Chapter 324
Stella slowly raised her hand in Haynes’ direction and flipped him off.
Haynes’ dark eyes narrowed, his expression turning cold.
So she’d rather stand here, humiliated and cornered, than say a single conciliatory word to him? Fine. Just fine.
He was curious to see exactly how long she could keep her pride.
A barrage of reporters’ questions echoed in Stella’s ears, so loud and chaotic she could barely make out what anyone was saying.
Yet Stella remained composed, her face perfectly calm and unreadable, showing not a hint of panic.
The more unruffled she appeared, the more relentless the reporters became.
After all, what they loved most was watching someone crack under pressure, to catch that moment of fear or defeat.
Jasper was absolutely ecstatic.
Finally, he’d managed to livestream Stella’s public embarrassment for his eager viewers.
Just as Jasper was congratulating himself, his other phone began to ring.
He quickly handed his streaming phone to Rachel. “Rachel, hold this for a second. I need to take this call.”
Rachel, just as eager to watch the online crowd tear Stella apart, was happy to oblige. “Sure.”
Jasper slipped away to a quiet corner and answered, “What’s up?”
“Mr. Wilkinson, you won’t believe it-Stella’s trending again!”
Jasper didn’t even blink. “Isn’t she trending every day lately? What’s the big deal?”
“But this time it’s different, this time—”
He cut the caller off, impatient. He still had Stella’s meltdown to watch.
“Yeah, yeah, I know exactly why she’s trending. I set it up myself.”
A stunned silence. “Wait, you started this trending topic? Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”
Jasper rolled his eyes. “Would it have made any difference if I had? Do you have any actual questions?”
“Mr. Wilkinson, one more thing-do you want us to coordinate on this?”
Now Jasper was getting annoyed. “Do you want to keep your job? Handle it like you always do. Don’t bother me with the basics.”
“Understood.”
He hung up and hurried back to see how badly things were going for Stella.
But to his surprise, a fresh wave of reporters came flooding toward Stella, pushing past the original crowd in their rush to get close.
Rachel glanced at the newcomers and whispered, “Jasper, did you invite this second group of reporters too?”
Jasper looked confused. “No, I only called one group… Did my staff accidentally double-book?”
Before either of them could figure it out, the new reporters elbowed their way to the front, practically shoving the others aside as they crowded around Stella, faces alight as if they’d just won the lottery.
“Ms. Cameron, the museum just published the list of items you donated the ones worth sixty million dollars!”
“Ms. Cameron, we heard you’ve donated forty million to charities—children’s homes, retirement communities, aid organizations. What inspired you to give so much?”
“Ms. Cameron, you’re not even considered one of Novaris’ wealthy elite, yet your donations surpass even theirs. How did you make such a decision?”
Questions came from every direction, the original pack of reporters now jostled to the back, looking utterly bewildered.
Donations? What was going on?
A few reporters, not wanting to miss out, quickly started up their livestreams.
“Good morning, viewers. This is Neo-Vespera News, coming to you live from the scene of Ms. Stella Cameron’s interview…”