Chapter 174 My Wife Is Sophie Winslow, Why Would I Get Married?

Chapter 174: Chapter 174: My Wife Is Sophie Winslow, Why Would I Get Married?

Stella Sutton’s heart skipped a beat, her knuckles turning white as she clenched her fists. She never expected Peter Preston to be the one to call her out.

This data had absolutely nothing to do with him. Furthermore, Faye was notoriously mysterious and never made public appearances, so no one else should have known about this.

"Mr. Preston, I don’t know why you’re slandering me like this, but you need evidence to make such claims," Stella said, taking a deep breath and looking genuinely distressed. "You’re making things very difficult for me. I work for Longview now, and I don’t want the image of Longview or the Sterling family to be tarnished because of this."

Sophie Winslow’s lips curled into a faint sneer. Anyone who didn’t know better would think they were bullying her. No wonder Stella had been so arrogant when she came to terminate her contract a while ago, claiming she no longer needed the database. She had planned to steal it from the very beginning. She would gain all the glory while saving a fortune in copyright fees. What a brilliant scheme! Now she was dragging Longview and the Sterling family into this, just to use their power to pressure them.

"And what if there is evidence?" Sophie asked calmly.

Julian Sterling suddenly looked at her, his gaze unreadable.

Stella sneered inwardly. Dropping the polite facade she had maintained for Peter, she turned to Sophie. "I thought it was strange just now, but I think I understand. It turns out Mr. Preston said those things because someone instigated him. It’s really frustrating."

As for evidence? What evidence could there possibly be? Faye hadn’t even registered patents for many of the core materials in the database. Since Faye herself wouldn’t show up, anyone else making a fuss was just wasting their breath.

As soon as Stella finished speaking, Finn Lockwood strode forward, his brows furrowed tightly. "Sophie, enough is enough. Even if you’re jealous of Stella’s glorious achievements today, you can’t just spout nonsense."

In his eyes, Sophie was completely insane. She was clearly blinded by jealousy, terrified that the Sterling family would value Stella’s talent and honors—which she knew would lead to them fully accepting Stella into the fold. Because of this, she was intentionally attacking her to ruin her big day. What he found even more unbelievable was that Peter Preston actually believed Sophie’s nonsense and came here to cause a scene. If Stella had really done such a thing, why hadn’t Faye herself shown up? Sophie was just stirring up trouble!

"It’s fine. People will say what they want, and I can’t control that," Stella said, her eyes slightly red as she took a deep breath and straightened her back.

"Mr. Lockwood, I was the one who made the claim. Why are you taking your anger out on Sophie?" Peter’s face turned cold, dropping his own polite tone.

Finn frowned. "Mr. Preston, you don’t have to cover for her. Sophie has a clear motive—"

"Then tell me, what is my motive? What reason would I have to slander her?" Sophie raised her eyes, her tone sharp and mocking.

Finn instantly shut his mouth, looking somewhat irritated. Was Sophie doing this on purpose? Was she trying to force him to publicly state that it was because she was Mrs. Sterling? No one had anticipated this situation.

Madam Sterling’s expression cooled significantly. She took a few steps forward and stood behind Sophie. Lowering her voice so only Sophie could hear, she said, "Sophie, taking a stand at a time like this is quite imprudent. Stella is now associated with the Sterling family. Any negative impact on her will also affect us. Don’t act on impulse."

Sophie didn’t look back, answering softly, "This is Helios’s business. If she really infringed on Helios’s rights, do you think I can stop them?"

Madam Sterling’s expression darkened even further. She didn’t want today’s events to blow out of proportion. With this in mind, she looked over at Julian, who had yet to state his position, and felt a headache coming on from sheer frustration. If Julian hadn’t set this stage for Stella today, the Sterling family wouldn’t have been dragged into this. To make matters worse, she herself had recently been forced to publicly acknowledge Stella’s ties with Longview and the Sterling Group.

"Sophie? Why are you joining the fray?" Lucas Langley couldn’t stand by any longer. He stepped forward and lowered his voice. "Can’t you see Miss Sutton is tied to the Sterling family today? Offending her means offending the Sterling family, understand?"

He had just noticed Madam Sterling saying something to Sophie. Even though he had argued with Sophie before, he didn’t want to see her continue doing something so foolish. The relationship between Julian and Stella wasn’t something she could tear apart just by taking a few cheap shots. The two were already discussing marriage!

Sophie ignored him. Lucas choked on his words, indignant. She was treating him like thin air again!

