The reporter gave Gwyn a smile that seemed genuinely sweet and he said, "Hey there, little girl. Aren't you a cutie! Can you tell me the name of your mommy?"
Gwyn blinked, a little confused by the sudden change in conversation, but quickly nodded. "My mommy is... Evelyn Huo."
"And what about your daddy?"
The man's line of questioning caught Terilynn's attention, but before she could stop Gwyn from responding, the innocent little girl unknowingly blurted out the name. "Sheffield!"
Suddenly, Terilynn's attention was distracted. This time it was a call from Sheffield. "Hello, Terilynn, where are you and Gwyn right now?"
"We are at the aquarium. We're just waiting for Joshua to get the car so we can head back home."
"Okay, listen to me very carefully. Someone leaked Gwyn's photos on the Internet. Bring her back home right now and don't go anywhere else." Sheffield was worried as he didn't want them to get mobbed by gossip-mongering reporters.
"What? What did you say?" Staring at the man who was still trying to talk to Gwyn, Terilynn instinctively realized that he was a journalist!
"Bennett!" As she picked up Gwyn in her arms, she shouted at the bodyguard standing next to her, "Don't let him get away!"
The sly reporter was quick to react and would have almost escaped if Bennett hadn't caught him in the nick of time. The experienced bodyguard did well to subdue the man with haste and ease.
"What happened? Terilynn?" Sheffield screamed, alarmed by the noise on the other end.
"Sheffield, we ran into a reporter, but Bennett got him. We will bring Gwyn back home right away!"
"Okay. Be quick. Call me if anything happens."
Bennett found a digital voice recorder pen inside the reporter's pocket, and sure enough, his conversation with Gwyn had been recorded.
Terilynn was so angry that she threw the recorder pen on the ground and stomped on it a few times, crushing it under the sole of her shoes. After she made certain that it was broken, she picked up the broken pieces and threw them in a nearby trash can. With cold, rigid eyes narrowed, she gave the reporter a solemn warning and walked away with Gwyn in her arms.
Just as soon as Sheffield ended the call, his cellphone rang. It was Evelyn. "Have you read the news?"
"Yes. Don't worry about it. I'll take care of everything. Where are you now?" The first person Sheffield called was Terilynn because he found out from Carlos that she was with Gwyn.
He was just about to call Evelyn when she called him first.
"I'm at the opening ceremony of my friend's beauty salon. I just found out about it." It hadn't been too long since Evelyn found out that Gwyn's picture had been exposed to the public. She was utterly distressed, and rightfully so, because she was afraid that her daughter would get hurt again.
"I'm going to hold a press conference. You just take care of Gwyn. I'll handle the rest," he said decisively.
His words gave her the assurance she needed. "Okay. Call me if you need anything. Please be careful!"
"Okay, bye!"
At the peak of the news, Evelyn's and Gwyneth Tang's names had gone viral on the Internet. Their pictures were everywhere, under the watchful eyes of every netizen.
The sooner the problem was snuffed out, the lesser the backlash would be. Sheffield knew that the only way to mitigate the situation was to nip it in the bud.
Before long, Sheffield called for a press conference.
He addressed the crowd of reporters respectfully, greeting everyone in front of the cameras. "Hello, everyone. I am Sheffield Tang. Thank you all for your concern for me, my wife and my child. I don't want to keep occupying public resources, so I'm going to get to the point and explain everything to the public..."
The press conference was held in the biggest conference room of Theo Group. The atmosphere in the room was tense and silent, bar the sound of shutters going off in the distance. Every person in the room was carefully listening to Sheffield's explanation.
Perhaps it was the severity of the matter, but the playful expression that could always be found on his face had completely disappeared. Maintaining his cold, passive face, he said, "I can tell everyone clearly that Gwyneth Tang is my daughter with Evelyn Huo! Three years ago, Evelyn broke up with Mr. Ji and went on a trip to D City. Love always comes when you are not expecting it. When we met by chance in D City, like many people, I fell in love with her at the first sight.
I didn't expect my love for her to become so deep and strong in just a few days. We became acquainted and after a few days we fell in love with each other deeply. Although she seems very bossy and domineering, she has a kind heart. In fact, she's nothing like what she seems on the outside. To be honest, I am a thick-skinned guy. I chased after her for a long time before we finally became boyfriend and girlfriend."
After a pause, he continued, "But as you know, it's normal to have twists and turns in a love story. A lot of things happened between us too in the past. It's a long story so I don't want to take up more of your precious time. The only thing I want to say is that Evelyn never dated two men at the same time. She didn't betray Mr. Ji. She was forced to get engaged to him. It's all my fault. I love Evelyn so much that I couldn't give up on her even though she refused to see me when she knew she would get engaged to Mr. Ji.
Anyway, after overcoming many obstacles, we've finally managed to build a happy life for ourselves, but there are still some people who wish to sabotage our marriage. They even dragged our innocent daughter in between all of this mess, spreading rumors that she was another man's daughter. Rest assured, I will find those people and file charges against whoever is involved. I'll say this for the last time. Gwyneth Tang is the biological daughter of Evelyn and me. Thank you very much for your time!"
As soon as he said that, the room broke into an uproar, but the man left without accepting any interviews.
As soon as the reporters uploaded the video of the press conference, another piece of news started floating about—Carlos had accepted an interview with a magazine.
For the first time in his life, Carlos had accepted an interview of this sort.
When the people heard that Carlos Huo was going to talk about his daughter, they finally understood why he had accepted it.
The reporter asked, "Mr. Huo, do you have anything to say about the news on your granddaughter?"
"Yes." Even after many years, Carlos still maintained a degree of seriousness in front of the cameras, but his tone was soft as he spoke. "Actually, I've been thinking about apologizing to Evelyn. As her father, I should have never intervened in her relationship with Sheffield. I had a very good opinion of the son of the Ji family at the very beginning. So, after she and Calvert broke up, I insisted on bringing them back together. Evelyn remained filial and she chose to listen to me."
He paused as if he saw Evelyn from the camera. "Evelyn, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I did to you and Sheffield," he apologized.
The reporter cut in, "Mr. Huo, you did what any loving father would do for his daughter's happiness. From what you've said, she sounds like a kind and reasonable person, I'm sure she will understand you."
The guilt in Carlos' eyes was undeniable. "When Evelyn got pregnant, none of us knew about it. Even she herself didn't know. Sheffield loved Evelyn very much and he tried to get my approval many times, but I didn't allow it. Heartbroken, Sheffield left for D City to offer medical support. That was the same place where he had met Evelyn for the first time. Meanwhile, Evelyn was engaged to Calvert. After Calvert's relationship with his stepsister was exposed to the public, Evelyn and Calvert broke off their engagement. When she left for D City to bring Sheffield back, she found out that she was pregnant. Due to health concerns, she had to return halfway and after that, she lost contact with Sheffield. It was not until when Sheffield came back to take his place as the CEO of Theo Group, that he found out about his daughter—Gwyn."