Chapter 7 She Framed Me!

• The news of Sophia taking legal action became a huge issue. The past incident almost ruined her future. Furthermore, she was a student at Bayside University, and so her reputation was extremely important.
• If she refused to go to court over this matter, it would directly affect her reputation at Bayside University. In fact, it would affect her enrollment in the university.
• After the university understood the situation and its impact, Sophia was specifically given several days off to attend to this lawsuit.
• At Harper’s mansion.
• Xyla and Kayla were seated in the living room while chatting about a new movie.
• “Sigh, Kayla, recently, there’s a newly premiered movie, which is particularly popular, called ‘Overlord’. There are two male protagonists in the movie. The male lead, Taylor Murray, is so handsome! His role as an actor in the movie makes him seem so feminine, but it’s not annoying at all! Ethan Winston, who is the other male lead, is exceptionally handsome too!” Xyla commented enthusiastically with a magazine in hand.
• Kayla saw Taylor’s photograph across the front page under the headlines. Taylor Murray was currently the megastar in the entertainment industry because he had just received several awards recently. In fact, he secured the Best Actor Awards both locally and internationally, and so Kayla was intrigued. “The Harper Family invested a total of 200 million in the filming of the movie ‘Overlord’. It has only premiered in theater for fifteen days, but the movie is already a huge box office hit. It’s grossing at 1.8 billion now, and I’m sure the movie will emerge as the number one box office hit of the year!”
• Xyla shook Kayla excitedly. “In that case, let’s catch the movie together!”
• Just when they were chatting, Richard came walking down the spiral staircase slowly. He asked with a smile while observing them chatting eagerly, “What are you two chatting about?”
• Xyla clung onto his arm playfully. “Richard, let’s catch a movie. I want to watch ‘Overlord’!”
• “Sure, of course. Let’s catch the movie together.”
• A maid entered suddenly. “Young Master, there’s a guest.”
• A man, who was wearing a stern expression, stood behind the maid. He had a pair of gold-rimmed glasses on, and he was wearing a smart, formal suit.
• Upon seeing him, Richard appeared extremely respectful. He welcomed the man politely. “Ah, I see you’re here, Mr. Fields! Please, have a seat!”
• The man was a rather big deal. He was a bigshot lawyer, Calvin Fields. He had never lost a lawsuit in his career. Hence, Mr. Fields was extremely popular among the rich and famous, and it was difficult to hire him even if money wasn’t a problem!
• I wonder why this bigshot lawyer is paying us a visit in Harper's mansion. One usually wouldn’t get to see him without an appointment. Furthermore, I heard that his schedule is booked until next year.
• Mr. Fields adjusted his gold wire-rimmed glasses, but he did not take a seat. Instead, he took out several documents from his briefcase. “I’m here today to see Kayla Harper, also known as Miss Harper. She was involved in spreading rumors and slandering my client. It has caused tremendous repercussions toward my client’s reputation. My client has entrusted me to handle this lawsuit. May I know who Kayla Harper is?”
• “What?” Kayla stood up abruptly from the couch. “What do you mean that I spread rumors and slandered your client?! What is going on?”
• Richard and Xyla exchanged confused looks, and Richard asked Mr. Fields hastily, “How could Kayla possibly get involved in a lawsuit?”
• Mr. Fields glanced at Richard coldly while handing Kayla several documents. “Miss Harper, last year, on 15th September, you paid off Dr. Clayton from Riverdale High School with 200,000 to frame my client, Miss Edwards, by claiming that she was pregnant. It severely damaged her reputation while resulting in irreversible harm for the society. Currently, my client has filed a civil lawsuit against you and Dr. Clayton. These are the relevant documents for your perusal.”
• Kayla stared at the documents in Mr. Fields’ hand in disbelief. She accepted them and flipped through the documents in a hurry. It was a case report about Kayla allegedly spreading rumors about Sophia.
