Chapter 20 Slander

Holley's eyes were searching for Jonas. She knew that the man in front of her was Jonas's driver but
she couldn't find him.

"Miss Huang, you've finally managed to earn a fortune and some fans. You need to be careful.
Otherwise, you'd lose everything before you know," the driver muttered. He heaved a sigh of relief
when he saw that people were back to minding their own business.

The driver had always disliked Holley. He hated the way she interacted with Jonas. She was arrogant,
bossy, and always wreaked havoc.

"Melinda, we'll see," Holley snorted and turned to leave.

But Melinda was impervious to her taunts.

Holley managed to hide her filthy persona behind her beautiful looks. Although she wasn't a famous
model, her alluring beauty seemed to captivate people's attention.

Once Holley was gone, the driver smiled apologetically at Melinda and left.

Melinda pursed her lips as she watched the driver leave. Holley's fear was explicit when she talked to
him and Melinda wondered who the man was.

"Do you know him?"

Kent stared at the driver, lost in thought. Everything had happened too fast and Kent couldn't
comprehend what was going on. Melinda was bothered by Holley and a man had appeared from
nowhere to rescue her. Kent was curious to find who he was.

"No, I don't," Melinda mumbled as she racked her brains to find out who he was.



A hazy image formed in her mind but she couldn't recollect anything about him.

When the driver got back to the car, he saw Jonas resting the back of his head on the seat with his
eyes closed. His brows were knitted together and it seemed like he was in his own world.

"Mr. Jonas, the job is done. But I think Miss Huang has recognized me," the driver said.

Jonas snapped his eyes open and looked at him.

"Never mind. Let's go to the hospital."

Jonas glanced at the coffee shop for one last time. He saw that Melinda was about to leave and Kent
was standing next to her like a protective shield. The way Kent looked at Melinda made Jonas believe
that they were a perfect couple.

The driver started the car and drove out of the mall.

Holley was seething with rage. She went home and slammed the door so hard that it rattled against the
hinges. She let out a piercing scream and smashed the things to the floor. She hated that Jonas was
still protective of Melinda even after she had left him.

Nelson had refused to meet her but he continued to rave about Melinda's character.

She wondered what was so special about Melinda that everyone adored her. Her hatred for Melinda
was blazing in her heart.

Holley's phone blared. She groaned and picked the call.

"Hello?"

"What's the matter? Did anyone annoy you?" Yulia asked.



Yulia had few friends because she was an illegitimate daughter. Although the agreement between
Holley and Yulia was temporary, the two of them shared the same motive.

They both wanted to defeat Melinda and were using each other to meet their goal.

They were trying to get along with each other. Yulia had planned on inviting Holley to go shopping with
her.

"It's your fucking sister-in-law. Who else?"

Holley's anger reached a whole new level when she spoke about Melinda. The two of them had met
each other only a couple of times and Holley hardly knew anything about Melinda, but she would go on
and on about how much she hated her.

"Did you meet her?"

Yulia hadn't seen Melinda after the latter had moved out of the house. She was relieved that Melinda
was gone and didn't care if she was dead or alive.

But when Holley explained about what had happened in the coffee shop, she became a little anxious.

Their hatred was mutual and they couldn't see Melinda live a happy life even if she wasn't with Jonas
anymore.

"She's a manipulative woman and you need to make the people of the Gu family understand that.
Otherwise, everyone will be in favor of her. If Nelson manages to bring her back, then it would be
impossible to chuck her out of the house again."

Although Jonas was a heartless, selfish man, he was loyal to his grandfather. Nelson adored Melinda
and the two of them were afraid that Jonas would listen to him and bring her home.



"I know. She is a real bitch," Yulia grunted and hung up the call.

She decided to go to the living room and see what Queena was up to. She needed to somehow
intensify Queena's hatred for Melinda. Queena was busy arranging the flowers and a servant was
helping her.

Although Yulia had no interest in self-cultivation, she thought that it would be a great opportunity to
interact with Queena.

"Aunt Queena, are you arranging flowers? Can you teach me?" Yulia asked, smiling sweetly.

But Queena ignored her and continued to arrange the flowers.

"Aunt Queena, are you sure that my brother has divorced Melinda? A friend of mine had seen Melinda
make out with a man. She had been seeing the two of them hang out a lot. Do you think she's been
cheating on my brother the entire time?"

Queena finally stopped and looked at her. If Melinda had been cheating on Jonas, the reputation of the
Gu family would crumble down.

