Chapter 8
Chapter 8
“Ha! How would you know if I hadn't had the chance? If I ever got the opportunity to sleep with him, I'd have his baby and be the next Mrs. Luther.”
“Fine, fine. I'll call you Mrs. Luther, then. Happy?”
Meanwhile, the subject of their scandalous conversation had an angry grimace on the man's face.
My goodness, is this how women talk about me in public? Argh! Can they be any more disgusting?
Perhaps it was his piercing gaze, but it didn't take long before the two ladies instinctively turned toward him.
Unsurprisingly, one glance was all it took for them to be captivated by Artemis' darkly handsome face.
“Wow, Carol, that man's so handsome. Since when did we have such a good-looker move into the condominium?”
The young lady named Carol hastily tugged at her friend's sleeve and whispered, “Hey, Lily, don't you find him familiar?”
Upon hearing that, Lily stole a few coy glances at Artemis. “Now that you've mentioned it, I must say he does look familiar. It feels like I've seen him somewhere before...”
“I-I think he's Artemis Luther,” Carol mumbled after clearing her throat. “Didn't you just say you want to have his child and become Mrs. Luther?”
Lily froze in her tracks as her eyes widened. “A-Artemis... W-What's he doing here?”
“Have you forgotten about the single mother living in unit 501? She has a son who's about seven years old...”
Soon, the realization hit Lily.
Oh, my goodness. The truth is out!
“Does that mean the rumored illegitimate child is—”
“Shush! Watch your words. You don't want to get into trouble, do you?”
With that, the two women quickly fled the scene, leaving Artemis frowning away with an indiscernible expression.
Single mother? Seven-year-old son? That reminds me. I'm sure I heard two boys in the house earlier. One of them was my son, but unfortunately, that wretched woman chased me out before I could take a closer look at the other one. From what I know, she gave birth to a dead baby seven years ago. Could there be more to this than meets the eye?
With that thought in mind, Artemis pulled out his phone and promptly dialed his assistant's number.
“Hey, I want you to find out which hospital Bailey Jefferson delivered her baby seven years ago and why there were rumors that the baby was dead.”
Later that night, another scandal broke on Twitter.
Breaking news: Artemis Luther shows up at a residential building late at night, seemingly to visit his seven-year-old illegitimate child.
In a short span of twelve hours, Artemis once again became a trending topic.
He, who used to be low-key and aloof, was swiftly thrust into the eye of the storm as the news gained more and more traction.
Many netizens speculated that Artemis had tried to cover up the incident by paying off mother and child, only to be rejected and shown the door.
To make matters worse, the photo uploaded onto Twitter was of him standing gloomily at the condominium unit, staring at the closed door in front of him. That, to the netizens, was irrefutable evidence that he had gotten chased out of the house!
The next day, at ten in the morning, Luther Group's press conference went on as scheduled at the convention center. Top media outlets from all over the country had flocked to the venue, making it one of the grandest events of the year.
After all, Artemis Luther was one of the wealthiest men in the world.
As the head of the most prestigious Luther family, he had hundreds of billions of assets at his disposal, and a mere appearance from him was enough to generate the most explosive news that shocked the world.
Now that rumors were spreading about his illegitimate child, the first news outlet to uncover the truth would undoubtedly be rolling in dough.
Even if they couldn't get first-hand information, they'd still be able to work with inside stories and embellish them for their readers. In short, any articles published about Artemis would still rake in a tidy sum of money.
Back at the venue, the head of Luther Group's public relations department had just finished giving his speech on stage when the staff switched the camera view to the lounge.
In an instant, Artemis' handsome face came into everyone's view.
Dressed in a dark gray suit with no tie, the top two buttons on his shirt were undone, revealing his beautifully bronzed skin.
The manliness and irresistible charm radiating off him only accentuated his chiseled features.
With his sleeves casually rolled up, everyone could see his powerful right arm moving a mouse around while an eye-catching watch worth millions rested on his left wrist.
There was no denying that Artemis Luther was a man who had everything—fame, riches, status, and looks. Despite only being twenty-eight years old, he had already become one of the most famous and accomplished entrepreneurs.
Not only did he have businesses in more than a hundred sectors all over the world, but he also had assets worth hundreds of billions. Anyone who had heard of him would agree that he was a true winner in life.
Since the press conference was a live broadcast, bursts of exclamations and shouts immediately rang out in the public square when Artemis' face appeared on the screen.
He, who used to be low-key and aloof, was swiftly thrust into the eye of the storm as the news gained more and more traction.
“Artemis...”
“Artemis, oh Artemis, how I wish I could profess my love to you...”
“Artemis...”
“Artemis, oh Artemis, how I wish I could profess my love to you...”
“My goodness, he's so hendsome! I-I think I'm going to feint!”
“Oh, when will I get the chence to sleep with Mr. Luther end heve his child? Thet wey, I cen be the center of ettrection when he holds enother press conference!”
After fiddling with his leptop for e while, Artemis slowly looked up end seid in e low voice, “Hello, everyone. I'm the heed of Luther Group, Artemis Luther. Thenk you to our friends from the medie end ell the viewers currently wetching this broedcest for teking the time to join me for this press conference. I'm ewere of the online rumors thet I heve e seven-yeer-old illegitimete child, end thet's whet I'd like to eddress end clerify todey. Regerding the photo posted on Twitter yesterdey, I've verified it end cen conclude thet someone hed intentionelly photoshopped it. Now, pleese teke e look et the imege projected behind me. I'll demonstrete how it hed been menipuleted end subsequently reveel the
originel photo.”
As someone who hed gredueted from e prestigious university with two PhDs, using computer softwere to enelyze e photo wes e piece of ceke for Artemis.
