Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Guiding Cyberbullying

Half an hour later, Yvonne Sutton, covered in ink, appeared in the inpatient department. She ignored the stares of passing doctors and nurses and went straight to the VIP ward on the eighth floor.

She pushed open the door to Wendy Winters’s room and saw her lying on the bed, playing on her phone. She must have seen something funny, because she suddenly burst out laughing.

Yvonne Sutton strode in. Wendy Winters instinctively looked up, the smile still on her face.

"Yvonne, what happened to you...?"

Without a word, Yvonne Sutton raised the bottle of ink and threw it at her.

But in the next instant, Vincent Reed, who was sitting by the bed, leaned over and shielded her. The bottle hit his back, staining his white shirt black with ink.

"Ah!" Wendy Winters cried out in surprise.

Vincent Reed whipped his head around, his face furious. "What the hell is wrong with you? You..."

It was only then that he saw the ink all over Yvonne Sutton. He faltered for a second. "What happened to you?"

Yvonne Sutton was panting heavily, her chest tight. Her nose stung, and her eyes burned with hot tears.

She was usually so good-tempered; it was rare for her to get this furious.

"Security! Get security in here!"

The shouts came from Wendy Winters’s phone. The "funny" thing she’d been watching was a video of her own fans splashing ink on Yvonne Sutton.

Vincent Reed saw the video on the phone, too.

His brows knitted. "Some fans are irrational, it’s true. But it’s not like Wendy told them to do it. You need to be reasonable!"

’Reasonable? Heh.’

’So in the end, *I’m* the one being unreasonable?’

"That video was selectively edited! The narrative is obvious. Don’t tell me her team had nothing to do with it! And what about all those rumors about me seducing you? Why hasn’t she clarified them? I was attacked by her fans, so how is she not at fault?" Yvonne Sutton yelled, losing control.

"I’ve told you before, you’re not a celebrity. So what if a few people insult you online? It’s not going to have any real impact on you!" Vincent Reed retorted, frowning.

"Why should I have to take the heat for her?!"

"You’ll take it because I said so! You just have to suck it up!"

"Vincent Reed!" Yvonne Sutton screamed. Her breath hitched, and a tear rolled down her cheek. "My biggest mistake was ever getting involved with you!"

Seeing Yvonne Sutton cry, Vincent Reed froze for a moment before kicking the chair behind him in frustration.

"A mistake? Heh. You’re right. It was a mistake."

In truth, Yvonne Sutton had only shed a single tear, and it was purely out of anger.

She took a deep breath and turned her gaze back to Wendy Winters.

"I want you to clarify this matter and clear my name as soon as possible. If you won’t, then I’ll do it myself. And if I end up saying something... else... that causes a media storm, that’ll be on you, not me."

With that, Yvonne Sutton turned to leave.

"Yvonne!" Wendy Winters called out anxiously. "I apologize on behalf of my fans. Can we just let this go? Please?"

"Let it go just because you say so?" Yvonne Sutton sneered. "I’m not one of your simps. I’m not that easy to placate."

Yvonne Sutton strode out of the room, and Vincent Reed chased after her.

"Who the hell are you calling a dog?!"

"I’m calling you one!"

"Yvonne, you..."

Yvonne Sutton stopped abruptly and spun around to face Vincent Reed. "Do you know what you are to me right now?"

Vincent Reed scoffed. "What?"

"Wendy Winters’s fiancé."

Vincent Reed’s smile froze. He’d expected her to call him a dog, a scumbag, or some other piece of trash, since she was so angry.

But instead, she said calmly, "You are Wendy Winters’s fiancé."

’He was no longer hers. He was Wendy Winters’s fiancé.’

"So?" he asked.

"So," Yvonne Sutton said, taking a step back and gesturing to the space between them, "stop ordering me around and telling me what to do. From now on, let’s maintain a polite distance."

And if that distance wasn’t enough, Yvonne Sutton took another step back. And another. And another...

Vincent Reed’s eyes grew cold and dark as he watched her retreat, step by step, until she was at a stranger’s distance.

「That afternoon」

Wendy Winters personally posted a response.

"Regarding what happened today, I want to apologize to Dr. Sutton on behalf of my fans. I understand why my fans feel the way they do, but I ask you all not to fight my battles for me. I will handle my own affairs. To Dr. Sutton, I offer a sincere apology. I hope this apology is to your satisfaction. I don’t want to bring up the past. My fiancé and I have a wonderful relationship—we always have, and that’s what’s most important. Look forward to our wedding invitations! Love you all."

Mina Adler finished reading and immediately cursed. "What kind of clarification is that? Son of a bitch. She’s playing the victim! It looks sincere on the surface, but the whole thing is basically, ’I’ve been so wronged, but I’m magnanimous. My fiancé and I are as in love as ever, and we won’t be affected one bit by some homewrecker!’"

Mina Adler was panting with rage, wishing she could reach through the phone and stomp all over that so-called clarification.

"Hey, look! She posted a photo, too."

Mina Adler opened the photo for Yvonne Sutton to see.

In the photo, Wendy Winters was sitting cross-legged on her hospital bed, an IV line still in her hand.

She was smiling, though she looked haggard, with her hands cupping her face. Light streamed in through the window, wrapping her in a soft halo.

But that wasn’t the focal point of the photo. The real focus was the splotches of ink splattered across her clothes and the blanket.

Below the photo was the comment section, and sure enough, the attacks had already begun.

"Sutton you bitch, you deserved to get ink thrown at you! If I were that fan, I’d have thrown a bucket of shit on you instead, you filthy trash!"

"First you try to seduce another woman’s fiancé, and when that fails, you blackmail them for money. And even after you get the money, you keep acting like a bitch! How can someone as utterly shameless as you even exist?!"

"Our Wendy is beautiful and kind, she didn’t even lower herself to deal with trash like you, but you took a mile when she gave an inch and threw ink on her! You think you can bully Wendy like that? Her fans will never stand for it!"

"What goes around comes around. You’d better watch your step at night, or you might just fall into a shithole!"

Yvonne Sutton remained composed, but Mina Adler was so furious she had to pound her chest just to breathe.

"This is infuriating! They’re going too far!"

Yvonne Sutton looked at the so-called clarification, the photo, and the flood of hateful comments, but she was surprisingly calm now.

’She had a feeling Wendy Winters wouldn’t clear her name that easily.’

Just then, her phone chimed.

It was a message from Wyatt Shaw: Someone cursed me out today, so I cursed them back twice. They weren’t happy and cursed me again, so I beat them up. They thought it was their turf and they could do whatever they wanted. But as long as my fists are hard enough, I can make them submit.

Yvonne Sutton was baffled. ’What is he talking about?’

But thinking it over, she felt like he was trying to tell her something.

Yvonne Sutton: Did you really get into a fight?

Wyatt Shaw: Just a thought. Besides, usually no one dares to fight me. I’ve done time.

Yvonne Sutton: Huh?

Wyatt Shaw: After I got out, nobody dared to mess with me.

Mina Adler finished what she was doing and came back to find Yvonne Sutton still staring at her phone in a daze.

"Maybe we should just drop it," Mina said. "Wendy Winters has a whole team behind her. You can’t win against them."

Yvonne Sutton shook her head. She opened the photo gallery on her phone, found a picture, and then logged into her own account and posted it.