Hearing this, Victoria asked Lara gently, "What happened to you? Did… did something traumatize you?" Her mind flashed back to that day at the hospital…
Lara shook her head. She looked so fragile and pitiful that Victoria's heart suddenly ached for her.
"Is it because of Ned that you fell ill?" Victoria asked in a soft voice. "Tell me, sweetheart. I can't help if you don't say anything."
Lara remained silent.
"Lara, Aunt Victoria is asking you a question. Answer her!" Isabella urged her daughter.
Lara stared blankly at Victoria, tears suddenly streaming down her face. "Auntie… did I do something wrong?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? You're so young—what could you possibly have done wrong?"
"Then why does Ned hate me so much?" Lara cried even harder. "He won't say more than one word to me, won't listen to anything I say. He only wants to be with Sophie."
"He…" Victoria was momentarily speechless. "Just focus on getting better and don't overthink it. I'm already handling this."
"Handling it?" Lara sniffled miserably. "How? Ned has changed. Ever since he met Sophie, he's become a completely different person from before."
"Hmph. I'm his mother. As long as I firmly refuse, that woman will never marry into our family. My son will listen to me in the end." Victoria's face darkened. "That girl is utterly shameless, dreaming she can climb into high society through him. No upbringing, nothing but vain ambition. There's no way I'll ever let her cross my threshold." The mere thought of Sophie Davies made her blood boil.
"Is she actually planning to marry your son?" Isabella asked, eyes wide with shock.
"Hmph. At first I thought about paying her off to get rid of her, but she actually said she didn't want money. Did she think that would leave me powerless?" Victoria snorted coldly.
"So she's betting on the long game—waiting for Ned to inherit the family fortune and become the next chairman. Then she'd be…" Isabella murmured to herself.
"Over my dead body! She's delusional!" Victoria scowled. "She miscalculated completely. As long as I'm alive, I will never allow them to marry!"
"But Ned likes her…" Lara's voice was filled with sorrow.
"So what? Dragging it out like this will only hurt her in the end." A smile crept onto Victoria's face. "When a man and woman are just dating, the excitement fades fast. If I keep refusing to let them marry, their feelings will naturally cool off…"
Isabella nodded in understanding. "Once they're married, seventy percent of men step up and take responsibility for their family and children."
"My son is exactly the kind of man who takes marriage very seriously, I'm sure of it," Victoria said with a cold laugh. "I'll just keep dragging it out and never let them get married. The moment my son gets bored with the relationship and wants to break up, that annoying Sophie Davies will walk away with absolutely nothing!"
Lara stared deeply at Victoria, a growing resentment spreading in her heart: Wait for them to break up? How long would that take?
"But to avoid trouble, rich men usually give the woman a breakup fee when they split," Isabella added.
"A breakup fee? That's nothing," Victoria scoffed, waving it off. "If she were willing, I could give her money right now. When I went to negotiate with her, I even told her she could name any price she wanted. Such generous terms, and she didn't know how to be grateful and accept them. She's far too greedy. When my son finally dumps her, that's when she'll realize she wasted all that time and effort for nothing. I refuse to believe Ned would be so generous as to let a woman he no longer wants demand whatever she pleases. Ten thousand pounds at most…"
"That makes perfect sense," Isabella said with a smile.
Yet no matter how confident Aunt Victoria and her mother sounded, Lara still felt deeply uneasy…
"Sigh, the hardest part is enduring this waiting period. Look at them—both father and son have been completely sweet-talked by her. They're both on her side, and it's driving me insane," Victoria sighed heavily. "I absolutely have to find a good way to make them break up as quickly as possible!"
At those words, Lara's eyes suddenly lit up. She quietly rubbed the photograph hidden beneath her pillow, hesitating whether to take it out.
But she didn't. A better idea had just come to her…
............................................................
Staring at the pile of photographs spread across the desk, Ali Ahmed, a member of the LSE Board of Governors, looked stunned.
"What is this…?"
"There's a student at the school whose behavior could damage your reputation," Charles Cadogan said calmly.
Ali Ahmed froze. "LSE doesn't regulate students' romantic lives. You could take these photos to anyone, and no one would care. What exactly are you trying to say?"
Charles gave a thin smile and shifted his gaze to the set of photos he had received only last night. "An LSE student behaving improperly off-campus—going to a hotel with a man!"
"So what? They're adults. We did the same thing when we were young. No need to make such a fuss. Who hasn't been impulsive in their youth?" Ali Ahmed said dismissively.
"This man is the sole heir of the Harrington family." Charles picked up a photo showing Sophie in nothing but lingerie, turned sideways toward the door. "Something like this can be blown out of proportion or brushed aside. But if the other board members found out, they could use the media to stir up trouble. You may not know the young man, but plenty of people do—and they know exactly who he is. The press loves to make something out of nothing. If this blows up and becomes public knowledge, everyone will know the girl is an LSE student. There'll be no containing it… And when the next election for board representative comes around, they might use this very thing to attack you."
Charles flicked the photo with his finger and tossed it back to Ali Ahmed. "A little scandal like this won't shake your position, of course, but it will make you lose face. It's best to handle it immediately, so you don't end up embarrassed over something so trivial."
At those words, a glint flashed across Ali Ahmed's eyes. "You're overestimating the damage. It won't be that serious."
"If LSE's reputation gets dragged through the mud, yours will go down with it," Charles said with a casual smile.
After a moment's thought—better safe than sorry—Ali Ahmed immediately gestured to his assistant and made a call to the LSE president.
"Hello? This is Ali Ahmed." The moment the call connected, he got straight to the point. "This afternoon I'll have someone deliver a stack of photos to you. The girl in them is one of our LSE students. Once you receive them, find any pretext you like and expel her immediately according to university regulations."
"Chairman Ahmed, good afternoon!" The president's tone was instantly deferential the moment he heard Ali Ahmed's voice. "We're right in the middle of exam period. Could we possibly wait until after the exams are over? Expelling a student requires a public announcement to the entire school, and the impact would be significant. I'm worried it might cause an uproar among the students."
"The sooner the better. You'll understand once you see the photos this afternoon." He knew the president wouldn't dare disobey a direct order. With that, he hung up.
"Chairman Ahmed, that was a very wise decision," Charles said the instant the phone was down.
"Professor Cadogan, what exactly did this girl do to offend you? I'd like to know—why are you doing this?" Ali Ahmed asked.
Charles merely smiled and said nothing. "Chairman Ahmed, that plot of land I have in the new city district will be ready very soon—" He draped an arm around his old friend's shoulder and smoothly shifted the conversation to other business.
Although Ali Ahmed was a governor of LSE, his main business was construction and property development. The reason he was so willing to do Charles this favor was simple: a major project of his required land that was currently controlled by the Cadogan family. The Cadogans owned vast tracts in the new city district. If he wanted to build, he needed to buy that land, which meant staying on Charles's good side.
"Your daughter is also a student at LSE, isn't she?" Ali Ahmed asked.
"Yes. My daughter Lara—please continue to look after her, Chairman Ahmed," Charles replied with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"Of course, of course! Your business is my business!" Ali Ahmed said, squinting cheerfully. The two men sat at opposite ends of the sofa.
"Then let me thank you in advance, Chairman Ahmed. Tonight I'm buying the drinks!" They launched into another round of mutual business flattery.
And just like that, between laughter and small talk, a girl's fate was sealed.