Chapter 190: Chapter 190

The few domestic workers whispered amongst themselves just out of the hall and in the hallways that led to the kitchen and the other parts of the home. One by one they stopped what they were doing and listened to the ambiguous sounds coming out of the hall they had left only minutes before.

Despite their curiosities, none of them were brave enough to enter the hall and see for themselves fully. They had seen and experienced just a bit of Shelby’s backing power in the form of her husband and were not prepared to go test it out. Even the tyrant and well-connected person amongst them got kicked out.

"That sounds like Madam Clara, right?" One asked.

"You also think so too, right? I thought that I was imagining things."

They hush whispered, blushing at the same time.

"I know what is going on there!"

"Really? How can you when you are with us here?"

The person smiled weirdly, "My friend sent me this interesting video today!"

This was what Clara was trying to shield her frail mind from. The fact that she had even seen the video herself on an online platform spoke volumes. The video was out there for whoever wanted to watch.

As her family had become overly famous from James’ trial, it made people extra curious about her, and the number of views on the video online kept shooting up.

In the hall, Clara tried to shield the TV with her body but how could she?

"What are you doing?! Please stop it!"

Angela, still on the stairs, blushed. She wanted to be anywhere but there because it was overly uncomfortable to see her mistress in that state. Angela could not bring herself to watch the video after the first glimpse of it but even though she closed her eyes, she could not shut the sounds out.

Rocky lowered his head. He was embarrassed to the nonsense level. It had been too much of an eyeful for him when he had received it in private from Nicholas but then to watch it in a room full of people was different. However, Rocky trusted his brother-in-law and he knew that Ian was up to something with it. Rocky steeled himself, willing his mind to think of other things.

’Yes! Let’s think of Ava! How can I-’

Ian smirked at that, but his eyes remained glued to his mother-in-law.

Ava, on the other hand, did not know that a certain someone was using her as a defence mechanism. She looked unperturbed about what was going on, but she was disgusted beyond reason.

’Clara always prioritized her marriage over her daughter, and I thought that she would uphold her vows. Turns out she was just vain!’ She brought out her phone and casually browsed on it, not even wanting to watch that video even though the sounds blasted through her ears.

Shelby stared shell-shocked, blushing furiously yet she felt an overwhelming sense of disappointment at her mother.

After a while, Clara changed her strategy and then unplugged the TV directly, sagging onto the floor as if all her energy had been drained from that one action. However, the softer tone form Currey’s device still played softly until he turned that off.

"I wonder what James would think of this?"

"W-hat do you mean?" Clara asked nervously,

"I- I was only doing this to help James."

"Oh really? I couldn’t tell from the video. I only saw you enjoying yourself.... Nothing else."

"I - Th-e Prosecutor told me that he would free James if I did this!"

Clara found herself quickly adding. She did not know why she was explaining this to her son-in-law but at that moment, she was like a little mouse in front of a giant animal. She was embarrassed, nervous, and put-on-the-spot as well.

Despite all this, something told Clara at the back of her mind that, Ian was the only person who could help. It may have been the reason that she had reached out to her daughter, knowing perfectly well that Shelby could do nothing to help her.

"What do you think, Elfin?" Ian turned to Shelby and asked.

"ME?" She pointed to herself.

"Yes, I’ll do whatever you want me to do. Frankly, I don’t think your mother is worth the effort, but I am only giving her an audience because she is your mother and nothing else."

Upon hearing this, Clara gritted her teeth and went on her knees. She moved quickly in that position to Shelby and held her daughter’s knees. A quick look from Ian had Clara scrambling a few steps back from Shelby though.

"Shelby, my dear baby, my sweet daughter. Please help me."

A sad smile spread across Shelby’s face. She had never in her life heard such ’genuine’ endearing words from her mother. However, within a few hours, Clara had used those twice? It was unbelievable even hearing them herself! Shelby was not wrong as Ava and Rocky thought same too.

Ian did not need Shelby to vocalize her words at this time. Ian sent Currey a look and the man went back to his seat with the laptop. His hands flew over the keys at the speed of light.

