Melting Her Cold Heart
Chapter 36: Growing Tension

Chapter 36: Growing Tension

Here’s a paraphrased version of your text:

Meanwhile, Adam tried repeatedly to stop the growing scandal surrounding him, but each effort failed. He even called as many people as possible, but it was to no avail. Finally, he was forced to make a statement online, which only fueled the controversy.

"The Crawfords will not tolerate such defamation and will not spare anyone who dares tarnish our name."

His brief statement quickly gained traction, and responses flooded in.

ANONYMOUSEUSER: "Sounds like a desperate move to me—"

CUTESYQUEEN: "Definitely desperate, lol—"

PEOPLE’S VOICE: "Which Crawford would do something like this—"

JUSTPASSING: "The life of the rich... exciting—"

BYSTANDER: "I feel sorry for his fiancée."

As the comments worsened, Adam sighed, feeling drained. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, completely at a loss for what to do. Every agency he reached out to said they couldn’t help; they had either been hacked or received warnings to stay out of it. This made Adam wonder who was supporting Sara.

"I can help if you’ll let me," said Malerie, who was standing behind him, gently massaging his shoulders. She had witnessed his failed efforts and had to admit that Sara had powerful connections. If she could pull this off and get people to ignore a Crawford’s orders, Malerie had clearly underestimated her.

"What can you do?" Adam asked, his frustration slipping into his tone unintentionally.

Malerie’s face tightened at his question and the way he said it. "Just sit back and watch," she replied, releasing his shoulders and moving beside him. She pulled the keyboard toward herself and began typing, but Adam grabbed her hand, stopping her.

Malerie shot him a sharp look, silently demanding an explanation.

"You can’t post that," Adam said, his expression darkening. His family would eventually see the post, and given the situation, his comment would stand out in a way he didn’t want—especially not with the negative attention it would bring. He wasn’t even sure if his younger uncle had seen it yet; that man always seemed to know everything...

His thoughts drifted to his little uncle.

"I need some time alone," Adam said to Malerie, who didn’t look pleased to be dismissed. She stared at him quietly, and his shoulders slumped. "Please, Mal. I just need some time alone."

"Fine," she replied, straightening up. She walked around the desk, pausing briefly to tap her fingers on it. She opened her mouth as if to say something but thought better of it and left without another word.

••

Sara, still oblivious to the raging storm online, buried herself in her work, sorting out the president’s schedule and making calls to potential clients. She was so engrossed that she failed to hear her phone ringing.

After multiple rings, a small frown marred her face as the growing finally caught her attention. Reaching for it, her frown deepened upon seeing the name of the caller.

Sara could have deleted his number or maybe blacklisted him, but she didn’t want a strange number calling her and accidentally answered without knowing it was him. The thought of ignoring his call crossed her mind, and she decided to ignore it. Even disconnecting the call. But he continued to call, and the noise grew exponentially annoying. Left with no other choice, she decided to hear him out.

She slid her thumb on the receive button but didn’t say a word and just waited for him to speak first.

"Sara..." Adam’s voice came through, sounding desperate, but her expression remained indifferent. She stared at the phone with empty eyes, still not bothering to respond.

"Would you be satisfied watching me suffer?" he asked, and a slight change appeared on her face as confusion furrowed her brows.

’What is he talking about?’ Sara thought, though she stayed silent.

"Just because you have my uncle’s support, you’ve decided to slander the Crawfords, huh? I won’t let you get away with it, Sara. If you think my uncle is the only one important and capable in the Crawfords, then you’re wrong. I’ll make sure you pay for this, and no one will be able to save you," he threatened. Oddly enough, Sara found his words more amusing than alarming.

"As much as I love to hear that you are suffering, I don’t know what you are talking about, Mr Crawford. So enlighten me," Sara finally spoke, her tone as indifferent as her expression.

"You expect me to believe that you have no hand in it? Do I look that dumb to you?" Adam shot back and Sara chuckled, tempted to give an answer to his last question.

"I am a very busy person, Mr Crawford. So goodbye and have the worst day of your life," she said and disconnected the call even before he could utter another word. She could picture him seething with rage and a satisfied smirk curved up her lips.

"It was weird but, back to work now, Sara," she said to herself. But that thought was thrown out the window when she saw the numerous chats from her friends in the group chat and a call from Anne was enough to leave distracted. "Can’t leave them hanging," she said thinking they wanted to know what they were meeting later for.

"Did you see what’s trending online?" Anne’s question came before Sara could even say "hello" and she frowned.

Another call about what’s trending online.

"Hello to you too, Anne," Sara uttered and heard Anne laugh.

"Hello there, Sara," she said as if just realizing her mistake and lack of greetings. "So, have you seen what’s trending?" She asked again and Sara sighed. She had to go online now to make sure she knew what everyone was talking about.

"Give me a moment," Sara said and she closed the page she was working on and loved into her online accounts. Was against work ethics but she could keep herself in the dark anymore.

"There’s really no pinyin in having social media accounts if you’ll never put them to use," Anne said in a disapproving tone.

"What exactly am I looking for?" Sara asked, ignoring her remarks about her lack of interest.

"I’ll send you a link," Anne said, her tone back to that of a person ready to gossip. "Sent. Now carefully go through and thank me later," Anne ended the call causing Sara to frown but she went ahead to click on the link.