After Divorce I Married a Tycoon-Chapter 90: You’ve Made Us Lose All Face
"What are you panicking about?" Julian Mercer shot her an irritated glare and snapped.
"It’s been so long. Who could possibly dig it up?"
"Twenty years ago, technology wasn’t advanced. It’s impossible that we left any loose ends."
"Besides, even if someone did dig it up, there’s no evidence to prove we bought her."
"But..."
"No buts," Julian Mercer warned Judith Caldwell, his face dark.
"I’m warning you. Don’t start blabbing everything just because you’re nervous and scared."
"You have to believe, without a doubt, that there’s no evidence. The police can’t touch us."
Judith Caldwell asked, her body trembling, "We deny it to the bitter end?"
"Yes. Deny it to the bitter end."
Julian Mercer gritted his teeth, his eyes glinting menacingly.
"As long as there’s no evidence, no one can touch us."
Judith Caldwell paced back and forth in the living room, head bowed, muttering incessantly.
Seeing this, Julian Mercer’s brows knitted together, and he let out a low growl in her direction.
"I’m talking to you! Are you even listening?"
Judith Caldwell jumped, startled by his shout.
"I... I heard you."
Julian Mercer shot her another venomous glare from the sofa, then pulled out a cigar and lit it.
"I told you not to cause trouble online, but you just had to ignore me."
"Nothing I said could convince you. You just had to record that stupid video."
"And look what happened. One post from Claire Mercer, and it’s stirred up all this attention and discussion again."
"The Mercer Family has been thrown into the spotlight again, and our family’s reputation has been damaged time after time."
"Is this the result you wanted? Are you satisfied now?"
With that, he took another long, hard drag from his cigar.
Annoyance and frustration crashed over him like a violent storm, threatening to consume him entirely.
Judith Caldwell knew she had screwed up badly and didn’t dare to argue back.
"I didn’t know it would turn out this way."
"You didn’t know?" Julian Mercer snorted.
"Didn’t Oscar tell you to stop making trouble? To avoid throwing the Mercer Family back into the spotlight?"
"And what did you say? Huh?"
"You said you couldn’t let it go, that you had to teach Claire Mercer a lesson..."
"Is this what you call ’teaching Claire Mercer a lesson’?"
At the mention of Claire Mercer, Judith Caldwell gritted her teeth in hatred.
"Who knew that little bitch Claire would actually keep all those records..."
"And even find those teachers and classmates to vouch for her."
After she finished, she asked Julian Mercer, "Julian, with things the way they are now, is there anything we can do to fix this?"
Julian Mercer shot her a sidelong, annoyed glance. "Fix it? How?"
"Are you going to keep making up lies and hand her a knife to stab us with?"
That left Judith Caldwell completely speechless.
Claire Mercer had organized all the physical evidence perfectly.
As for witnesses, her teachers, classmates, and even colleagues from her old summer jobs were all testifying for her.
She wanted to refute it, but she didn’t even know where to begin.
Any attempt to argue or make excuses would be futile. It might even backfire.
Judith Caldwell wracked her brain and finally decided to contact Claire Mercer.
"What if... what if we call Claire? Ask her to delete the post and then explain things to everyone online..."
Julian Mercer shot her a look, asking irritably,
"You want to call her now and ask her to delete the post and issue an explanation? Do you really think she’ll agree?"
"She’s probably already blocked our numbers."
"How will we know if we don’t try?" Judith Caldwell said. "We did raise her for twenty years, after all..."
"You have the nerve to say that?" Julian Mercer cut her off angrily.
"I told you to be nicer to her back then. After all, we never knew when she might have to give our son a blood transfusion."
"But you? You wouldn’t listen. You were just willfully cruel and sharp-tongued."
"Always going on about how you’d already paid for her, so why should you have to give her good food and treat her well?"
"Now it’s all backfired. She’s exposed your lies in public. What right do you have to talk about the ’favor’ of raising her?"
"If you had just been a little nicer to her in the past, she might have remembered our kindness and not been so ruthless."
"The Mercer Family wouldn’t be in this mess today, with the entire country pointing fingers at us."
"Thanks to you, I’ve lost all face."
Julian Mercer grew more and more furious as he spoke.
Finally, he couldn’t even be bothered to look at Judith Caldwell anymore.
He stood up and stormed upstairs.
"You weren’t exactly nice to her either. Now you’re just pinning all the blame on me."
Judith Caldwell muttered at his retreating back.
Then, she collapsed onto the sofa.
She was panting with rage.
After thinking it over and over, she still wasn’t ready to give up. She pulled out her phone and called Claire Mercer.
She expected, just as Julian Mercer had said, that Claire Mercer would have blocked their numbers.
But surprisingly, the call went through, and Claire Mercer answered almost immediately.
"Mrs. Mercer, to what do I owe the pleasure of this late-night call?"
Claire Mercer’s light, cheerful voice came through the phone.
Judith Caldwell had to brace herself for a moment before she could speak, stammering out a name.
"Um... Claire..."
The moment she heard her say "Claire," Claire Mercer knew she was up to no good and immediately cut her off.
"If you have something to say, just say it. Don’t play these games with me."
Seeing Claire’s attitude, Judith Caldwell was so angry she nearly smashed her phone.
But she couldn’t.
She was still counting on Claire to delete the post and issue an explanation.
She took another moment to compose herself, then shamelessly began.
"Claire... I know I was wrong in the past. I was too hard on you."
"But I was just trying to teach you to be self-reliant from a young age."
"So that you wouldn’t be naive and get taken advantage of when you finished school and entered the real world..."
Before Judith Caldwell could finish, Claire Mercer couldn’t help but laugh.
"Mrs. Mercer, don’t you find what you’re saying laughable?"
"Teaching me to be self-reliant? By making me eat your leftovers and wear cheap, bargain-bin clothes?"
"If you’re going to make excuses, at least find a believable one, alright?"
"Other people might believe a tiny fraction of what you’re saying, but do you really think I will?"
Judith Caldwell: "What will it take for you to delete the post and issue an explanation..."
"It’s not going to happen," Claire Mercer refused flatly.
"I gave you a chance. You’re the one who didn’t take it."
"If you had just signed the ’Adoption Annulment Agreement’ back then, we could have gone our separate ways, and none of this would have happened."
"I’ll sign it now..."
"Too late," Claire Mercer interrupted coldly.
"So now you want to sign? What did you say when I came to you?"
"You told me to give you twenty million..."
"So, how about it, Mrs. Mercer? Can you afford the twenty-million-dollar price tag now?"
At her words, Judith Caldwell lost all composure, her face flushing with rage.
"Claire Mercer, you’d better not take things too far..."
Claire Mercer interrupted her with a cold laugh.
"When you locked me in that dark little room, why didn’t you think about not taking things too far?"
"When you tried to sell me to that Mr. Bower, why didn’t you think about not taking things too far?"
"And now you’re telling *me* not to take things too far? Where do you get the nerve to ask that of me?"
"Don’t you realize how ridiculous you sound?"
"Claire Mercer, I never knew you could be so vicious."
Even through the phone, Claire Mercer could practically hear Judith Caldwell grinding her teeth.
She scoffed and said coldly,
"That word, ’vicious’... I’m hardly worthy of it. I think it fits you much better."
Judith Caldwell: "You..."
"If there’s nothing else, don’t call me again."
"If you want to sign the adoption annulment agreement now, you can. But don’t try to make any more demands."
"If you don’t want to sign, I’ll see you in court."
With that, Claire Mercer hung up.
