Debra was too smart to fool.


    Marion sighed, "Can I lie?"


    "No, you can''t," Debra replied firmly.


    Marion pulled out his phone and showed her the call log. On the top of the list was a call from an unknown number fromst night.


    But to Debra, that number was all too familiar. "Juan self-directed that show?"


    ...


    Barton stepped into Andrew''s room, clearly troubled. "Sir, you have to step in and do something."


    "He told her himself," Andrew replied ndly. "I didn''t force him."


    "But Mr. Houston is going to destroy everything in the house."


    Andrew rubbed his temples, regretting bringing these people to his house.


    "Take me to him."


    "Yes, sir."


    Barton wheeled Andrew to the hallway, and they saw Marion sitting in the living room.


    Darts were thrown at a ss vase worth five figures. A secondter, the vase shattered into pieces.


    As Marion went on to pick up a knife from the table, Barton rushed up to stop him. "Mr. Houston, you can''t throw that."


    "Who said I was going to throw it?" Marion casually picked up an apple and began peeling it with the knife.


    Barton nced at the living room, now a chaotic mess. The maids were frantically cleaning up.


    "If you want to break things, do it at your


    mine stop wrecking


    .n


    mine," Andrew said, noting said, noting Marion''s


    bad mood. "You told her yourself. Can''t me others." Conton


    The apple peel in Marion''s hand snapped. He shot Andrew a cold re. "I wanted to lie but didn''t dare."


    "Where is Debra?" Andrew asked.


    "Oh, that''s right. She must''ve gone to find Juan. Otherwise, you wouldn''t


    be here tearing apart my house."


    BUMS


    Marion abruptly drove the knife into the apple. The de struck with such force that it prated not only the apple but also the tter beneath it.


    "My bad," he said. "I slipped."


    He got up and stormed upstairs. That was indeed a slip. He''d been itching to send that knife straight into Andrew''s smug mouth.


    Barton inspected the tter and table. The knife had pierced halfway into the wood beneath the ss.


    "Sir, the table''s ruined."


    "Put it on the tab. Debra will pay for it."


    "Sir, what if she finds Juan?"


    "She won''t."


    Juan wouldn''t show up to meet Debra. That was why he hadn''t bothered stopping Marion from spilling the beans.


    This whole scheme wasn''t meant to deceive Debra but to shape public opinion.


    The narrative was already set. Whether Debra knew the truth or not didn''t matter.


    Enough people had seen Juan attacking her with a knife. Marion had been injured during the process and sent to the hospital.


    By the time the date on the contract was due, Juan would no longer be fit to remain the CEO of the Nichols Group.