Chapter 185 Stella Sutton and I Are Sisters-in-Law

Chapter 185: Chapter 185: Stella Sutton and I Are Sisters-in-Law

Sophie Winslow thought she had heard wrong.

Her expression froze for a moment, her heart violently twisting in her chest. She looked up in disbelief. "Are you crazy?"

In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to rip Julian Sterling’s chest open to see if his heart was even made of flesh! He knew perfectly well about the grudges she had with the Sutton family.

Julian didn’t answer her. He bent down to look at the little girl and spoke in a gentle voice. "They’re handing out little cakes over there. Do you want to go get one?"

The little girl’s eyes instantly sparkled. After waving at Sophie, she skipped away.

Only then did Julian straighten up and meet Sophie’s gaze. He looked at the pure hatred in her eyes, as if their years of affection as a married couple had been completely pulverized. He remained silent for a moment before giving a faint, ambiguous smile. "You know as well as I do that there have been a lot of rumors lately, which isn’t good for anyone. It’s just a matter of saying a single sentence. It shouldn’t be too hard."

"Whether she lives or dies, what does it have to do with me?" Sophie’s eyes were full of mockery. To say she wasn’t furious would be a lie.

Julian would do absolutely anything for Stella Sutton’s reputation and glamour! Even if it meant carving out Sophie’s heart! Wasn’t this just forcing her, the victim, to scrub away the home-wrecker label for the other woman?

Julian didn’t mind Sophie’s sharpness, nor did he raise his voice. His tone was perfectly steady. "This won’t do you any harm. The paperwork for the Winslow family’s antique shop will be processed by next month at the latest. It’s a good thing for everything to be resolved smoothly before then, isn’t it?"

Sophie’s scalp went numb, and she stared at him in utter disbelief. He was using the Winslow family’s antique shop to threaten her? When they signed the agreement, it was stipulated that the antique shop would be transferred to her in a year, provided she didn’t remarry or expose the fact of their divorce. Now, it had become another one of Julian’s bargaining chips!

"Julian?"

Right on cue, Stella walked over, forcefully interrupting the tense atmosphere. Or rather, she interrupted Sophie’s one-sided fury.

Actually, Stella had seen Sophie talking to Julian from a distance. Her pride had been trampled on all day. She had been ordered by Philip Preston to apologize, and had been outsmarted by Sophie into making Julian declare that she was just an employee. No matter how much resentment she harbored, she couldn’t just throw a fit and leave; after all, she still needed to curry favor with Philip. Now, seeing Sophie pestering Julian again, Stella’s face darkened. After scanning the area and confirming that Philip was nowhere nearby, she made her approach.

Stopping by Julian’s side, she naturally looped her arm through his. She observed Sophie from the corner of her eye, seemingly magnanimous and forgiving. "Since you’re going to announce that I’m your older sister, why don’t you ride in the car with Julian and me? My dad booked a restaurant for a family dinner today. We can all eat together. It’ll better prove to the outside world how harmonious we are."

Sophie gave a deadpan smirk. So Stella had overheard them. And now she was smugly gloating that Julian was protecting her, deliberately trying to disgust Sophie, fully expecting her to play along.

"What kind of dinner? Are you going to hold a masterclass on how to seduce your own sister’s husband?" she retorted.

"Sophie, you really don’t appreciate a kind gesture." Stella’s expression shifted slightly as she instinctively glanced around, worried that the walls might have ears.

Julian stood tall and unmoving, though he cast a sidelong glance at Sophie’s breathtakingly gorgeous yet thorny face. He wasn’t angered by her vulgar wording. He merely arched his brow with a careless, half-smiling expression.

Having no desire to further entangle herself with this cheating scumbag and his shameless mistress, Sophie turned and left the moment she finished cursing them out. She worried that dealing with them any longer would shorten her lifespan!

Stella was furious, but on second thought, she figured that this was the extent of Sophie’s class. The woman would never amount to anything. Besides, no man would ever like such an aggressive, unyielding shrew. Earlier today, Julian had been forced to deny their relationship because of Philip’s presence. Pursing her lips, Stella looked up at him. "Julian, you’ll join my family for dinner, won’t you?"

Julian looked down, his handsome, stoic face as unreadable as ever. "I’ll make time."

A sweet smile instantly bloomed on Stella’s cheeks. No matter what happened, their bond would never be affected by outside forces! Sophie’s wishful thinking would still come to nothing.

That evening.

