Alia brushed her hair aside and sat on the sofa, her tone rather exhausted: "I can’t go out these days. If soone tracks and finds out that he’s in the hospital for dical treatnt, I’m afraid those heartless people will disturb him, which would be detrintal to his recovery."
"That’s true... But what can we do about it? He’s been causing a fuss and affecting the rest of the people in the ward. Everyone has their opinions." Jacob had promised before that he wouldn’t trouble his big sister unless it was a major issue, but he really couldn’t handle his own father.
Actually, he suspected that his father might be aware that he doesn’t have much ti left and plans to tell the big sister those things he’s been hiding.
His feelings were complicated, hoping Alia would know the truth, because this is sothing she should know.
But he was also worried that once Alia knew everything and realized she had no relationship with the Garcia Family, she might turn her hatred towards Michael Garcia and ignore him.
If that happened, how would he handle this burden alone?
Moreover, without the blood relationship, how would he rely on her in the future?
During the brief silence, Alia was also at a loss for what to do.
She very much wanted to leave Michael Garcia alone after all these years, he hadn’t fulfilled his responsibilities and duties as a father.
As his daughter, she had previously worked tirelessly to help him repay the company’s owed wages and now racked her brains to pay for his surgery—perhaps this is repaying the kindness of being raised by him over the years.
But then she thought, now she is in the lilight, with Michael Garcia’s shaless and despicable behavior, if he gets angry and accuses her of being an ungrateful, disloyal, and unfilial daughter, those keyboard warriors would slander her even more.
Annoying...
"Let’s do this, I’ll call him later and ask the situation first." After thinking for a long ti, Alia could only adopt a strategy of delay.
"Alright..."
"Do you know what he’s looking for about?"
"I..." Jacob hesitated again.
Alia sensed sothing was off, her tone turning serious: "Little Jacob, I haven’t treated you badly these past few months, have I? Is there anything you can’t tell directly?"
"Sis... I, I’m doing it for your good, I guess... Dad might be looking for you to talk about so things related to your mother before she passed away..." Jacob’s conscience was uneasy, and he revealed a bit.
However, the real main issue couldn’t co out of his mouth, or Alia wouldn’t be able to accept reality and would surely bla him.
"Related to my mom?"
"Yes, just my guess..."
"Okay, I understand, I’ll contact him."
After hanging up, Christopher frowned slightly, and upon taking the phone, he asked: "What’s going on?"
Alia’s expression was equally puzzled, and she shook her head, "Not sure, Jacob said he suspects... My dad might be looking for to talk about sothing relating to my mom before she passed away."
Christopher’s face tensed further, "Are you going over there?"
"I..." Alia wavered, clenching her fist and pondering briefly, "I will wait for a mont, let’s see if Mr. Smith can handle the rumors and the public opinion, then I’ll go over once things stabilize."
"I’m getting discharged tomorrow, I’ll accompany you."
"No, you need to go ho and continue to recuperate."
Christopher didn’t listen to her this ti, insisting, "You don’t need to persuade , I must accompany you. Rest assured, I’ll be careful."
Having not accompanied her to see Thomas Smith before, resulting in the current ss, he was already very regretful.
If he let her go alone to see Michael Garcia and sothing happened again...
Alia felt agitated in her heart, seeing him insist, she didn’t say anything else, nodding absentmindedly.
No sooner had they finished speaking when Christopher’s phone rang again.
Alia’s phone was off, so all calls were coming to his side.
Seeing that the caller ID was a number from Imperial City, Christopher handed the phone directly to her: "It’s probably Mr. Smith calling, you answer it."
Alia glanced at him, "You are... suddenly being generous."
The man’s face turned stern and he replied with impatience: "Do you think I can’t tell the importance of this? Besides, after this incident, even if he originally had so ideas, he wouldn’t dare now."
So, what was there to worry about anymore?
Alia took the phone and slid the green button: "Hello, hello."
"...Little Clarke?" The voice over there was indeed Thomas Smith, who was slightly surprised to hear Alia’s voice, but quickly understood and asked with concern, "Why is your phone turned off? You haven’t had any trouble, have you?"
Alia explained: "No trouble, my phone number was leaked, and quite a few dia have been calling , so I had to turn off my phone."
"Alright, as long as you’re safe. Don’t worry, I’ve already asked the lawyer to handle it, and those dia who spread rumors will be legally prosecuted one by one. I will also imdiately release a statent explaining the whole situation."
Thomas Smith had never made any comnts about his private life in public before, but this ti, in order to clear Alia Garcia’s na, he made an exception.
"Alright, thank you." Hearing Thomas Smith’s assurance, Alia Garcia felt much more at ease.
From the other side, there was an apologetic tone: "It was my lack of consideration that brought trouble to you. It’s I who should apologize."
"No need, no one expected things to turn out like this."
