Take My Breath Away

Later, to Phoebe's surprise, Erica announced in public that she had even stolen other people's paintings as well. Before Phoebe could deny the accusation, however, a girl was brought to the court to testify. When questioned, the girl showed enough evidence to prove that Phoebe had indeed stolen her works.

As the morning passed, the session was finally coming to an end. Someone might have helped Erica in secret, and the case was rather simple, so the court had no trouble to give its verdict on the spot.

For infringing Matthew Huo's portraiture right, Phoebe had to compensate him with ten million dollars. As for the art theft, she had to compensate the girl and do a public apology.

The ten million compensation shall be paid within a month. If she couldn't do it, she would have to face jail time for the next five years.

By the time Erica walked out of the court, the reporters who had been surrounding the place were already gone. She didn't understand why but didn't think much about it either.

Meanwhile, not far away from the courthouse, a man was waiting in his yellow supercar when he saw a group of people coming out. Quickly, he got out of his vehicle and called, "Erica!"

Erica, who was talking to Kelvin, heard someone calling her name. Following the sound of his voice, she soon found Watkins waving at her.

With a bright smile, she immediately walked towards him. "Watkins, you're here!"

"Yes. I came as soon as my class was over. How's it going?" Watkins' smile reached his eyes when he spoke.

"Thanks to Mr. Fei, the case went smoothly, and Phoebe has already gotten her sentence." Erica didn't expect that everything would go on so well.

Hearing this, Watkins was also surprised. "So soon?"

It seemed that someone was helping Erica behind her back. Needless to ask, he knew exactly who that person was.

"Yes! It was all easily solved!" Erica grinned.

Knowing what was going on, Watkins changed the subject. "It's time for lunch. Let's go and celebrate your victory. It's my treat!"

Before Erica could say anything, Paige stepped in and responded, "I'm sorry, Mr. Chai, but Mr. Huo has told me in advance that Mrs. Huo's health is the most important thing now. So he asked me to take her back as soon as the court session was over. Maybe it will be for the best if you don't celebrate today."

If Watkins insisted on taking Erica anyway, Paige was sure that she would lose her job by the next morning.

Watkins looked at Paige and smiled, "Well, it's okay. We can take a rain check then, Erica!" 'What a bossy man this Matthew Huo is!' he

nkrupt. So, she chose not to argue over this any longer. "Okay, but don't get all compassionate after you accept the money!"

She was afraid that Matthew would feel sorry for Phoebe and transfer the money back to her afterward.

Matthew didn't expect Erica would react this way and raised his eyebrows in surprise. 'Doesn't she like money? Why is she willing to give it to me now?'

In the next few days, Phoebe was exposed on the Internet for art theft and infringement of portraiture right. Since she had been quite notorious for a time, the value of her paintings decreased greatly after the scandal. Now she was as worthless as a blank piece of paper.

The school also heard about what she had done and persuaded her to quit her studies in the institution.

In order to make money, Phoebe sold all her valuable things, including her studio. As a matter of fact, she had already begun to contact the buyers when Erica first filed the lawsuit against her.

Yet, even after selling her studio, jewelry, bags, and other items of value, she roughly got an amount of five million in total.

She tried to ask Lyman for help, but the finances of the Su family was in the hands of Fanya now. So it was useless for her to look for her father. He wouldn't be able to give her more than several hundred thousand dollars at most.

Her friends had been the first to turn their backs on her in her time of need, so she couldn't count on them. If the Su family didn't help her, who else would? With her huge debts, everyone realized she wouldn't pay them back any time soon. Therefore, lending her money now was the same as throwing it to the wind and never see it to return. In the end, no one was willing to lend her the money.