Chapter 334
The Wilkinsons built their fortune in the media industry, where everyone understood the unspoken rules of the game.
Some journalists, for instance, seemed to dig up dirt, but in reality, they gave the person involved the perfect opportunity to set the record straight—often in the most memorable way possible.
And Stella was more than prepared for it all.
Any evidence that surfaced during the press conference had clearly been lined up in advance.
After this public clarification, Stella’s reputation online flipped overnight. Suddenly, people saw her in a new light.
He’d always thought Jasper was a shrewd and cunning boss.
Turns out…
Well, maybe he’d given Jasper too much credit.
Jasper was still the same, hopelessly clueless Jasper he’d always been.
With a boss like this, it was hard to see any real future at the company. Who knew maybe even trouble was on the horizon.
The PR manager was already seriously considering quitting.
Facing the cameras, Stella remained calm and poised-confident without being arrogant. Audiences couldn’t help but warm to her.
Even people who rarely paid attention to social media caught wind of the drama and tried to follow her account-only to discover it had been suspended. Their curiosity piqued, they started digging to understand what had really happened.
It just so happened that Abby had posted about the situation on Instagram. Suddenly, the whole story of Stella standing up against powerful interests went viral, sending shockwaves across the internet.
Plenty of other high-profile accounts-folks who’d also been arbitrarily banned for crossing big corporations-came out publicly in support of Stella.
At this point, Stella was the name on everyone’s lips.
After a thorough round of questioning, the police finally concluded that Stella had nothing to do with any corporate espionage. They apologized for the trouble.
“Ms. Cameron, we’re terribly sorry for the inconvenience.”
Stella replied, “That’s all right. It’s every citizen’s duty to cooperate with an investigation. However—”
She paused, her tone sharpening. “If I hadn’t managed to clear my name today, I’d be dragged through the mud in front of the entire country-my career ruined. The person who maliciously reported me clearly had bad intentions. I hope you’ll take this seriously and hold them accountable.”
The officer nodded, understanding her point. “Don’t worry, Ms. Cameron. We won’t let the person who filed the false report off the hook.”
Stella nodded, about to say more, when she suddenly felt a strong hand close around her wrist.
She turned to the man beside her. “Mr. O’Brien, is there something you need?” During the questioning, Haynes O’Brien hadn’t tried to throw her under the bus- in fact, he’d helped clear her name. Still, Stella felt nothing but wariness toward him. The man was far more dangerous than she’d imagined.
Compared to Jasper, it was people like Haynes you really had to watch out for- because you could never guess what he was thinking.
His eyes were dark, bottomless.
“I want to talk to you. Alone.”
Stella knew she needed to settle things with Haynes, once and for all. She didn’t have the time or patience to keep playing games with Jasper and the others.
“All right.”
They ducked into a nearby coffee shop.
After ordering her drink, Stella looked across the table at Haynes. “What did you want to discuss?”
His gaze was intense, inscrutable as he studied her face. “From the day you showed up at the auction, you’d already planned for everything that happened today, hadn’t you?”
Though it sounded like a question, his tone was full of certainty.
The rich, bitter smell of coffee hung in the air as Stella took a slow sip. “Why would you be so willing to hand over a hundred million dollars? Why would Jasper and Rachel just stand by and watch me live like a queen?”
“You were all just waiting to see me fall-broke, desperate, with nowhere left to turn. So, step one was to make sure I lost that money.”
She set her cup down and met Haynes’s eyes.
“So, I did the only thing I could-I made sure none of you could ever get your hands on it again.”