Chapter 288
Abby stood at her side, glancing around the room.
“Star, do you think Haynes will show up?”
Stella considered for a moment. “If Rachel doesn’t stir up any trouble, he probably will. After all, I’ve caused him enough headaches just by carrying the title Mrs. O’Brien.”
“He must realize by now that dragging this out any longer does him no favors. The only thing he’ll get is more losses.”
Lately, aside from the O’Brien Group’s own department stores, Stella had visited nearly every high-end boutique in the city. She carried her marriage certificate everywhere, and whenever she entered a store, she’d ask to speak directly to the manager.
The staff, noting her poise and elegance, never dared treat her carelessly—they’d fetch the manager at once.
Stella wasted no time. She would show the manager her marriage certificate and say, “I’m Haynes O’Brien’s wife. Any purchases I make here can be billed directly to his account. You can send the invoices to the O’Brien Group for settlement.”
The moment they heard she was Haynes’ wife, their attitudes changed in a flash -suddenly, they were all smiles and deference.
Stella had expected a few cold shoulders or even to be turned away at the O’Brien Group’s competitors. But to her surprise, whether she visited friendly partners or direct rivals, everyone received her with warmth and enthusiasm.
Some companies eager for business with the O’Brien Group even had their directors come out to greet her personally—and a few offered her exclusive platinum VIP cards on the spot.
She couldn’t help but admit: today’s businesspeople certainly knew how to play the game.
Abby’s voice, edged with disdain, snapped Stella back to the present.
“Hmph, if Haynes and his people just acted like decent human beings, we wouldn’t have to pull these stunts in the first place. If he’d agreed to the divorce without all this drama, none of this would be necessary.”
She glanced around, then lowered her voice. “Thank goodness Foreman tipped you off, or they might’ve actually gotten away with it. Just thinking about it makes my blood boil!”
“And that idea Jasper came up with-so underhanded! Setting it up so Haynes would ‘accidentally’ miss the final day of the waiting period, just to force you to start the whole divorce process over again? It’s despicable.”
Abby huffed angrily. “If you bail on appointments too many times, the system flags you. Next time you want to schedule, good luck even getting in line… Jasper really is the worst!”
A cold, almost amused smile tugged at the corners of Stella’s lips. “Too bad for them their little scheme failed.”
Abby nodded emphatically. “Thank goodness you were smart enough to come up with such a clever plan. Otherwise, they’d just keep thinking we’re easy targets. Oh, and-“
She suddenly remembered the explosion of new followers after Stella’s livestream the night before; her eyes lit up with excitement.
“Star, last night’s livestream was a huge success! We gained over a million new followers overnight!”
After weeks of steady growth, Stella’s follower count now stood at ten million. Everyone knew that the higher your numbers climbed, the harder it was to keep growing. For someone who’d started from nothing, Stella’s meteoric rise was a testament to both luck and talent.
All of Stella’s social media and public relations were managed entirely by Abby, who had grown up with her and earned her deepest trust.
Abby sighed a little. “It’s just a shame that when I reached out to Mr. Walden’s team, there was no response. If he ever noticed you, you could really break into the big leagues…”
But Stella just smiled, unfazed. “We’ve made it through much tougher times than this. A little setback like this is nothing.”
Abby, ever the optimist, was instantly energized again. “You’re right! Worst case, we’ll just start over from scratch!”