Free Web NovelChapter 195: Chapter 198: Press Conference Reveals Identity
These paid trolls had all popped up overnight. They were incredibly coordinated, every comment they posted on the various platforms targeted Sonia Quincy’s status as a "fake young miss."
Even though "fake young miss" wasn’t necessarily a derogatory term, these trolls intended to blow the whole thing out of proportion. They delusionally hoped to use the label "fake young miss" to crush Sonia Quincy, who was just getting back on her feet.
"Hmph..." Felix Preston scoffed, handing the phone back to Lynn Preston.
"The only card Cecilia Quincy has left to play now is her ’young miss’ status."
"Is being a rich young miss really that special?" Julia Dawson said with a look of disdain. "Our Bloom is one, too."
"...Huh?" Sonia Quincy froze, then pointed an incredulous finger at herself. "Me?"
"..." Julia Dawson blinked, her expression instantly freezing.
"Ahem..." Hannah Sutton coughed pointedly, simultaneously sticking out her right foot to give Julia Dawson a stealthy kick.
"What Julia meant was that every single one of us girls is our family’s precious daughter. That pathetic status of Cecilia Quincy’s is nothing special."
"...Right!" Julia Dawson quickly chimed in. "That’s exactly what I meant."
"...Oh." Sonia Quincy nodded. Although she found their reactions a bit odd, she didn’t dwell on it.
Hannah Sutton chuckled, looking at her while breathing an inward sigh of relief.
BUZZ BUZZ—
BUZZ BUZZ—
Suddenly, Hannah Sutton’s phone, which was in her bag, began to vibrate wildly.
"I have to take this call." She pulled her phone from her bag and answered it right in front of everyone.
"Hello, honey."
"Something’s happened, Hannah." Mason Shaw’s voice sounded panicked.
"What is it? What happened?" Hannah Sutton’s heart leaped into her throat.
Mason Shaw sighed on the other end. "Those trolls got the ’fake young miss’ story about Sonia trending. Mom and Dad saw it and flew into a rage. They immediately had their secretary organize a press conference."
"...A press conference?" Hannah Sutton’s brow twitched as a terrible premonition washed over her. "What are they holding a press conference for?"
Mason Shaw: "...To announce Sonia’s identity."
"What?!" Hannah Sutton was completely floored.
She shot up from her chair, covering the phone’s mouthpiece as she retreated to a corner by the window. "But—we agreed to wait until... after her postpartum confinement, once she’s recovered, before announcing this, didn’t we? Why would Mom and Dad suddenly go back on their word?"
Mason Shaw explained, "Those trolls kept dragging Sonia through the mud online over her identity. Mom and Dad couldn’t take it anymore, so they had their secretary call an immediate press conference to announce her true parentage."
Hannah Sutton was so frantic she stomped her foot. "And you didn’t try to stop them?"
Mason Shaw replied, "By the time I found out, preparations for the press conference were already complete. The reporters and media were already seated in the company conference room. It was too late for me to stop anything."
Hannah Sutton pressed a hand to her forehead. "So what do we do now?"
Mason Shaw said, "The cat’s out of the bag. Just don’t let Sonia watch TV for now. You need to prepare her mentally, then slowly break the truth to her."
"...Fine." At this point, there was nothing else Hannah Sutton could do.
She hung up and immediately created a new group chat on her messaging app, one that didn’t include Sonia Quincy. Then, she prepared to send a message to the group.
But to her horror, before she had even finished typing the message, Lynn Preston, who was by the bed, picked up the TV remote.
"Papaya TV is rerunning that palace intrigue drama. Let’s watch..."
"Wait!"
Hannah Sutton suddenly yelled, trying to stop Lynn Preston.
Lynn Preston let out a confused "Huh?" as her finger simultaneously pressed the power button on the remote.
With a soft BEEP, the television mounted on the wall flickered to life, right before Hannah Sutton’s horrified eyes.
The TV had been turned off the previous night while tuned to a local legal drama on Aethelburg Television, so when it came on, the channel was still set to Aethelburg Television.
And the station was currently reporting on the Shaw Technologies press conference.
CLATTER—
Hannah Sutton’s phone suddenly slipped from her grasp and clattered to the floor.
Sonia Quincy shot her a confused glance before turning her attention to the television on the wall.
"Breaking news: Chairman of Shaw Technologies, Jackson Shaw, and his wife, Brianna Bell, held a press conference this morning at the Shaw Technologies headquarters. We’ve learned that the main topic of this conference concerns the Shaw family’s long-lost youngest daughter."
"A long-lost youngest daughter?" Sonia Quincy’s eyes widened in astonishment. Eager for gossip, she asked, "Hannah, the Shaw family actually has a long-lost youngest daughter?"
"..." Hannah Sutton’s lips parted, but she was utterly speechless.
Sonia Quincy continued, "How did the Shaw’s youngest daughter get lost? Have they still not found her?"
"..."
Including the sleeping Wilder Preston, there were six people in the hospital room. But after Sonia finished asking her questions, not a single one of them answered her.
"..." She looked at them in confusion, her tone flat. "Have you all lost your minds? Why isn’t anyone talking?"
"S-Sonia..." Felix Preston took a step forward. He pursed his lips, then relaxed them, then pursed them again, clearly struggling with what to say.
Sonia Quincy frowned. She was about to tell him to just spit it out, but the voice from the television suddenly captured her full attention.
"The Shaw family has always kept a secret."
Jackson Shaw sat at the head of the conference table, his expression grave and his tone solemn. "The Shaw family’s deceased younger daughter, Wanda Shaw, was not my biological child."
"Years ago, due to a hospital’s negligence, my biological child was switched at birth, but I never knew. It wasn’t until eight years ago, when Wanda was diagnosed with leukemia and my wife, Brianna Bell, and I went to the hospital to be tested as potential donors, that we were informed by the doctors that Wanda was not our biological child."
"For all these years, our entire family has been desperately searching for the daughter we lost. We’ve practically torn Aethelburg and Veridia apart looking for her. Finally, our efforts paid off. One week ago, I received a paternity test report showing a 99.9999% probability of parentage."
"I, Jackson Shaw, have found my biological daughter."
"Oh my god..."
A collective gasp rose from the reporters in attendance. One of them shot up from their seat and asked loudly, "Excuse me, Chairman Shaw, who is your biological daughter? And where is she now?"
Jackson Shaw turned to the reporter with a faint smile. "My biological daughter is right here in Aethelburg. All these years, she has always been close by, never far away."
The reporter pressed, "Are you able to tell us who she is?"
Jackson Shaw: "Of course."
He pulled his gaze from the crowd and looked directly into the camera lens. "My biological daughter... is none other than the ’fake young miss’ who was mistreated and cast out by the Quincy family. Her name is Sonia Quincy."