"Melinda is an ungrateful woman. My brother is such a good man, but she wasn't satisfied with him.
She started seducing other men to satiate her desires. She doesn't care about the Gu family." Yulia
was satisfied to talk ill of Melinda. When Jonas entered the mansion, he heard Yulia making vile
remarks about Melinda.

Melinda had only met Kent to have a cup of coffee, but Yulia had twisted the whole thing, peppered the
story with her imagination, and made Melinda seem like a horrible person.

Jonas knew what had happened. Even though he despised Melinda, he hated to see Yulia trash her.



"Stop it, Yulia! That's enough. Don't talk about something unless you know the truth. I was also there
today," Jonas bellowed.

Everyone was shocked by Jonas's words and they looked at Yulia with contempt.

Queena's mouth twitched and she couldn't help but smirk at her. Yulia was prone to humiliating herself
in front of everyone.

Yulia's cheeks had turned red with embarrassment. She stormed off to her bedroom and shut the door.
She couldn't shake off the disgusting look on everyone's face.

Yulia was powerless in the house, so she vented her anger on the servants. Even though she was an
illegitimate daughter, the servants had to obey her. Gavin couldn't endure Yulia's torture. He had
complained about her to Queena but she didn't seem to care about it. Nelson was still in the hospital
and there was no one to stop Yulia.

Nelson had become furious and left the Gu's mansion to stay in the hospital. He was disappointed with
Jonas. Melinda was completely oblivious to it, but Nelson thought that she hadn't come to see him
because she was mad at him as well.

Jonas completed the discharge formalities and was ready to take Nelson back home. But Nelson was
adamant about staying back in the hospital.

"Grandpa, it's not my fault. It was her decision to divorce me," Jonas said helplessly.

"You'd have done something to hurt her. Otherwise, she wouldn't have gone to the extent of divorcing
you. She has a lot of patience. You'd have forced her to do this," Nelson grumbled.

Jonas could see that his grandfather was active and it was time for him to return home.



Jonas somehow managed to bring Nelson home. The servants were waiting for Nelson's arrival and
Gavin breathed a sigh of relief when he saw him enter the house.

"Is it true that Melinda is never going to come back? She can always be my granddaughter even if she
isn't married to my grandson," Nelson said, smiling sadly.

Jonas didn't answer, but Yulia was burning with rage. Nelson didn't seem to consider her as his
granddaughter at all.

"I want you to call her right away and apologize," Nelson said sternly.

Yulia immediately stepped forward and held Nelson's hands. "Grandpa, Melinda is happy with Kent.
Why would she come back?" Nelson arched an eyebrow and looked at her with suspicion.

"Melinda was seeing Kent even before she divorced my brother. Jonas is innocent."

Nelson glared at Yulia. She was supporting Jonas whilst assassinating Melinda's character.

"Shut up! I know Melinda very well. She is a wonderful girl."

Melinda had always obeyed him and handled everything with care. Nelson was concerned about her
but she always smiled and assured him that she was okay. He couldn't hear Yulia degrade her.

"Grandpa, I didn't say anything wrong. Many people have seen her with a man. If you don't trust me, go
to her house right now. She'll be with a man called Kent," Yulia said angrily.

Yulia had sent one of her men to find out what Melinda had been doing. The man found her hanging
out with Kent and had secretly taken pictures of them.

"Shut up, Yulia!" Nelson's face turned red with rage.



He was an angry man and a strict grandfather. He had been rude to everyone in the Gu family except
for Melinda.

"Melinda is not with your brother anymore. She has the right to choose a partner. She can be with
anyone she wants to and that's none of your business. I don't want you to disturb her anymore."

Nelson knew Yulia very well. He had always been protective of Melinda and people were afraid of
harming her. But Melinda didn't belong to the Gu family anymore and Nelson knew that Yulia would
have no qualms about tormenting her.

When Nelson turned around, he saw that Jonas was gone. He sighed and shook his head.

Jonas understood that he couldn't avoid his grandfather's question anymore. Nelson was waiting for
him when he returned home in the evening.

"Have you not tried contacting her?"

"No, Grandpa, we aren't together anymore and she is with Kent now. You should leave her alone."

Jealousy resided in the pit of his stomach. Jonas had been keeping track of what was going on in
Melinda's life. But he didn't tell Nelson about it.

Melinda was a different person now. She was enjoying her newfound freedom.

No matter what Nelson asked, Jonas continued to avoid his questions. He couldn't understand his
emotions and sharing his feelings with his grandfather would be the last thing he'd want to do.


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