Nathalia had just showered, sat by the dressing table, brushing her hair as she recalled the incident in the day.
Hopefully, there's no trace of suspicion left.
Hearing the knock at her door, she dropped her hairbrush and turned around.
"Dad, you ok? You look worried. It's quite late. Can't you sleep?" Nathalia asked gently, looking concerned.
Frank observed her carefully. She looks genuinely worried about me. I'm probably just thinking too much. He felt relieved. "Those people are evil. They would just do anything to damage our company and family. I'm so glad that you understand and not take it to heart, or I shall regret for the rest of my life."
The incident at the conference today had lowered his guard against Nathalia. It must have been some rival company that plotted the whole thing. They were very well prepared. They even got a copy of the agreement. It's not something that a young girl like Nathalia is capable of doing.
He was rather certain that Nathalia was innocent. She could have said something more helpful at the conference, but she's not used to being in public, so it's understandable that she made some mistakes.
However, he somehow felt like he was missing something, something very important.
He asked Nathalia tentatively, "I was thinking, with those shares..."
Nathalia smiled and reassured him calmly, "Dad, I've given them to you. It's up to you, whatever you do with it. I will support you."
Yet, after what had happened earlier, could he still keep the shares?
Hearing Nathalia's reassurance, Frank felt more trust towards Nathalia, "Good girl. Dad will not let you down."
Nathalia was all smiles, like a cute little cat, content. "As long as you are good and our family's good, then I'm happy."
Frank patted Nathalia on her head to show gratitude and said goodnight.
Just when he was about to fall asleep, his phone rang. He had been exhausted and was relieved to be able to get some sleep finally. Impatiently, he picked up the phone, "Hello?"
A panicked voice on the other side answered, "Mr. Carter, bad news. It's already on the news. A few media companies had reported the conference today. It's on the Internet."
"What?!" Frank jumped up, now completely awake, and dashed to his study, turned on his laptop and searched the news online. The conference was covered from the very beginning to the end, not one single second missing. It couldn't have been more detailed, Zack's ruthless behavior, Frank trying to cover up the truth, Evette verbally attacking Nathalia, Anne being passive and Nathalia forgiving.
He was terrified. I have already persuaded all the media not to cover it. They have all agreed. How did this happen? Who did it?
Anne heard the commotion and awakened. She quickly put on her dressing gown and joined Frank. When she saw what was on the screen, her jaw dropped. "What? Who? Who did it?" Didn't Frank say he's sorted it? What the hell is this?
Frank had no time to answer Anne's questions. Instead, he shouted at the phone, "Call these few companies and ask them to delete it, right now!" he demanded.
"Yes, Mr. Carter. Will do now." the secretary's voice quivered with terror.
"Bang, bang, bang" Frank hung up the phone and smacked the table a few times. How could this happen? They lied to me?!
He kept his eyes fixed on the screen. One minute, two minutes, then five minutes passed, and none had deleted the report. It had over ten thousand hits within a few minutes. Some had even reposted it on Twitter and Facebook. Thousands of comments condemned Carter. Frank was accused of spoiling his son, intending to cover up Zack's violent attack and using his older daughter Nathalia while Anne was called a merciless step-mother. Zack had gained himself more hostility from the public than before the conference.
There was nothing Frank could do to stop it. He had tried calling the managers of the media, but all their phones were off.
He was desperate. He understood very well the trouble and difficulty ahead. The Carters' reputation had been totally destroyed, and to rebuild the public's trust, it would take a very long time.
Meanwhile, he couldn't take anything from Nathalia now, and instead, he had to prove to others that he was a caring father, and he cared for Nathalia a lot. If anything happened to Nathalia, it would be him to blame.
All of a sudden, he picked up the cup on the desk and smashed it onto the floor. He was roaring with rage. One smashing cup didn't take the anger off him, again he smashed the books, the lamp, and everything else on the desk.
Why have we ended up like this? But what can I do now? I still have to pretend to be calm in public. Who is it that set me up? Bastard! I'm going to kill him.
He could foresee the stock price dropping again tomorrow and how the shareholders would threaten him. It was driving him crazy.
Anne collapsed onto the chair, her face pale. "Honey, we have to find out who did it, or it will never stop. This is terrifying. We have to stop it."
Of course, Frank understood that the problem was that he couldn't find out who.
As expected, a group of reporters awaited outside the Carter's in the early morning; stock price hit the lower circuit again; the company was in chaos, and the shareholders outraged.
Frank quickly reacted. He held another brief conference and returned the shares to Nathalia in front of the media, as well as giving her a Rolls Royce as a present.
Anne started spending more time with Nathalia, taking her out shopping, buying her new bags, clothes, shoes, and anything she could think of to please her.
Nathalia accepted gratefully and had been speaking highly of her family to the media. It went on for over a month until things gradually calmed down.
Frank had somehow managed to persuade the Davidson Group and Walken Cooperation to get back to business with the Carter's Group, and the company had slowly got back to steady with the stock price rising back to normal. However, it had not changed how people saw him as a person.