Chapter 1297 Toby’s Damaged Personal Image
Sitting on the couch, Sonia turned on her phone. The moment the phone turned on, the notifications came popping until about ten seconds before it stopped ringing. It seemed that a lot of people wanted to find her just over a night.
Sonia checked all the messages and found out that three people texted her. One was her current secretary, Rita, asking what time she was going to the company today since there was a meeting scheduled at eleven in the morning.
Another one was Grace, asking her how the banquet last night went, whether the Acrees harassed Toby or not and whether she got harassed as well.
The last message surprised Sonia a bit, for it was from Zane, stating that he would be wrapping up the inspection in the countryside before returning to Seafield the next day and wanted to treat her to a meal while also telling her about something important.
Sonia, who did not know what the important matter was about, ignored it for the time being and replied to them according to the time they were sent out.
Replying to Rita first, Sonia told her that she would arrive at the company around ten, so the meeting could proceed as planned without needing to delay it.
Rita must have been waiting for her news since, for she immediately replied after a few seconds with an ‘Okay’.
Smiling, Sonia texted Grace back, saying that the Acrees did not show up at the banquet yesterday since they were involved in an accident and that neither Toby nor she got harassed, so she should not worry about it.
After sending it, Sonia waited for a while to see that Grace did not reply, so she decided to text Zane next.
Just like Grace, Zane might not have been on his phone at that time or was busy. Either way, he did not reply to her.
Sonia, who was not in a rush, knew that they would reply in due time, so she did not have to keep checking. Setting her phone down, she went to the kitchen to see what kind of breakfast Toby prepared for her.
The breakfast was placed in the microwave. There was chowder, a BLT sandwich, and a croissant.
He knew that she did not like a heavy breakfast, so after they got together, he slowly changed his eating habits to accommodate a lighter and healthier breakfast.
Also, he would prepare a lot of variety, all of which were delicious.
Opening the door of the microwave, Sonia touched the breakfast to find that it was not warm anymore, so she reheated it.
Two minutes later, Sonia was already sitting at the dining table to eat her breakfast.
In the midst, Grace called her.
“Mrs. Lane.” Sonia took a bite of the chowder and greeted her.
Grace replied, “Hello, Sonny. I saw your text just now. I also saw the incident on the news just this morning. This really is frightening how the accident involving the Acrees was purposefully orchestrated by their enemy. But I think this is karma, seeing that they withheld the compensation for the death of their worker. So, they kind of have it coming. This is also a good thing, as hopefully they would learn their lesson and stop bullying others.”
Nodding, Sonia replied, “I agree too. Bad people often don’t meet a good ending.”
All in all, she did not sympathize with the Acrees’ current predicament one bit.
“Although the news didn’t state how bad the aftermath for the Acrees was, apparently people are saying that Mr. Acree, the head of the family, is now a vegetable and their daughter a disabled. The wife is fine though, but the refusal of compensation regarding the worker’s death has angered the nation with the higher-ups already looking into their family.
So, the Acrees are confirmed to go bankrupt. If not for Mr. Acree becoming a vegetable, I wager he would end up facing jail time as well. In other words, Mr. Acree, who can’t move now, can’t pay the mountainous amount of debt and fine that the family will be needing to settle. With their daughter disabled as well, this means all this responsibility will fall onto Mrs. Acree. Tsk tsk. The mere thought of this suffocates me.”
Although Grace said this with a sad tone, her face had a smirk on it.
Since the Lane Family were upright, they looked down the most on families like the Acrees who built their riches off others’ misfortunes.
This was why the Acrees deserved what was coming to them.
“This might be because God can’t accept their behavior, so He decided to condemn them before anything happened to Toby.” Grace smiled.
Sonia smiled too. “You might be right, Mrs. Lane.”
“I wager for the next day or two, the front page will be covered with the incident with the Acrees. We should be able to see them filing for bankruptcy this afternoon,” stated Grace.
Sonia took a bit of the sandwich before replying, “That is of course. Since the Acrees have enraged the whole nation, all the citizens will be keeping a close eye on the development. To appease the public, the higher-ups will be reporting the proceedings of the Acrees until the end, so we’ll be seeing updating news on this for the next few days.”
“With how big the Acrees’ incident got, even the news regarding the Lores got pushed out of the spotlight.”
“The news about the Lores?” Sonia was perplexed.
This confused Grace. “Sonny, do you seriously not know?”
Sonia shook her head. “I don’t know what happened to the Lores lately.”
Grace had a face full of doubt. “This is strange. Didn’t Toby tell you that the Fuller Group announced him cutting ties with Harry officially last night? They also rescinded the extended benefits the Lores enjoyed because of their relationship, stating that Toby would have nothing to do with the Lores from then on.
The announcement immediately made the front page and caused a huge commotion. It lasted until this morning with what happened to the Acrees, then it got slightly cooled down. Even so, there’s still a lot of buzz surrounding it, especially in the upper society, where everybody wanted to know what happened.”
Upon hearing this, Sonia realized what she was talking about. “Oh, you mean this. Then, I know about it already. Toby did bring it up briefly last night, but I forgot about it after that. Plus, I just woke up, so I haven’t had the time to check the news online. What does the public say?”
She wanted to know.
Pouting, Grace replied, “What else? Some commented that Toby did this because he had his reasons while others said that it was because Lynette tried to slander you online last time. They said that Toby chose to stand on your side, stating that he didn’t know what gratitude was, abandoning his mentor because of a woman, and even backstabbing his family. Not only did he cut ties, he even took back all the protection he gave them.
They also commented that isn’t this just driving the Lores to their death? Such and such. It’s all awful stuff in the end. The Lores are even crying online that they’re innocent, causing the online community to blame Toby even more.”
“What? They have the cheek to calm innocence?” Sonia laughed.
Grace got enraged by this. “Tell me about it. It’s like they are re-enacting some lame soap opera. The Lores are all whining online, making themselves look like the most unfortunate victims.
Especially their daughter, Lynette. She said that she did it on an impulse, yet Toby exacted revenge on your behalf. You’ve become an evil wench in the public’s eyes now, and they are all commenting on how Toby has become a tyrant that has been hypnotized by a witch.”
“Erm…” The corner of Sonia’s mouth twitched.
Grace continued, “In conclusion, everybody thinks that Toby is too harsh on the Lores and that he is cold-blooded. Just because of such a small incident, he’s treating his mentor like this and this shows he is worse than an animal.
They even want to boycott the Fuller Group. Although the company isn’t much affected, it must still suffer some damage regarding the company’s reputation. Also, this wouldn’t be the best outcome for Toby’s image. Sonny, what actually happened?”