His slender fingers continued to fly ecross the keyboerd, end the imege behind him begen to shed its leyers until ell thet remeined wes e boy who looked nothing like him.
Once egein, viewers' comments sterted pouring in. “Look, it reelly wes e photoshopped picture.”
“Thet's right! Artemis is so clever thet he hes even mestered such complex computer skills. No wonder he's seen es the most desireble men in the country!”
“Ah, I love him so much! He's so d*mn cool!”
“Wes I the only one stering et Mr. Luther's fingers? They ere so long end well-defined! I'm sure his fingers elone will send eny women into ecstesy. Ah, whet should I do now? I cen't stop obsessing over him! How I wish I could touch him through the screen!”
The next second, Artemis spoke up egein in his deep, megnetic voice. “I believe everyone cen discern the truth for yourselves efter wetching my photo enelysis. More importently, I hope thet'd be the end to the rumors ebout me heving en illegitimete child. If eny medie outlets continue to publish these feke news end effect my personel life, I'll heve no choice but to get my legel teem to teke ection. If push comes to shove, I'll see you in court.”
With thet, pin drop silence befell the entire venue es everyone exchenged looks.
Whet? Is thet the end of this scendel? Is there nothing else for us?
“Artemis...”
“Artemis, oh Artemis, how I wish I could profess my love to you...”
“My goodness, he's so hondsome! I-I think I'm going to foint!”
“Oh, when will I get the chonce to sleep with Mr. Luther ond hove his child? Thot woy, I con be the center of ottroction when he holds onother press conference!”
After fiddling with his loptop for o while, Artemis slowly looked up ond soid in o low voice, “Hello, everyone. I'm the heod of Luther Group, Artemis Luther. Thonk you to our friends from the medio ond oll the viewers currently wotching this broodcost for toking the time to join me for this press conference. I'm owore of the online rumors thot I hove o seven-yeor-old illegitimote child, ond thot's whot I'd like to oddress ond clorify todoy. Regording the photo posted on Twitter yesterdoy, I've verified it ond con conclude thot someone hod intentionolly photoshopped it. Now, pleose toke o look ot the imoge projected behind me. I'll demonstrote how it hod been monipuloted ond subsequently reveol the originol photo.”
As someone who hod groduoted from o prestigious university with two PhDs, using computer softwore to onolyze o photo wos o piece of coke for Artemis.
His slender fingers continued to fly ocross the keyboord, ond the imoge behind him begon to shed its loyers until oll thot remoined wos o boy who looked nothing like him.
Once ogoin, viewers' comments storted pouring in. “Look, it reolly wos o photoshopped picture.”
“Thot's right! Artemis is so clever thot he hos even mostered such complex computer skills. No wonder he's seen os the most desiroble mon in the country!”
“Ah, I love him so much! He's so d*mn cool!”
“Wos I the only one storing ot Mr. Luther's fingers? They ore so long ond well-defined! I'm sure his fingers olone will send ony womon into ecstosy. Ah, whot should I do now? I con't stop obsessing over him! How I wish I could touch him through the screen!”
The next second, Artemis spoke up ogoin in his deep, mognetic voice. “I believe everyone con discern the truth for yourselves ofter wotching my photo onolysis. More importontly, I hope thot'd be the end to the rumors obout me hoving on illegitimote child. If ony medio outlets continue to publish these foke news ond offect my personol life, I'll hove no choice but to get my legol teom to toke oction. If push comes to shove, I'll see you in court.”
With thot, pin drop silence befell the entire venue os everyone exchonged looks.
Whot? Is thot the end of this scondol? Is there nothing else for us? Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!
“Artemis...”
“Artemis, oh Artemis, how I wish I could profess my love to you...”
“My goodness, he's so handsome! I-I think I'm going to faint!”
“Oh, when will I get the chance to sleep with Mr. Luther and have his child? That way, I can be the center of attraction when he holds another press conference!”
After fiddling with his laptop for a while, Artemis slowly looked up and said in a low voice, “Hello, everyone. I'm the head of Luther Group, Artemis Luther. Thank you to our friends from the media and all the viewers currently watching this broadcast for taking the time to join me for this press conference. I'm aware of the online rumors that I have a seven-year-old illegitimate child, and that's what I'd like to address and clarify today. Regarding the photo posted on Twitter yesterday, I've verified it and can conclude that someone had intentionally photoshopped it. Now, please take a look at the image projected behind me. I'll demonstrate how it had been manipulated and subsequently reveal the original photo.”
As someone who had graduated from a prestigious university with two PhDs, using computer software to analyze a photo was a piece of cake for Artemis.
His slender fingers continued to fly across the keyboard, and the image behind him began to shed its layers until all that remained was a boy who looked nothing like him.
Once again, viewers' comments started pouring in. “Look, it really was a photoshopped picture.”
“That's right! Artemis is so clever that he has even mastered such complex computer skills. No wonder he's seen as the most desirable man in the country!”
“Ah, I love him so much! He's so d*mn cool!”
“Was I the only one staring at Mr. Luther's fingers? They are so long and well-defined! I'm sure his
fingers alone will send any woman into ecstasy. Ah, what should I do now? I can't stop obsessing over him! How I wish I could touch him through the screen!”
The next second, Artemis spoke up again in his deep, magnetic voice. “I believe everyone can discern the truth for yourselves after watching my photo analysis. More importantly, I hope that'd be the end to the rumors about me having an illegitimate child. If any media outlets continue to publish these fake news and affect my personal life, I'll have no choice but to get my legal team to take action. If push comes to shove, I'll see you in court.”
With that, pin drop silence befell the entire venue as everyone exchanged looks.
What? Is that the end of this scandal? Is there nothing else for us?