Ex husband's Plea for Forgiveness novel Chapter 91

When the next press conference was called for, Melinda put all her chips on the line like a seasoned gambler sure of her victory. Husband and wife appeared together as they took their seats.

"Let me make the introductions," Jonas started. "Everyone, this is my wife, Melinda."

"Hello, everyone." Melinda smiled warmly at the crowd. They laid their linked hands on the table, and the diamond ring on her left finger caught the raging flashes of the camera.

The conference commenced.

"I know there have been various speculations on the internet about my relationship with Miss Emily Bai," Jonas said.

The room quieted. He had decided to take the bull by the horns, and didn’t wait for the press to ask their questions before diving right into the issue.

"I will clarify this for you for the last time. Miss Bai and I were playmates in childhood. The love of my life is right here beside me." He turned to look at Melinda, and the cameras went wild again.

"I will not stand for my wife getting slandered and maligned by strangers who know nothing about our lives and only have too much time on their hands.

If the ugly rumors do not stop after this, I will not hesitate to use legal means to give pursuit to the defamers."

The authority in Jonas's voice sent a chill to everyone who listened. There was no mistaking the man’s serious attitude regarding attacks against his wife.

The members of the press twittered among themselves, and then suddenly a murmur of praises for the couple circled around.

After such a revelation, only fools would still think that the rumors were true, let alone think of spreading it even further. They knew all too well their careers would be over if they crossed the Gu family.

However, nobody knew of the "fake" members of the press that Emily’s team had planted in the conference. Their only purpose for being in attendance was to sow conflict and doubt, and reaffirm the rumors between Emily and Jonas.

And one of them was now raising his hand to pose his question. "Mr. Gu, this is your second press conference. All this time, we’ve only ever heard from you. Miss Bai has yet to tell her side of the story.

Why do you seem so eager to put a stop to the inquiries before she could do so? Are there perhaps secrets that you are anxious might leak into the public?"

Before anyone could even react to that, another of Emily’s cahoots shot a question. "There have also been talks that you and your wife didn’t actually get along well for many years. And this is the first time that you appeared together and acknowledged her in public.

One can’t help but think it’s a little bit staged. Aren’t you just forcing yourselves to display your so-called affections to the media?"

"Forced?" It was Melinda, and her sudden interjection obviously took the press aback. "Do you really think Jonas is the kind of person who would settle down when he is being pressured to do something he doesn’t want?"

Beside her, Jonas was quiet, and his face bore no emotion. But his grip tightened around his wife’s hand.

Melinda gave him a little nudge, and he turned to look at her. When he did, the cold wall melted, and his face took on a gentle and warm expression.

He smiled down at his wife, and when he looked ahead to address the press once more, his tone was much calmer. "I believe Miss Bai will explain it all very clearly very soon."

Meanwhile, at that moment, Emily was cooped up in their agency with her assistant. Her team had come up with a plan to use the rumor mill to take advantage of Jonas.

They had no intentions whatsoever to make a statement to the press, and instead would milk the hype for all that it was worth. Publicity was publicity, no matter the form.

Emily’s assistant was always up to date with all the buzz in the internet. That being the case, it didn’t take long for her to find out that something happened in Jonas's press conference. Something that was going to cause the agency problems. "Some of the fans and netizens are now in favor of Melinda," she told Emily. "Although the online trolls we hired still have a sway on the public opinion, they probably wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long.

We’ll have to make a press release and devise a script that would imply there are some truths to the rumors."

The actress only nodded in assent. She had no qualms in taking such a drastic step. Before she could get excited over the impending publicity, however, she received a call from Jonas.

"Emily." He didn’t bother with pleasantries, and his tone was curt and authoritative. "Deal with the media immediately." She gripped her phone tightly and bit her lower lip. She could feel herself shaking a little, her emotions a mix of anger and humiliation. "I don’t know what you mean."

"Don’t play dumb with me. I know you know exactly what I mean." Emily scrambled for an excuse. Jonas had yet to threaten her, but she could already feel the heavy pressure of his intent.

"No, I’m serious. I’ve been too busy shooting." Her eyes fell on her assistant. "My assistant hasn’t told me anything yet because I’ve been so busy and tired these past few days. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to ask her lat—"

"Is that so?" Jonas's tone had taken deadly calm over the phone. "It seems like you have too many projects in your hands. Perhaps I should take some of it off, so you can take care of this matter like I’m telling you to?"

Emily paled. There was no mistake now; the threat was that he was going to pull out his investments if she continued with the rumors.

He no longer believed anything she said, and Emily doubted that she could still persuade him if she talked about their past.

"I understand," she bit out her words. "I’ll explain to the media."

"Good. A piece of advice, Emily: you’d better make your explanations clear and precise, and soon, too. Otherwise, there’s no telling what other things the media could dig up. They might even find out you’re not as perfect as your public image suggests."

Emily’s breath hitched at his last sentence. She really couldn’t trifle with this man anymore.

He had the power to not only take away her current projects, but keep her out of the entertainment industry altogether.

She closed her eyes in defeat, and took a deep breath. She had to bite the bullet. "I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Jonas. I never meant for this to happen. I’ll clear this out with the media immediately."

No words were exchanged after that; he had hung up the phone. Emily paced back and forth long after the call ended.

She felt suffocated; all at once the world came crashing around her, and all her favorable options flew out the window. Whatever might happen in the future, her only salvation now would be to remove herself from Jonas's enemy list.

Before the day ended, she uploaded a video on Weibo that refuted the rumors. She made sure to mention that she had been busy with her projects, and implied that she was unaware just how big the story had blown up online.