Thomas Smith was still busy with official matters, and one could hear people speaking in the background, so after explaining things clearly, he hung up first.
Christopher Hart leaned against the head of the bed, holding another phone in his hand.
Seeing Alia finish her call, he turned the phone in his hand towards her, showing her the screen: "This Mr. Smith is not soone ordinary; all the related online comnts have vanished cleanly, even the related keywords have been blocked."
"What?" Alia Garcia was shocked. She took Christopher’s phone and did a random search—indeed, it was all gone!
This...
She asked in surprise, "The ’money’ power of a capital tycoon?"
"I think it’s more than that."
"What do you an?"
Christopher reminded her, "Have you forgotten what he said about his forr identity? Also, didn’t you say... he ntioned his ex-wife was soone from the state?"
Alia was stunned for a second, suddenly realizing, "Ah! You an... their identities are specially sensitive?"
"Yes, with identities like theirs, let alone removing a few entries, even making a dia outlet disappear would be a minute’s work."
Alia sat down, in disbelief, searched online again for a while—it was indeed clean.
But those netizens like mad dogs didn’t stop there, and before long, many comnts targeted Mandrake Technology and its always low-key yet mysterious founder.
Soon, the words "Smith Family in Imperial City" beca a trending topic online.
The news continued to fernt, and after a night of escalation, even Michael Garcia, lying on his hospital bed, had heard about it the next day.
"That girl Alia Garcia, what trouble has she gotten into again? Is she not with Christopher Hart anymore?" Looking at all the ssy rumors online, Michael Garcia asked his son confusedly.
Jacob Garcia was holding his phone, engaged in a heated argunt against those trolls. Hearing his father’s question, he didn’t even lift his head: "Of course, they’re together, doing just fine! Those online rumors are all false; haven’t you seen the clarification from the people involved?"
"Then who is this person? Online, it says he’s a retired soldier with a strong family background, who once lived in an Ancient Town..."
Jacob Garcia didn’t originally want to respond, but seeing his father ask so many questions in succession, he suddenly thought of sothing and looked up at him: "Dad, why are you interested in this person?"
"No... I’m just asking casually." Michael Garcia suppressed the doubts in his mind, not wanting to say more, bowed his head in silence for a few seconds, and suddenly asked, "Didn’t I tell you to contact her? To call her over? Why is there no response yet?"
"She’s busy these days, can’t co over."
"Then how long will it take? I’m having surgery tomorrow, in case..."
"Dad, are you worried that if the surgery goes wrong, there are so things you won’t have ti to make public, and you’ll have regrets?" Jacob Garcia decided to speak openly with his father, to clear up the remaining doubts in his heart.
Michael Garcia beca even more elusive: "Regrets... nonsense!"
"Hey, don’t hide it from anymore. I went to visit my mom in prison a few days ago and asked her clearly. Big sister isn’t your biological child, you felt it was too humiliating, so you’ve kept silent about it all these years. Apart from you and my mom, no one in this world knows about it, right?"
In the morning, the other two patients in the hospital ward had gone for tests, and with no outsiders around, Jacob dared to ask about this, finally voicing what had been bottled up for days.
Michael Garcia’s expression froze, staring fixedly at him, without speaking.
"Dad, I don’t understand, was big sister’s mother unfaithful to you, or what happened? My mom said you forced her to marry you by improper ans, so she did it to get back at you..."
He didn’t finish his sentence as a patient from the adjacent bed returned.
Jacob had to stop, get up to draw the curtain, and lowered his voice further: "Dad, you calling big sister over, is it to tell her the truth about her birth? But mom told her biological father is already dead, is that true?"
Michael Garcia was shocked his son knew everything, his face showed a mont of astonishnt, quickly relieved, he said in a calm and indifferent manner: "Anyway, that’s what she says, I heard her parents say, too, he was in the army and died in the line of duty..."
"In the army?" Jacob was taken aback, imdiately thinking of the identity of Mandrake’s founder revealed online—a retired soldier.
That Mr. Smith spent a fortune to buy the Ancient Town Courtyard, and treated big sister so well, which is already strange enough, could it be...
"Dad, are you suspecting that person isn’t dead?"
Michael Garcia replied sharply: "I don’t know! That fickle woman, she probably doesn’t even know who her daughter’s real father is, anyway it’s not !"
"Then you knew big sister wasn’t your biological child, why didn’t you get a divorce?"
"Divorce? If I divorced, how would I get the Norton Family’s assets? Besides, Chloe Norton, that bitch, dared to deceive and use ! I want her to pay the price! Divorce would be too good for her! And Alia Garcia, that dubious wild child, growing up looking like a Fox Spirit, I thought after raising her at least she could conne..."
"Michael Garcia! What nonsense are you spouting? Who are you calling a bitch? Who’s a wild child?"
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