For the people of T-Vino Island, the day had been an interesting one from James’ sentencing to his wife’s sex video leakage. Most people did not know what to make of it. This was because most of the video files being circulated were without the part about Clara talking to Presque about freeing her husband. It was just the raw act that had been released. The narrative out there was along the lines of:

"I really can’t believe that she did that!"

"Ikr! Her husband was facing a jail sentence, and she goes to sleep with the prosecutor?"

"It sure does not make sense, but women should not be undermined."

"It would have made more sense if she had done that with the defence lawyer rather than the prosecutor? Something smells fishy!"

"That aside, the video is packed and juicy. My mouth waters just thinking about it!"

"Hahahahahahahaaaaaa.... That comment up here is a blast!"

"Hey, are you guys noticing this?"

"Is it the new video that is circulating?"

"Yes, I just saw the conversation between them before the act!"

"OMG! I feel sorry for the woman. How could she be so malleable!"

"Now you changed your stance about her?"

"Why won’t I? She got played big time! That’s why they say that context is everything! I had initially thought that Clara Wendover had seduced the Prosecutor but it turns out that she was coerced into this. It’s not her fault that she is stupid!"

"Hey, can someone re-send the original video? I can’t find mine."

"That’s strange! Even the one I left on my cloud account is no longer there! What is going on?"

Similar conversations sprung up online within the span of minutes as confusion spread.

Back in the Wendover mansion, Currey finally stopped typing and then reported back to Ian.

"It’s done, Chairman."

Clara still kneeing before her daughter and her husband, wrung her hands nervously. She had not even had the chance to re-apply her makeup and her mascara was still a mess.

Ian turned to look at Currey. It was a look that spoke volumes. Even though no words were shared, Currey immediately rounded the sofa to Shelby’s side and offered a slight bow.

"Miss Shelby, I have released the initial part of the video as an explanation to salvage Clara’s reputation and also released a virus that follows the digital trail of the video. Anyone who downloaded it will have it deleted immediately they connect to a network. However, I still have that copy on my laptop."

Currey finished his report and Shelby looked on in disbelief.

"You did all that in a few minutes?"

Currey smiled. He wanted to say, ’I could have done it in a shorter time, but I do not want to scare everyone by doing that!’ However, with Ian at the scene, he dared not.

"It’s nothing much, Madam." He added, and then,

"Ah, I forgot to add, the prosecutor will not go scot-free. I have made the necessary arrangements for that. We should be seeing the results by the day’s end!"

Shelby, Rocky and Ava listened on in amazement and similar thoughts. ’So that was how power worked?’

Ian looked long and hard at Clara.

"Now that this is done, you have to pay for the damages that you have caused."

"Don’t worry, mother-in-law. I know you have no money to pay for anything and that is why you are going to be working to pay back."

The responses had started from Shelby, then Ava, Rocky and lastly Clara herself.

"Why would I work, when I have never worked for as long as I can remember?"

"Angela? Was that your name?"

Angela snapped out of her thoughts and quickly approached.

"What is damaged in her room?"

Ian had consistently referred to Clara by her title or any other thing but a respectful stance that a mother-in-law would warrant. This was because, in his view, she was not worth it.

"Almost everything, sir! I mean, every breakable thing-" Angela avoided looking at her mistress as she said this.

"Now, tsk, tsk, tsk, Mother-in-law... I was not giving you a choice or asking you for your thoughts. Starting from tomorrow, you will have a shop at the mall that you will manage. You are only in that high position because I do not want my wife’s mother to be a salesperson.

That would have been the best for you to learn the ropes. As you like clothes so much, you will manage the shop with only one attendant and bring us the sales report by the end of each month. Remember, I still have the video. We can still release it out there."

"W-HAT?! But you can’t do that!"

Gone was all the humbling attitude Clara had displayed. Her entitled self was out of the box!

"Ha! Elfin, sometimes, I wonder if this woman birthed you. The resemblance is uncanny, but it could be a plastic surgery session too." Clara paled as she listened to Ian talk to his wife, again as if she was non-existent.

"Did she lose her brains or something?" Ian was genuinely puzzled as his gaze landed on his wife’s mother.

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