Chapter 23

The commotion attracted more attention, and the guests crowded around. Someone asked, “What’s going on?”

Another answered, “No idea. That Eleanor Sandberg? She made the trending topics today. Is there some bad blood between her and Ms. Trenton?”

“Who’s the guy on the floor?”

Mallory looked down at the man. Her eyes widened in shock when she got a clear glimpse of his face, but she quickly said, “I have no idea who he is!”

The man wanted to get to his feet, but the guards kept him pinned to the floor. He cried, “It’s me, Ms. Trenton! My online username is Goliath.”

Mallory snapped, “I don’t care whether you’re Goliath or a ghall; I’ve never met you in my life; I want you and Eleanor gone right now! This is my birthday party, and neither of you are invited.”

Goliath panicked and reached out to grab the hem of Mallory’s dress. “She’ll sue me for defamation if you push all the blame on me, Ms. Tien! That’s a criminal offense—I’ll be sentenced to jail time! You can’t throw me under the bus!”

She shrugged him off like he was a psycho. “I said, I don’t know you!”

Goliath understood now—Mallory wasn’t going to keep him safe. He’d only done what he’d done because he’d been paid, and it wasn’t like she’d given him that much. He would be insane to be her scapegoat and take the fall for her. Since this was how things had turned out, he had to protect himself. He gestured!

He snarled, “Don’t blame me for telling everyone what you did if you’re going to act like this!”

Mallory screeched, “You wouldn’t dare!”

Goliath pointed at her and shouted, “She’s the one who told me to follow and secretly snap photos of Ms. Eleanor Sandberg!”

“She also taught me how to spread the photos online and create rumors about Ms. Sancheng sleeping around to score a contract. She even hired online trolls to launch a wave of cyberbullying on Ms. Sandberg! She did all of that!”

Everyone was abuzz when they heard that.

“So, she’s the one who orchestrated the whole thing! Looks like a proper Lady, yet this is what she’s been up to in private.”

“Her grandfather’s a professor at Forstone College, you know. How can he be shameless enough to educate others when this is what his granddaughter is like?”

She’s a disgrace to the Trenton name.

Mallory’s parents, Steven Trenton and Helena Smith, hurried downstairs when they heard something had gone wrong. Steven snapped, “What have you done, Mallory?”

Mallory was panicked and angry. Her plan had been to humiliate Eleanor to spice up her birthday celebration, but Eleanor had just cleared her name—she’d even come to crash the party! Eleanor had made Steven and Helena berate her and had also made the guests talk about her. She was humiliated; she couldn’t stomach this!

“So what if I did do it, and what if I didn’t? You can’t do anything to me, Eleanor! Can you throw me behind bars? Aside from this guy’s words, do you have any proof that I did it? We live in a society governed by laws, and you need to have evidence before you can accuse someone of anything! You can’t get me!” Mallory screeched.

She was positive she hadn’t left any trails when liaising with Goliath—she’d even paid him in cash. Eleanor couldn’t pin anything on her!

Mallory screamed, “Throw her out of here, guards! Now!”

The guards didn’t even budge, though she lunged at them and shoved them. “Have you gone deaf?”

Eleanor calmly watched as Mallory went on a rampage. She asked, “Do you know why they’re not listening to you?”

Mallory whipped around to glare at her. Eleanor smiled and said, “You mentioned earlier that a mysterious mogul bought this place 15 years ago. Do you know who he is?”

Mallory barked out an exasperated laugh. “Don’t tell me you’re going to say it’s you!”

“He was my father,” Eleanor said.

Mallory’s laughter abruptly cut off.

Eleanor crossed her arms and looked at Mallory leisurely. “My tenth birthday party was held here 15 years ago. My father saw I really liked the place, so he bought it and gave it to me as a…”

Most of the guests gasped in surprise, but some were baffled by their reactions. One asked, “Why are all of you so surprised? Didn’t you guys know Dalvey Estate belongs to the Sandbergs? I thought it was common knowledge.”

“The late Mr. Sandberg bought this place for [j]o million dollars as a gift to his daughter. Everyone teased him for being a slave to her back then!”