Chapter 479: A Family of White-Eyed Wolves

Faye Collins’s team was rather tactful when mentioning the man she was being set up with. They didn’t bring up any information about his history of domestic violence, only saying that the two were incompatible and that Faye Collins had already unequivocally rejected the marriage.

However, her parents and younger brother had their eyes on the high bride price the man offered. After she began avoiding them, they even barged directly into her home, intending to drag her away and force her to marry him.

But that didn’t mean Faye Collins was willing to let her family off the hook so easily. Soon, it was leaked online that the man Faye Collins’s parents and brother were trying to force her to marry was a violent abuser. To corroborate this, the man’s ex-wife—who had fled in terror after being beaten by him—came forward with her own story, posting copies of her medical records from when she was hospitalized for her injuries.

The ex-wife’s timely appearance was, of course, orchestrated by Faye Collins’s team, who had also compensated her for her cooperation.

If Faye’s team had released these revelations themselves, they could have been accused of invading a private citizen’s privacy and inciting the public to cyberbully him.

But with the victim herself coming forward, there were no such concerns. It was a way to give a certain someone a dose of infamy while also helping women everywhere dodge a bullet. This would prevent some other unsuspecting girl from taking Faye Collins’s place and jumping into the fire, which could even be considered a good deed.

After this one-two punch, the Collins parents, who had initially garnered so much public sympathy, instantly became objects of universal disgust and ridicule.

The public’s sympathy for Faye Collins grew even stronger, especially after seeing how much she had given her parents over the years versus how they treated their son and daughter differently. All her years of sincere devotion had been utterly wasted.

No, that was an insult to dogs. Even a dog, raised with such devotion for so many years, would have learned to wag its tail. These people were clearly wolves—a whole family of ungrateful ones!

With that, the dust settled. Faye Collins made her decision and issued a public statement cutting ties with her parents. From now on, aside from the legally mandated support, she would not give them another penny.

As for her leech of a brother, she had never been obligated to support him anyway. From now on, they would be like strangers. She wouldn’t give him a single cent.

In response, most people remained silent, as if only just realizing this was ultimately a private family matter. Only a handful of sanctimonious critics, who had no skin in the game, tried to guilt-trip Faye Collins with tired platitudes like, “But they’re your parents, they can do no wrong.”

After seeing how Faye Collins’s PR team handled the situation, Hector Donovan couldn’t help but remark, “Serena was right when she warned her. Her agent, Ms. Collins, is a real blessing. While this whole fiasco will undoubtedly affect her career to some extent, using it as a chance to escape that predatory family is a necessary sacrifice. Her future will be much brighter now.”

While there was good news on Faye Collins’s end, things were also developing with the Lockhart Family.

It had to be said, Caspian Rhodes and Leon Lucas moved incredibly fast.

Thanks to their combined efforts, Guinevere Rhodes was quickly taken in for questioning. Not long after, her powerful backer, who had provided her with money and manpower, was also implicated and placed under intense investigation.

Given the nature of their activities, there was no way they could withstand scrutiny. However, securing a conviction would require more conclusive evidence.

Upon hearing this, Arabella Donovan’s mind immediately went to Dylan Dawson’s younger brother, his trusted confidant named Tim.

In the original plot, it was with his help that the police managed to obtain incriminating evidence against the powerful backer, leading to a major breakthrough. He was instrumental in finally bringing the man to justice.

Even though the plot was now unfolding much earlier, with his own brother, Dylan Dawson, in the picture, Arabella believed Tim could be convinced to make the right choice.

‘Now I can only hope the evidence he has is critical enough to topple that backer in one fell swoop,’ she thought. ‘If it is, not only will it eliminate a future threat, but it will also allow Tim to atone for his mistakes and have a true family reunion with Dylan Dawson and their father.’

“Serena, what’s wrong? You look so pale.”

Hector Donovan turned to see his sister staring blankly into space, her face pale. She was clutching her chest, looking extremely uncomfortable, and he cried out in alarm.

Hearing the commotion, the others immediately rushed over. “What’s going on? Are you feeling sick? Did you catch a cold? Should we go to the hospital?”

Arabella Donovan hadn’t expected such a strong reaction from everyone. She gave a helpless smile. “I’m fine. I just suddenly felt a wave of anxiety, a sense of unease.”

‘Ever since I accepted Caspian Rhodes’s invitation to his family’s ancestral rites and accidentally learned about our relationship in the book, the plot has been developing at a roller-coaster pace,’ Arabella Donovan realized.

‘How long has it even been? Of the three men who had the biggest roles and provided Guinevere Rhodes the most support, one was completely erased by the butterfly effect, and another now likely despises her. Even her greatest pillar of support—that untouchable crime lord who was so powerful late in the story that he could only be defeated by a plot device—was now on the verge of collapse. If Tim came through, he might be sent to prison very soon.’

‘Even Guinevere Rhodes, the female lead at the center of the entire plot, might get dragged into this and face prison. You could say she’s facing a bad ending before the story has even properly begun.’

As someone who was supposed to be one of the victims in this story, Arabella Donovan should have felt relieved.

But for some reason, an instinctual dread made her heart pound with anxiety.

When the rest of the Donovan Family heard her say this, their expressions instantly changed.

If anyone else had said it, they might have dismissed it as overthinking. But coming from Arabella Donovan, they couldn’t help but feel anxious too. After all, since she had returned home, no one knew better than them just how accurate her sixth sense was.

But anxiety was just anxiety. They couldn’t predict the future or prepare for every eventuality. All they could do was monitor the situation with Guinevere Rhodes even more closely.

Arabella Donovan’s intuition was soon proven right. Unexpectedly, however, the problem didn’t come from Guinevere Rhodes’s side. It came from Brynn—from Aurora Donovan’s side.

“What did you say? Something happened to Summer Vance? Where is she now? Is she okay? What exactly happened?”

Summer Vance was the heroine of that fanfiction connected to Aurora Donovan. Arabella had once mistaken it for a crossover fic, but it was actually a sequel centered on a male lead whom readers had felt sorry for. In the fanfic, this male lead got a harem, and all the female characters collectively went out of character, becoming his doting, submissive wives.

The last time the two had met in Brynn, Arabella Donovan had discovered that the original novel’s heroine’s consciousness was awakening inside Summer Vance’s body. It was trying to merge with the fanfiction’s dumbed-down, love-obsessed puppet version of herself and seize control.

To help with this, Arabella Donovan had specifically left her a Soul Nourishing Talisman. The talisman was meant to help the original heroine’s consciousness merge with its current body faster, allowing her to break free from the nonsensical plotlines laid out by the fanfic’s idiotic author and live as her true self.

Arabella Donovan had thought leaving the talisman would make everything foolproof. She never imagined something could still go so wrong!