He Chose the So-Called Sister Chapter 269: The Fallout

[Just look at his face—textbook selfish narcissist.]

Henry got dragged into the mess.

Then there was George—

[I won't even comment on that guy. Total psycho pretending he's not. Never could stand him, and surprise—birds of a feather flock together.]

[Honestly? I've seen rumors before. They got buried, but remember when everyone said Gilbert treated Wendy like gold? Built up her family's name?]

[And now he ships her off to Zalari? For what? Was she always just a stand-in for Julia?]

Now that the real thing was back, Wendy had outlived her usefulness.

Why else send her to Zalari?

A stand-in.

Something that only happens in novels without consequences.

In real life? The four of them were getting destroyed online, burned so bad they couldn't show their faces.

Henry, especially. For someone in his profession, this was a disaster. He sat there in silence, staring at nothing.

Then came the message—top brass putting him on leave.

Milton handles this kind of thing. Last time, because of Sherry, Henry rubbed him the wrong way, so Milton targeted him at every turn.

This was clearly tailor-made to go after him.

Suspended. Not fired, but still—a public humiliation.

Gilbert clapped his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. You're not getting suspended. You did nothing wrong."

"Exactly!" Henry's outburst made Gilbert jump. "I did nothing wrong. I just asked if Sherry felt any guilt. That's all I said!

"Why are people calling me heartless? I'm heartless? She's the one who's cold-blooded!

"Who airs private business like this? We're supposed to be her friends. I'm close with her husband. And she does this publicly?

"Let's see how she plans to fix this."

They'd never admit fault. In their minds, Sherry was guilty and just dodging responsibility.

As for Wendy...

Gilbert scrolled through the attacks. "Maybe we went too far? Wendy—"

George cut him off. "We already discussed this. With how things are between them, it would've escalated."

Henry nodded. "Things could've gotten out of hand. I'm not taking sides, but Wendy never stood a chance against Julia. Sending her away protects her too.

"Otherwise, they'd tear each other apart and all that sisterly love would shatter. Nobody wins."

They hadn't done anything wrong. They'd chosen the safest option. What did the public know?

Then Sherry's voice message came through.

"You chose Julia over Wendy. You're afraid Wendy might do something drastic and hurt Julia."

So they shipped her off. Permanent solution. Cold, but effective.

And they had the nerve to act noble. Same kind of people, same kind of thinking.

"From now on, I don't want to hear a single one of you say Wendy's situation is my fault. Anyone who does gets slapped. You know I'm not kidding."

The threat landed. They sat there, stunned.

Sherry was actually threatening them now.

And the worst part? They'd all seen her throw a punch.

Julia scoffed inwardly. A woman hitting a man? Please.

The only reason Sherry had landed that hit before was that Julia hadn't fought back. Embarrassing, so she'd kept quiet about it.

She didn't feel like it hurt that much—just a regular woman's swing.

What Julia didn't know was that Sherry hadn't gone all out. There were people around, and cameras too. Sherry only needed Julia to look bad, and she nailed that. She didn't want to end up locked up again.

But Sherry was done being a punching bag for their lies. From now on, any dirt they tried to throw? She'd throw it right back on the spot.

And now? Wendy's deportation to Zalari was supposed to be quiet and disappear from public view. She'd only had that one supporting role anyway.