Regardless, she made a somewhat public apology to Melinda, and at the same time apologized for her fans for their cyber-attacks on Jonas's wife.

As things stood then, she could not afford to lose any amount of support; she had to make sure she didn’t offend anyone any further, especially among the involved parties.

Her apology video garnered many views, and was shared around the internet countless times. Pretty soon, netizens on various online forums were apologizing to Melinda.

Some even praised the relationship between Melinda and Jonas. And thus, the crisis passed smoothly. More or less. Emily’s agency was angered by her Weibo video. They had been riding on the publicity brought by the rumors after all.

"What do you want me to do?" Emily screamed at them when the management called for her. "If I didn’t make that damn video, the show wouldn’t have thirty million dollars, and your stupid agency would lose one of its biggest-earning stars!"

This situation only served to increase the tension that had long existed between Emily and the agency.

"Enough! I don’t want to hear this stuff! If there’s nothing else, I need to get back to my shoot. I advise you not to pursue this matter with me, or you’ll find yourselves in an extremely regrettable predicament."

Emily had been quite popular recently, due to the number of projects she landed, added to the publicity of the rumors. She had fame at her disposal, and she’d be damned if she didn’t use that to her advantage.

Losing her connections with Jonas would probably have a big impact on her popularity afterwards, but she would never take it down lying.

Her mind was already working furiously on the way back to the set, calculating the possibilities. It was dark by the time she got there, and all the shit she had to deal with that day showed on her face.

"Emily, are you okay? You don’t look so good." It was one of the young emerging actors, who was working on the same project, only he was represented by another company. He had a gentle and caring image, and was very popular among the younger audiences.

Now he was looking at Emily with eyes full of concern. This was the opportunity she was looking for. If she was linked romantically with this guy, she knew she would have better chances at maintaining her popularity, perhaps gaining even more of it.

She lowered her lashes, feigning distress. "I guess I caught a cold, but I’m fine. Thank you for your concern." She gave him a coy smile and batted her eyes subtly.

"I saw what went on in the Internet. Don’t worry too much about it. Clean hands need no washing. I believe you."

They smiled at each other: he in comfort, she in triumph. He never recognized the cunning that lurked behind her eyes.

When the press conference was over, Jonas and Melinda returned to the Gu's mansion together. Melinda quickly went over to her daily tasks, and Jonas would pop in every now and then for the most trivial things. It didn’t take long for her feel uncomfortable.

"Jonas, don’t you have other things to do?" Although he was suspended from his position, he still had many business matters that needed seeing to.

"Nothing particularly urgent," came his breezy reply. He sat next to her on the sofa and brought his face closer to hers, brushing her ear as he whispered. "Isn’t this great? I have so much time now, I can spend it all on you."

His tiny breaths as he spoke sent shivers along Melinda’s body, making her think inappropriate thoughts. She could feel her face get hot, and out of the blue Jonas poked her cheek with his forefinger.

She jumped at the contact, and whipped her head to look at him. He was staring at her intently with a kind of raw hunger. She watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down a couple of times.

"I..." she breathed, and his gaze fell on her mouth. "I have something else to do." She stood up abruptly, dropping the book she was reading. "You’re welcome to stay in the villa by yourself." She hurriedly walked out of the room, leaving Jonas chuckling to himself.

As soon as she was out of her villa, her strides slowed. She paused for a minute to catch her breath and fan herself.

"Calm down, Melinda. You need to calm down." She patted her face several times, took more deep breaths, and then headed towards the main villa.

She found Nelson playing chess with one of his business associates. Melinda stood quietly by until they finished their set, and the guest left.

When they were alone, she walked over behind the old man and gave him a light shoulder massage. He had been stiff as he had sat playing for quite some time, and he settled comfortably as she kneaded his shoulders. "Grandpa, there’s something I would like to discuss with you."

The old man grinned at her sly tactics. "You little girl, you know how to butter me up before asking, don’t you? What is it, then? Let’s hear it."

"Grandpa, do you think you could reinstate Jonas back at the company."

At that, Nelson turned around and gave her a look. "No way." He had made up his mind to teach his idiot grandson a lesson, and he was going to see it through to the end.

Melinda made him look forward again and continued her massage. "Grandpa, you don’t understand. He’s here all day, disturbing me and... and before long he’ll be disturbing you, too. And he's really annoying."

Melinda cringed at her own words, but she really had nothing to back up her request. She knew that if she told the truth, that her husband’s constant presence was unsettling her—and not in a bad way—she would never hear the end of it. "Grandpa, you need him back at the company to deal with the business."

Nelson turned to look at her again, this time with an eyebrow raised. "Did he ask you to come here and try to persuade me? Come on, don’t be afraid. Tell me the truth."

Melinda heaved a long sigh. "No, Grandpa. I came here myself. It’s just... well, he’s already handled the issue with the rumors, and we’re no longer having any troubles. Grandpa, please give him back his position."

Jonas had been effectively flirting and seducing her ever since they got back to the mansion. Already, she was buckling under the pressure of just a few hours. If it kept up for a few more days, there was no way she could ever resist.

"Are you sure he didn’t make you do this?" Nelson cocked his head to the side, still doubtful.

Melinda nodded furiously. "He has no idea I even came to you. Don’t worry about me Grandpa. Just promise, please, to let him go back to the company. If you really want to punish him, think of it this way: he would owe me this favor, and I can use it as payback to him in the future."

She waited expectantly for his answer. Nelson didn’t give her a solid answer besides a vague "I'll think about it."

Pondering for a few minutes, the old man asked Gavin to bring Jonas to his study. As soon as Jonas came into his study, Nelson said to him, "Make sure to be loyal to Melinda in the future."