• Richard scanned through the documents as well, and he saw the key points. ‘Kayla Harper allegedly paid 200,000 to Dr. Clayton from Riverdale High School to forge Miss Edwards’ pregnancy report. This has severely impacted Miss Edwards’ life and education. Currently, Miss Edwards has filed a civil lawsuit against Miss Harper, requesting Miss Harper for a public apology, and for her to restore Miss Edwards’ reputation through a publication in the newspaper. In addition to that, Miss Harper has been requested to pay 5 million to Miss Harper for civil damages…’
• Furthermore, there was a confession from Dr. Clayton with an attached phone number. Dr. Clayton confirmed that he made the deal through this phone number, and the very same number was associated with the Venmo account that transferred 200,000 to Dr. Clayton while requesting him to forge a fake medical report.
• This phone number and Venmo account both belonged to Kayla.
• After reading through the information, Kayla shook her head in disbelief. She threw the documents onto the floor. “That’s impossible! I’ve never done any of those things! Someone framed me! Someone obviously framed me!”
• Mr. Fields picked up the documents from the floor while maintaining a blank expression. “You will receive a court subpoena soon. You may state your stand in court. I am merely responsible for relaying the message.”
• He kept the documents back in his briefcase, and he was still wearing a cold expression when he turned around to leave.
• If it weren’t for the fact that Richard knew Mr. Fields and had dealt with him in the past, he wouldn’t have believed that the person standing in front of him was indeed Calvin Fields. Richard blocked Mr. Fields while asking him dubiously, “Is your client truly Sophia Edwards?”
• Mr. Fields nodded. “Yes.”
• He took his briefcase and left without another word.
• Richard stared at the empty entrance uncertainly for a very long time after Mr. Fields left.
• Mr. Fields is a bigshot in his profession. It would be impossible for commoners to hire him. How could Sophia have possibly had the money to hire him for her lawsuit?
• Kayla was a young lady from a wealthy family, who had never experienced hardship. She would never admit to a crime she did not commit, nor would she allow herself to take the blame for no reason. She was so angry that her eyes gleamed menacingly.
• I didn’t expect that Sophia had it in her to do such a thing!
• She grabbed onto Richard. “Richard, look what’s happening now! This is all thanks to that b*tch, Sophia Edwards! It has been such a long time; don’t you see her for who she truly is?! How dare she frame me! I’ve never done such a thing before, nor do I know Dr. Clayton, whoever that is! How dare she commit such a shameless crime for money!”
• I know Kayla’s character. She has always been stubborn and unreasonable ever since she was a child, but she would never commit such a heinous crime because it’s not her style at all.
• Is Sophia putting the blame on Kayla in order to restore her reputation? Or is she doing this for money? 5 million is not a small sum, after all!
• In the past, the Harper Family was against it when Richard dated Sophia. However, since he was still young and immature, no one stopped him. However, Kayla and Sophia always bumped into each other in school, and they didn’t have a good relationship with each other. Kayla had been unkind and hard toward Sophia during that time.
• Therefore, nobody would find it suspicious if Sophia were to blame everything on Kayla.
• Xyla’s face was flushed red with anger. She consoled Kayla while cursing, “I didn’t expect Sophia to be so evil. How dare she use such a heinous method in order to restore her reputation! I’ve truly misjudged her. Richard, you have to come up with something. You can’t just let Sophia frame Kayla!”
• A series of complex emotions flashed across Richard’s face. Too many things don’t seem to fit in this matter. Shouldn’t Sophia start by taking it out on me if she wants revenge?
• Where did she get the money to hire the lawyer? What happened to her after she was expelled?
• Richard was still unconvinced that the obedient, timid Sophia would do such a thing. He turned around before stating, “I’ll make a phone call to clarify something.”
• He took out his phone and dialed a number, which had not been saved on his phone, from memory. He had deleted this phone number when he erased Sophia from his life. Previously, after receiving the SIM card, Sophia excitedly installed the SIM card in the free Nokia phone that came with the card. The first number she dialed was Richard’s. She only had several numbers saved in that phone, and Richard’s was one of them.
• However, the phone number was already not in use when he tried calling.
• A cruel gleam flashed in Xyla’s eyes when she saw Richard bearing hope for Sophia. However, she merely urged him in a panic, “Richard, she is obviously trying to frame Kayla! You had better find a lawyer for Kayla immediately!”