Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 196: The rumors that followed his release

Chapter 196: The rumors that followed his release

Rayne frowned," Then why are you crying if you trust that he isn’t cheating?"

"I’m crying because I’m happy he’s free, and I’m crying because he hasn’t contacted me yet. Could it be that he’s mad at me for something? He’s been back since morning and hasn’t called to inform me, I..."

"Don’t start torturing yourself on things you have no control of, Mia." Rayne warned, but her own voice was strained with emotion as she watched how her best friend crying a river and choking on her tears, but she wasn’t listening to Rayne. She was staring at the screen and listening as reporter said, "Novaria’s Prosecuting Attorney Edward Gideon is about to make a statement from the courthouse there—"

The picture switched to the steps of the courthouse, where a dark-haired man in his thirties was walking out the doors and addressing a mob of reporters waving microphones and shouting questions at him. "Hold your questions," he warned them, putting on a pair of glasses, "until I’ve made my statement, and then I’ll answer what I can."

When the furor died down, he raised the paper he’d been holding in his hand and began to read, "Yesterday, Neil Wayner’s attorneys requested a special meeting with my office here in Novaria. During that meeting we were provided with a sworn statement from Simon Jorgen to the fact that he had framed Wayner to get revenge. Simon also provided the weapons used to commit the murder, which we’d been unable to find on Wayner five years ago. Preliminary ballistic tests performed this morning, indicated that the weapons were indeed used to murder the victims.

Immediately following our meeting with Mr. Wayner’s attorneys, they demanded the release of their client. Neil Wayner has been duly released. There are still some legal formalities to be dealt with regarding his escape from Novaria’s prison two months ago, which technically violates the laws of our country. However, it is the opinion of this office that Mr. Wayner has already paid a high price for his brief illegal freedom with his five years imprisonment for a crime he appears not to have committed. Any questions?" The man asked, looking up at the reporters. There were dozens of them, but the one that came across the loudest was the one he answered.

And Mia continued to watch with tears streaming down her face as the man answered all the questions. She couldn’t believe that Neil had finally succeeded in clearing his name, and she couldn’t believe he’d not gotten to her by now when she’d been praying everyday for this day. It was either he had too many things to do before getting to her or either...he realized he didn’t want to be with her anymore now that he was a free man and his image had been restored, getting back with her would mean ruining his restored imagine...

She sobbed brokenly as she pressed her palm to her mouth, she refused to believe the latter because Neil would never do that. Though it had been eleven hours since his release, she still believed he would call her, perhaps he wanted to surprise her at home rather than call her to inform her. Yes, that could be the case! And she’d clutch on to this possiblity rather than let herself overthink his reason. The day hadn’t ended yet, thus she’d wait!

With those thoughts, Mia wiped off her tears and took a deep breath, then as if she hadn’t been crying just now, she glanced at Rayne and cheerfully asked, "I’m craving fondue, are you going to stay for it?"

Rayne was a bit taken aback by Mia’s quick change of mood, but then she nodded her head, "Sure," and she watched in astonishment as her friend stretched her arms and headed to the kitchen saying, "I’ve been bored the whole day anyway. Thanks for coming here to personally inform me."

"You’re welcome," Rayne said with a smile as she made an effort to uplift her friend’s spirits. Since she had no plans for the day, she decided to join Mia in the kitchen to assist her. However, as she was about to move forward, she overheard the television reporter discussing Liam Thompson’s latest girlfriend, Linda Tudor. Rayne couldn’t help but express her disgust, scoffing at the screen when she saw Liam’s photo alongside his ’girlfriend’.

"What’s the matter?" Mia inquired upon noticing Rayne’s reaction to the television.

"I can’t believe this guy, he’s such a player! Linda Tudor is his tenth girlfriend this year; he changes women as often as he changes clothes! I hate men like that, especially Liam Thompson!" Rayne vented, "I can’t believe he was my teenage crush; if my younger self knew this side of him, I would have despised him just as much as I do now!"

Just seeing his face on the screen made Rayne feel the urge to scratch his handsome features with her nails. Men like Liam deserved to be run over by trucks! Despite recently losing his father, he showed no hesitation in cycling through women as if they were disposable items.

Noticing the repulsed expression on Rayne’s face while she watched the entertainment news about Liam, Mia couldn’t help but smile slightly as she remarked, "Liam isn’t as bad as they make him out to be. I’ve actually met him in person, and from my interactions with him, he seems like a decent guy. Don’t judge him based on what you see in the news; you should get to know the real him. Honestly, he comes across as more attractive and courteous than how he’s portrayed in the media."

Rayne shook her head, declining Mia’s offer, "No, thanks. I’ll pass. I have no interest in getting to know the real him. All I know is that he’s repulsive. Besides, I have Max by my side. Liam Thompson can do whatever he pleases with his life for all I care. My memories of him from my teenage years weren’t pleasant either. He never responded to my affectionate letters, and he returned all the gifts I sent him without even opening them. I’ve moved on from him."

To shift the conversation, Rayne guided Mia back to the kitchen, asking, "Now that Neil is back, what are your plans?"

Mia’s smile faded slightly, "I’ll just wait for him."

****

Soon, the entire world heard about Neil Wayner’s release and the Injustice done upon him for five years. Everyone began to talk online, momentarily forgetting Mia’s scandal. To show their sincere apologies to the country’s hero, many citizens came out with candles and cardboards papers with words of apologies written on them, singing on the streets for Neil. They couldn’t believe they’d misjudged a man who’d dedicated his entire life to protect their country, and now that he was proven innocent, everyone wanted to make up for what they’d done.

Even the president sent an invitation to invite Neil Wayner to the presidential house, but ever since Neil’s return, he hadn’t acknowledged anyone’s invitation nor did he make any effort to answer the reporters swimming outside the hotel he was staying.

Young elite women who’d found him attractive even when he was still a fugitive, were willing to give anything to get his attention, but Neil wasn’t responding to anyone, he remained in the hotel room for two days and it was making people worry that something had happened to him. Rumors spread online about his relationship with the super model they’d seen on the television on the day of his release, and since Neil didn’t come out to clarify any of the rumors about him, the people believed it to be true.

And they all began to blame Mia for his lack of responses to everything happening. They believed he must have been so heartbroken by her betrayal of whoring around with many men online that he refused to come out or make any statement to the media. They began to drag Mia’s name to the mud again and many people despised her even more than they did before. To impress their hero, they made sure to make Mia more miserable than she already was.

All of her verified social media accounts were banned, and she was banned from traveling to some certain countries as they believed her to be a bad influence to their youths. And as everything was happening, Owen, who’d initially thought Neil’s release as bad luck, couldn’t have felt more happier at the outcome.

At first he’d thought Neil would go to Mia the moment he was released, but the man proved him wrong by not caring to even restore her image. Owen had been so mad at the news of his release he’d wanted to kill Simon’s entire family for confessing to the crime, but then when he saw the news about Mia, it made him happier. And besides Simon was a useless man he’d planned to kill after Kelvin Rodrigo made him the boss of the underworld months ago, but his imprisonment now had made things much easier for him. He’d soon take over Kelvin Rodrigo and be the big boss with no one to compete with him.

However, before he’d do that, he wanted to make Mia his so that she’d be the queen of the kingdom he planned to build. Wayner was no longer a threat to him as long as he didn’t interfere with his plans for Mia.

Now all he had to do was to take his final steps at the birthday banquet tomorrow evening, and everything would fall into place as planned!