Joe was left speechless. All he could manage was, “I’ll ask her. If she’s also busy, we’ll go next week.”
“Yes, go ahead and ask her. She seems to have a lot on her mind lately. You need to take better care of her, as her husband. Do you understand?” Gloria’s tone was filled with concern.
“Okay,” Joe replied, hanging up the call.
Afterward, he immediately checked the news about Skylar on the internet. Once he confirmed there were no issues with Paul’s execution, he called Skylar.
The line was busy, so Joe put his phone down. A few minutes later, Skylar called him back.
“Did you just call me, Mr. Martin?” she asked, her voice warm.
“Grandma is meeting some friends at the hospital today. She arranged for us to go to the hot springs. I’ll pick you up if you’re free tonight,” Joe replied in his usual cool, indifferent tone.
Skylar could hear the faint reluctance in his voice, realizing that Gloria was probably the one who had pressured him into asking her out.
Going to the hot springs was usually reserved for close friends or intimate partners, so it was no surprise Joe wasn’t thrilled about it.
“Someone asked me out earlier. I’ve already agreed to meet him. I’m sorry,” Skylar explained, feeling a little apologetic.
It was true—she was on the phone with Steven when Joe had called. Steven had asked her to meet for dinner, saying they hadn’t caught up in a while. With Christopher and Maisy’s issue mostly settled, he wanted to talk and catch up.
Joe listened to Skylar’s explanation, his frown deepening. “Okay. I’ll let Grandma know.”
“Thank you, Mr. Martin.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Joe replied.
Skylar hung up the phone, and Joe stared at his screen, his mood darkening. She didn’t want to go to the hot springs with him? A feeling of gloom settled over him.
He tugged at his necktie in frustration, tossing his phone aside. Grabbing a proposal document from his desk, he started reading it, his mind elsewhere.
It was probably for the best—no need to go to the hot springs and waste time. He didn’t want to admit it, but it was the outcome he had expected.
Meanwhile, the Williams family was in chaos. Jeffrey and Peter were nowhere to be found, and only Kenny and Samuel were home.
The two brothers held their phones in hand, questioning Maisy.
Sadie lay on the sofa, her mind slowly returning to reality after hours of spacing out.
Maisy’s eyes were filled with tears as she stared at Kenny and Samuel, acting as though she had been terribly wronged.
“It’s true that I was falsely accused. I don’t know these people. The person in the videos isn’t me,” she said, her voice trembling.
The videos and photos circulating online had made it clear that Maisy and Christopher had been to a hotel together, but there were no images of them in bed. Without that, there was no concrete proof of anything inappropriate.
“Are you sure it’s not you, Maisy?” Sadie asked, her voice colder with each passing minute. She repeatedly searched the videos and photos on the internet, her heart growing heavier with every click.
Maisy quickly scrambled to explain. “It really isn’t me, Mom. I’m sure they’ve doctored it and used AI to create deepfakes. I feel like Skylar planned this all along—she broke up with Christopher and then set me up. She must have planted all these people beforehand.”
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