Chapter 6

Gasps of shock rang out in the office once again.

"Mr. Howard!"

Sophia slowly opened her eyes, never expecting that Robert would stop Victoria.

Victoria looked displeased, "Robert, why are you stopping me?"

Her gaze was full of scrutiny.

Robert took the opportunity to hold Victoria's hand, his fingertips gently rubbing against her palm.

"Don't hurt your own hand."

This simple sentence appeased Victoria, but made Sophia's heart sink to the bottom.

She slowly lowered her eyes, a bitter smile forming at the corners of her mouth.

What was she still hoping for?

The assistant seized the opportunity to speak up, "Let me do it for Ms. Brown!"

Without waiting for Robert and Victoria's response, she slapped Sophia hard twice across the face.

Sophia's body went limp, and she fell to the floor.

But the assistant still wouldn't stop, grabbing Sophia's hair to make her lift her head.

The scene was too brutal, and some colleagues from the secretary's office couldn't bear to watch and turned their heads away.

Robert coughed heavily and said with displeasure, "That's enough. This is a company, not a place for you to settle personal grudges. If you want to settle scores, do it outside."

Then he looked at Victoria, his tone becoming somewhat colder, "Are you still not satisfied?"

Victoria was smart enough to know when to quit while she was ahead.

She took Robert's arm and said sweetly, "I understand, we do need to be mindful of appearances at the company! Let's go!"

Robert and Victoria left the secretary's office side by side.

Lying on the floor, Sophia could only see a pair of leather shoes and high heels walking away in perfect sync, looking so well-matched.

She coughed hard twice, forcibly swallowing the taste of blood in her throat.

At this moment, Sophia was determined to resign from the Howard Group.

Not just the Howard Group—she didn't want to return to the Windsor Family either.

Sophia spent two evenings finding and renting a new place.

During those two days, she didn't go home, and her parents didn't call to check on her. Robert had no news either.

Although he said he didn't agree to ending things with Sophia, his engagement to Victoria was taking up all his energy, leaving him no time to look for Sophia.

However, to Sophia's surprise, on the first day of moving into her new place, Vincent and Bianca showed up at her door.

They didn't come empty-handed.

Vincent brought some premium beef and lamb, and Bianca brought some changes of clothes.

Like ordinary parents caring for their daughter, they sat down on the sofa despite Sophia's confused and puzzled expression.

"Sophia, since you don't like being around Margaret, it's good that you moved out! This card has tens of thousands of dollars on it. Take it and use it first."

Vincent took out a bank card and placed it on the coffee table.

For some reason, facing her suddenly gentle and caring parents, Sophia didn't feel happy at all.

She looked quietly at Vincent and Bianca, "How did you know I live here? What do you want from me?"

Bianca was an impatient person. Seeing that Sophia wasn't grateful, she immediately glared.

Vincent patted the back of Bianca's hand soothingly, but tears fell as he looked at Sophia.

"Sophia, we raised you for over twenty years after all. How could we not love you? You've always been so understanding, but Margaret keeps causing problems, so we can't help but give her more attention. There's nothing we can do about it!"

Vincent was crying.

That usually silent and serious man was actually crying.

This realization had a huge impact on Sophia.

Bianca, beside him, was also affected by Vincent's emotions and became somewhat sentimental, "Sophia, maybe we did wrong you before, but blood ties are blood ties. You're living alone outside—how could we not worry?"

Sophia pressed her lips together without speaking, but her expression had already softened a bit.

Vincent noticed Sophia's change and struck while the iron was hot, "About Margaret faking her death, your mother and I have already scolded her. She was definitely wrong, and she wronged you! Sophia, after this is all over, we'll send her abroad. What do you think?"

She didn't expect Vincent to actually admit to Margaret's fake death.

But thinking about it, it made sense. The excuse he made up before couldn't even convince Sophia, who had always been obedient to them, so how could it convince anyone else?

Unless they wanted Margaret to never be able to show her face again for the rest of her life.

As for the punishment of sending her abroad, it wasn't really much, but it was already the biggest concession that biased parents could make.

Sophia sighed and got up to pour hot water for her parents.

Vincent and Bianca exchanged glances.

"Sophia, I've been thinking. Although Margaret is the older sister, she's not mature or steady enough, not smart like you. I'm planning to let you inherit the company!"

Sophia, who was pouring water, was shocked by Vincent's words. The kettle fell to the floor and hot water splashed everywhere.

She immediately stood up to clean it up, but Vincent rushed to the bathroom first, "Let me, let me. Your mother still has something to tell you."

Her parents were unusually abnormal today, too good to be true.

Sophia looked anxiously at Bianca.

"Sophia!" Bianca wasn't as smooth-talking as Vincent and got straight to the point. "Mom has one more thing to ask of you."

Sophia had an ominous feeling.

She slowly emerged from the emotion of being touched by her parents' rare concern and looked silently into Bianca's eyes.

"Although Margaret did something wrong, she's still family. If her reputation is bad, your father, me, and you will all be affected. You understand, right? So, Mom hopes you can take responsibility for Margaret's fake death this time."

Sophia's brows furrowed tightly.

Why could she understand every word Bianca said, but when put together in a sentence, she couldn't understand it?

What did "take responsibility for Margaret's fake death" mean? That's what Sophia thought, and that's what she asked.

Bianca reached out to touch Sophia's hair, trying to appear intimate, but Sophia dodged.

She got a bit angry and spoke bluntly, "We've discussed it. Next month, we'll hold a party to officially announce that Margaret is still alive. At that time, we'll say Margaret faked her death because she had a fight with you, and she did it in a moment of anger. Then you'll apologize to Margaret in front of everyone, and this matter will be over!"

Sophia couldn't believe her ears.

So this was what they meant by taking responsibility?

Had they even thought about how she would live after being blamed for driving her own sister to fake her death?

The tears she had been holding back for so long finally fell, soaking her clothes.

But Bianca didn't care about Sophia's tears. Instead, she became even more impatient. "I'm talking to you—answer me!"