If she guessed it right, he had the live stream they all witnessed cut off. Whatever she planned to reveal today wouldn’t leave this room.

It would all end up being a press conference with nothing disclosed, leaving everyone feeling tricked.

Haynes could still twist the story for Rachel, pulling every PR trick in the book. He might even use Stella as a pawn in his schemes. After all, he was ruthless.

…

In the backstage lounge, Stella eyed Haynes. “Mr. O’Brien, what do you want to discuss with me?”

Haynes’ voice was calm and as cold as ice. “I’ll handle the online chatter and fallout for you…”

Before he could finish, Stella interrupted softly. “If you plan to silence everyone by force, I’m afraid I can’t accept that. Even if you scrub all the posts and articles, the label of a malicious murderer will remain in everyone’s mind.”

Stella held his gaze, a slight smile on her lips.

“I might stir up even more anger and end up with a mob on my doorstep.”

Haynes’ eyes flickered to the scar on her forehead, healed but still visible, his expression deepening slightly. “I’ll clear your name.”

“Clear my name?” Stella scoffed. “It’s been ages, Mr. O’Brien, and now, you finally consider clearing my name?”

He met her eyes, speaking slowly, “Name your terms. Whatever you need.”

Stella’s eyes glinted. “I have two conditions.” she said.

Haynes agreed without hesitation, “Alright.”

Stella replied coldly, “Mr. O’Brien, perhaps you should wait until you hear them before you agree.”

“Go ahead.”

“The first condition,” Stella continued, “I want one hundred million dollars.”

Haynes’ expression darkened. A hundred million was no trivial sum. “What do you plan to do with that kind of money?” he asked, his voice edged with suspicion.

Stella replied casually, “Consider it compensation for emotional distress and defamation. After being slandered for so many days, you don’t think Ms. Pearce admitting she was wrong will suffice, do you?”

After a few seconds of silence, Haynes finally spoke. “Fine.”

Stella’s heart was coldly amused. He was willing to part with one hundred million without batting an eye for Rachel’s sake.

Then Haynes spoke again, “Is that your endgame?”

Stella looked up at him. “What do you mean?”

“Did you go through all this trouble to extort money from me?”

Stella’s expression cooled, and she couldn’t be bothered to explain. “If that’s what you think, then sure.”

His sharp eyes bore into hers, as deep as a midnight lake, as shadowy as a forgotten valley.

“This video was from your dashcam footage. You had this evidence but chose not to reveal it to the police. Stella, you did this deliberately, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” She smiled, though it was devoid of warmth. “If I had shown it earlier, how could I blackmail Mr. O’Brien for one hundred million now? Besides…”

“I wanted to see what Ms. Pearce would do without evidence and how much Mr. O’Brien would trust me.”

“Everything went as I expected.”

Stella didn’t look sad or disappointed, as if she were talking about something that had nothing to do with her.

Haynes frowned. “For money, you were willing to be vilified and let others hurt you. Stella, is money that important to you?”