happened if you hadn’t forced the food on her? And that innocent act of yours? Please!"
"I..."
"The ambulance is here!" someone yelled.
A few paramedics loaded Melody onto a stretcher and into the ambulance.
Talia Mercer and Winter Kane went with her in the ambulance to the hospital.
Raymond Ford stood frozen, feeling the stares from all around her. She secretly clenched her fists, her nails digging into the flesh of her palms.
’To think Melody Monroe would use a trick like this to deal me such a heavy blow!’
’Now I’m in a position where I can’t defend myself. Even if I try to explain, no one will believe me.’