Can’t Win Me Back by Ginger Sue

The atmosphere in the grand hall of the city hall was tense and serious. The audience was comprised of important officials and
business representatives from Solana City and all across the nation.
At that moment, Orlander Hodgson was delivering a keynote speech onstage. Members of Congress and business
representatives sat in the front rows, while family members like Daisy were arranged to be seated in the back.
As the only daughter of the Schmidt family, Daisy was especially important in high society. Still, today's event was mostly their
husbands' arena. As a spouse, she had no say in the event.
An attention-seeker, she was displeased at the treatment at the event, especially knowing that she was the reason behind
Timothy's career success.
Without the support of the Schmidt Group, the guidance of Victor Schmidt, and her meticulously crafted public persona, Timothy
would never have achieved success smoothly.
The more she thought over it, the happier she felt. It took her mind off the horrible feeling upon learning of Timothy's multiple
affairs.
One day, she vowed to be seated in the front row as the mayor's wife. With that in mind, she straightened up in her seat with a
haughty demeanor.
The guests around her exchanged gossip. "Look at that smug expression on her face! All I could see was her nostrils flaring."
"Isn't that right? The election hasn't kicked off yet, but she seems confident in her husband's victory.
What gives her that confidence?"

"Daisy Schmidt still thinks she's important because she's a Schmidt, but she has lost her social standing after marrying into the
Clemons family. Rumors had it that she begged her family for money to finance her husband's electoral campaign. Because of
that, the Schmidts are annoyed at her, but she still walks around feeling good about herself."
"I don't have confidence in Clemons. He looks like a corrupted man. If he and his wife are in power, the citizens will be in
trouble."
Despite being surrounded by the mean comments, Daisy did not take them seriously. To her, the guests were envious of her
social standing and her husband's future success.
Mayor Hodgson ended his speech. Thundering applause filled the air. The emcee returned to the stage and announced, "Let's
welcome Congressman Timothy Clemons, who will introduce the three-year commercial plan for Solana City!"
Timothy glided onto the stage amidst the attention and applause. Daisy nearly stood up to clap for him, too eager to show off
their relationship to the world.
Standing in front of the microphone, Timothy beamed radiantly and began, "Ladies and gentlemen, next, I will be introducing
Solana City's—"
He froze in horror when he turned to look at the screen. Concern clouded his initially cheerful face. He appeared as though he
was struck by lightning.
Instead of the anticipated PowerPoint slides, the screen displayed a handwritten invoice, clearly recording the details of the bribe
he had taken, from the date and the time to the location. Bribes of different amounts ranging from tens of thousands to millions
were listed clearly.

He trembled in shock while Daisy's mind went blank. Her blood froze as her face paled. She nearly fainted on the spot.
Meanwhile, the audience started whispering to each other. "What are those? They don't look like presentation slides to me."
"Hmm, those look like invoices—records of bribery!"
"Timothy Clemons' name is written on those invoices. He's taken those bribes, I assume."
Soon, the screen displayed a series of candid photos on autoplay. The photos showed Timothy entering private clubs, receiving
expensive jewelry, and even entering the lounge of the private club with two wavy-haired women in his arms.
The photos caused a stir in the audience and dropped a bomb on the media representatives.