"This happened suddenly, so I haven’t prepared physical evidence here. But I can explicitly inform everyone that all the patents registered by Stella Sutton originally came from Faye herself. Since everyone here works in the medical field, Faye’s name shouldn’t be unfamiliar to you," Peter stated.

He frowned as he glanced at Lucas, not wanting the man to stand so close to Sophie.

Stella’s lips formed a tight line. "Everyone knows Faye never makes public appearances. Are you trying to shift the blame to Faye just to use her academic standing to suppress a newcomer like me, forcing me to swallow this injustice?"

Sophie couldn’t help but chuckle. Was she playing the victim card again? Claiming everyone was intentionally out to get her?

Peter remained unhurried. "You want evidence? Fine, I’ll give it to you." Facing the hundreds of people in the venue, he continued, "Everyone here should know who my father is. He is the director of Calyx, an academician of the National Academy of Somatic Medicine, and the chief disciple of Mr. Hector Caldwell. Even if you doubt my words, you can’t possibly think my father would make baseless accusations, can you?"

Julian looked over slowly, waiting for him to continue.

Stella’s heart inexplicably seized. "Mr. Preston, what do you mean?"

Peter’s lips curled. "Faye is my father’s junior disciple, and she is also Mr. Caldwell’s prized student!"

The venue instantly fell dead silent, many people’s expressions drastically changing. Everyone quickly realized that this matter had just become incredibly serious. Stella’s pupils contracted, all the color draining from her lips. She had no idea this connection existed.

But Peter wasn’t finished. He unlocked his phone and put it on speaker.

Philip Preston’s voice echoed with an imposing authority. "I am more than familiar with my junior disciple’s work. My junior does not wish to show her face regarding these stolen patents, so I will be handling this matter on her behalf. Miss Sutton and... the Sterling family, need to give us an explanation."

Philip hung up the phone. His statement was crisp, decisive, and crystal clear. The crowd looked in shock at the pale-faced Stella. Could it really be true?!

Madam Sterling was the fastest to react. Her expression instantly darkened as she shot a fierce glare at Stella. This matter had escalated to a level of severity that even she found shocking. That was Hector Caldwell! Who didn’t know how much influence he wielded? Philip and his peers were heavily involved in government affairs and were leaders in the National Academy of Somatic Medicine. If the higher-ups decided to investigate this, it would be extremely difficult to handle.

Furthermore, once this scandal broke out, Stella’s ruin would be the least of their worries. The Sterling family and Longview would suffer immense public backlash. Who would trust them after this? Who would dare to collaborate with them? After all, they would have a track record of stealing a partner’s core data. The chain reaction of consequences would be absolutely disastrous. If the old chairman overseas found out about this, he would fly into a thundering rage!

Stella’s hands and feet were completely ice-cold. She looked helplessly toward Julian, who had remained perfectly silent.

Finn barely managed to recover his wits. Realizing the gravity of the situation, he hurried to Julian’s side. "Julian, how should we handle this? This is an unprovoked disaster for Longview and the Sterling family. And Stella is quite innocent in all this..."

Julian’s dark, fathomless eyes landed on Sophie. He spoke without a single ripple of emotion in his voice, "There is no other way."

Finn was confused. "What do you mean?"

Around them, quite a few people were already whispering.

"If this is true, doesn’t it mean they’ve offended the higher-ups? If the investigation proves that the Sterling family’s future daughter-in-law really did this..."

"Yeah, this is a massive scandal, right? They won’t be able to suppress it..."

"Mr. Sterling and Miss Sutton are so close to tying the knot, and now this happens. Will they still be able to get married?"

Sophie noticed Julian’s gaze intensifying, holding an unfathomable meaning. She didn’t know what Julian was thinking, but one thing was certain: his heart ached for Stella’s predicament, even if the woman had brought it upon herself. She met his stare unflinchingly, her eyes filled with blatant sharpness and mockery. She wanted to see exactly how he planned to clean up this disastrous mess for Stella.

Meeting Sophie’s eyes, Julian finally moved. With his long legs, he took unhurried steps under the watchful eyes of the crowd. He walked toward Sophie, step by step, until he was standing right in front of her.

Without any warning, he grabbed Sophie’s wrist, his slender fingers locking around her like an iron band. Sophie’s expression shifted slightly, and she instinctively struggled to pull away, but he skillfully deflected her strength and effortlessly yanked her against his chest.

Looking down at her, he said nonchalantly, "My wife is Sophie Winslow. What other marriage am I supposed to be having?"