I quietly took out my phone and made two calls, one right after the other.
The first was to emergency services.
"Hi, there's a pregnant woman at the Grandview Restaurant with stomach pain and bleeding. Please send paramedics as fast as you can."
The second was to the police.
"Hi, someone at the Grandview Restaurant is suspected of deliberate poisoning, of trying to kill someone. Please come investigate as soon as possible."
Both calls done, I looked at everyone in the room and spoke without any hurry.
"Since everyone's decided the problem is with the restaurant's food, then I'll have to ask you all not to touch anything at the scene before the police and the doctors get here. Especially these dishes on Gwyneth's table."
"Once the results come back, the whole truth will come out."
The moment I said it, the room went silent.
As if no one expected me to handle this so calmly.
Gwyneth's crying hitched for a second, but there wasn't a trace of panic in her eyes.
The next instant, she cried out at me, all innocence and disappointment.
"Hope, what are you trying to say? What do you mean, the truth will come out?"
"Don't tell me you think I'm using my baby's life to frame you?"
The two influencers jumped in at once.
"Right, putting on this whole show, calling the cops. Anyone who didn't know better would think you'd been wronged somehow."
"We saw it with our own eyes. Gwyneth ate the food from your restaurant and got stomach pain immediately, started bleeding immediately. You think reporting it yourself is going to clear you?"
Gwyneth and the others had clearly come prepared.
Even when I did the exact right thing, in their mouths it twisted into some scheme, into me talking my way out and shoving the blame elsewhere.
I looked at the three of them quietly and said nothing.
I was waiting.
Waiting for them to arrive.
Waiting for the truth to surface on its own.
Soon the ambulance and the police car pulled up outside the restaurant at the same time.
Captain Lee Gray charged in with a team of officers.
"Who called it in?"
I stepped forward. "I did."
"What happened?"
I pointed at Gwyneth and told him plainly. "She claims she started miscarrying after eating here, and she's accusing my restaurant's food of being the cause. I'm asking the police to investigate."
Captain Gray gave a nod and immediately had his officers seal off the scene, collecting the dishes Gwyneth had eaten and the utensils she'd used for testing.
The paramedics moved to check on Gwyneth.
When they finished, one of them said gravely, "There's no fetal movement at all. The baby's already dead."
At that, Gwyneth put on a show of weakness, going limp as if struck by lightning.
Before she could speak, the officer handling the food testing reported to Captain Gray in a hard voice.
"Captain, our preliminary tests show all four dishes on the victim's table contain a high concentration of a toxic substance, one with a strong miscarriage-inducing effect on pregnant women!"
The whole room erupted.
"God, so there really was something in the food!"
"That's terrifying. This isn't a restaurant, it's a slaughterhouse. Poison in every single dish?"
"Disgusting. Watching Hope call the police so self-righteously, I actually thought she was innocent. Turns out it was all an act!"
Gwyneth stared at me, eyes bloodshot, and screamed, her face twisted.
"Hope, we grew up together. I thought of you as my own sister."
"Your restaurant opens and I come to support you at seven months pregnant, and this is how you repay me?!"
"Four dishes, all four poisoned. You were dead set on killing my baby!"
"What did I ever do to you, for you and your husband to hurt me like this?"
Gwyneth wept as if her heart were being torn out, and everyone watching was moved, wiping their eyes.
But I only asked back, calm, "Who says my husband and I killed your baby?"
Gwyneth blinked, then answered as if it were obvious, "You own this restaurant. Your husband cooked the food."
"If it wasn't the two of you who killed my baby, then who?!"
The two influencers rushed to agree.
"Exactly. We both saw it with our own eyes, Gwyneth ate the food from your restaurant and got stomach pain and bled right after. You're still trying to argue your way out?"
"The tests found poison in the food, and you still won't admit it. You're hopeless."
Even the customers in the room couldn't hold back.
"Solid, ironclad proof and she still won't budge. How can there be someone this vicious and this repulsive?"
"Right, someone's baby is dead and she stands there like nothing happened. One look and you can tell she's rotten!"
"What bad luck. Why couldn't it have been her who died?"
The accusations came one after another, each one sharper than the last.
The comments in the livestream scrolled past just as fast.
"Everybody look, this is the owner of the Grandview Restaurant. Her best friend eats the food her husband made and miscarries, and she doesn't feel one bit of guilt, still standing there arguing."
"Who would ever dare eat at a black-hearted place like this?"
"Right, next time it could be one of us getting poisoned."
"Somebody arrest this black-hearted owner and let her rot in prison!"
Seeing the crowd's mood climbing higher, Captain Gray raised a hand for quiet, then walked up to me and spoke, his face grim.
"Toxic substances were detected in the Grandview Restaurant's food, which puts someone's life at risk."
"You're the owner of this restaurant. That responsibility is yours, and you can't push it off."
"Now, I'll have to ask you to come with us and cooperate with the investigation."
With Captain Gray having spoken, a flicker of triumph crossed Gwyneth's eyes.
She thought she'd won.
She had no idea her nightmare was only just beginning.
I let my gaze sweep the room and said lightly, "Who says I own this restaurant?"
Everyone froze.
They all looked at me, baffled.
With every eye on me, I took out the restaurant's transfer contract, opened it, and held it up for all of them to see.
When they saw the name of the new owner on that contract, every single one of them was stunned……