Sophie met up with Ivy Hawthorne, who had finally finished her busy day.

After boiling a slice of lamb in the hotpot, Ivy SLAPPED her chopsticks down onto the table. "He’s just doing this to make you miserable! Telling the public that Stella Sutton is your sister is just doing damage control for her, isn’t it?"

Sophie stirred the sesame paste in her bowl, completely distracted. "There’s no way Julian could bear to see Stella get scolded."

"In his dreams! He’s delusional!" Ivy fumed with indignation. "Why is everyone in the Sterling family trying to suck your blood dry? These powerful, capitalist families are full of monsters and demons. Once you go in, you get eaten alive until not even your bones remain."

Sophie massaged her temples. "Right now, they’re holding all my weaknesses." Both her divorce certificate and the Winslow family’s assets were in their hands.

"So you’re just going to let Stella take advantage of you like that? Not only will she clear her name as a home-wrecker, but when the time comes for her to actually discuss marriage with Julian, people will have forgotten most of this. Then she can jump out and say you were never sisters to begin with, allowing her to logically marry him. She gets all the benefits."

Sophie pondered for a moment. "Of course I won’t let her have it easy."

Ivy sucked on the tips of her chopsticks and asked, "You have an idea?"

Sophie lowered her head and began shoving large mouthfuls of meat into her mouth. "Tomorrow’s problems can be discussed tomorrow."

The next day.

Sophie made her Moments public and posted a new update along with a picture.

"No need to guess anymore, everyone. Stella Sutton is my older sister. She is working for my husband’s company, so their day-to-day interactions are strictly business. Rather than just sisters, you could also say we are sisters-in-law. Stella was once engaged to a member of the Sterling family, so moving forward, Julian and I will have to start referring to her as our sister-in-law."

Her accompanying picture was a screenshot of the public email address she had used as Faye for many years, an address well-known to many industry insiders. She had drafted an official statement from that email.

It clarified that the database for Digital Chinese Medicine was previously in a partnership with Stella Sutton personally, and that Stella was the point of contact, not Longview. It explicitly noted that Faye would prioritize collaborating with Longview in the future. For one, it cleverly avoided directly confirming or denying whether Stella had maliciously registered the trademark. Secondly, it salvaged Longview’s reputation, acting as an anchor in the storm.

Ivy sent Sophie a voice message first thing in the morning, squealing in a high-pitched, excited tone. "Girl, you are amazing! You granted Julian’s wish by clearing his sweetheart’s name as your sister, but then you directly dragged out the fact that Stella was engaged to another Sterling family member, making her your sister-in-law! You totally nailed them to the pillar of public morality! Isn’t this just completely publicly shutting down any chance for Stella to develop a deeper relationship with Julian like she wants to?"

Sophie had done it entirely on purpose. She had followed Julian’s instructions, after all.

She had indeed scrubbed away Stella’s identity as a mistress—only she had used their status as sisters-in-law to do it. Only they knew that the second branch of the Sterling family would never accept Stella now. These words essentially crushed any hope Stella had of marrying Julian, making it virtually impossible for her to ever marry into the Sterling family again. After all, she was labeled both a sister and a former sister-in-law. Unless the Sterling family went completely insane, they would never allow Stella to openly marry into their ranks; it would utterly ruin the Sterling family’s reputation. One woman marrying two cousins would be far too humiliating to speak of. For a prominent family, face and corporate image were paramount.

"The Sutton woman must be going crazy with anger, right?" Ivy laughed so hard she slapped her thigh.

Sophie didn’t care about the other party. All she knew was that since Julian had voluntarily gone public with their marriage, her previous promise to Madam Sterling to hide their marriage and Stella’s status as a prospective sister-in-law was now void. At any rate, the Sterling family had several branches and numerous collateral relatives. She hadn’t explicitly stated who Stella had been engaged to, thereby avoiding spilling any deeper secrets. It was perfectly fine to use this fact as a weapon.

She didn’t have time to worry about Stella’s reaction anyway, because Longview’s Official Account had just reposted her clarifying Moments text and the email statement from "Faye" to restore Longview’s credibility.

In an instant, with "Faye" endorsing Longview, and Stella cast as both her sister and sister-in-law, all the conflicts seemed to magically resolve themselves. From an outsider’s perspective, there was no longer any credibility crisis to speak of.

In just one short morning, the company received numerous consultation calls. Several partners who had previously withheld payments cheerfully reached out to arrange their transfers, acting as if nothing had ever happened.