Chapter 2407
“Look, she can make other friends, right? She’s got connections all over the world, not just with you. Why does she have to cling to you like a burr on a wool sweater? Balfour, you don’t have to bend over backwards to look after her, okay? We can hire a team of caregivers for her. And rest assured, the Howard family won’t let her be shortchanged in terms of material needs. But emotionally? Step back from that. Keep it in check.”
“Grandma, I assure you, I don’t harbor any inappropriate feelings for her.”
Alyssa didn’t rush to contradict Balfour but asked with a weighted tone, “You claim you have no deep feelings for her, but what about her? Do you honestly believe she sees you merely as a friend? What normal person clings to a married man of the opposite sex like she does?
Balfour, you’re married to Ivy now. Have you thought about how she feels?”
At the mention of Ivy, Balfour’s face clouded over. He was well aware that since Mara’s return, his relationship with Ivy had hit some turbulence.
No matter how you slice it, Mara’s presence certainly threw a wrench in his life’s rhythm.
“And even if you don’t consider Ivy’s feelings, what do you think it looks like to outsiders?
Ivy’s an actress, for heaven’s sake. People are talking. What will they make of your relationship with her? When this scandal broke, you should have been clearing the air for Ivy, not dilly-dallying.”
Watching Balfour, now silent and brooding, Alyssa sighed. “Never mind. I’ll handle this mess for you. But you need to give serious thought to this Mara situation. I’ve said my piece. You’ve always been sharp, but when it comes to matters of the heart, sometimes you just don’t see the forest for the trees.”
Feeling weary, Alyssa let Balfour stew in his thoughts and left the room.
The Howard Group’s legal eagles were nothing if not efficient. They swiftly tracked down the netizen who was smearing Ivy online.
This person, the sole witness to the incident, initially left an ambiguous message online: [I’m telling the truth. If I go silent for more than a day, it’ll be because I’ve been muzzled.]
Yet, when Leo, serving as the legal representative, contacted her, his initial request was that she refrained from making any online statements without concrete evidence.
At first, the netizen scoffed at the lawyer’s letter. After all, many celebrities issue threats to sue netizens, but it often fizzles out. Gathering evidence is tricky, demanding a significant investment of time, money, and effort. By the time a lawsuit concludes, the incident that sparked the outrage is often old news and hardly worth the hassle.
Most celebrities settle for a lawyer’s letter as a warning. If it shuts down the slander,
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Chapter 2407
great. If not, there’s little else they can do.
But when Alyssa handed the matter to Leo and his team, she wanted a definitive resolution. She did not believe Ivy would stoop to such actions.
Ivy herself was bewildered, claiming she had no idea how Mara ended up on the floor. Everything happened so fast, and she was still in shock when Balfour rushed in.
So, how could a so-called bystander, hiding in the restroom, have such a clear view of Ivy allegedly pushing Mara? It reeked of a setup!
Alyssa had her doubts about the connection between Mara and this supposed bystander. She suspected they might have coordinated beforehand or knew each other already. Otherwise, why would a complete stranger go out of their way to tarnish Ivy’s reputation?
Was it just a random act of malice?
Leo’s investigation was still in the preliminary stages, focusing on establishing whether there had been any prior contact between Mara and the alleged eyewitness.
