CHAPTER 65: CHAPTER 65: LET’S GO TO THE CIVIL AFFAIRS BUREAU AND GET DIVORCED IMMEDIATELY

I suddenly remembered that day when Ethan said I was his girlfriend, and instinctively clarified, "I’m not in a relationship with Ethan Xavier, you’ve misunderstood."

Julian Sinclair’s lips quirked up noncommittally, but he didn’t say anything else. As the light turned green, he continued driving.

That was our only conversation on this long drive.

Only when he dropped me off at the hospital did I finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Honestly, his aura is so intense that just sitting next to him feels suffocating.

I was about to get out of the car when he suddenly called after me, "Miss Ellison."

I turned back, realizing I hadn’t thanked him yet, so I said, "Mr. Sinclair, thank you for driving me here today, I really appreciate it."

Julian Sinclair remained expressionless, took out his phone, and pulled up his WeChat QR code, saying to me, "Add me."

I was startled—what kind of move is this?

Before I had time to overthink it, I heard the man say in his deep, gentle voice, "Grandma asked me to help you sue the people who slandered your mother. Add WeChat so you can send me the evidence easily."

Suddenly it all made sense, and I felt embarrassed for having overthought it earlier.

Ignoring my burning cheeks, I quickly took out my phone and scanned his QR code.

Just like that, I added the so-called "Grim Reaper" of the legal world on WeChat.

After getting out, I realized that I’d been so nervous I forgot to ask him about the fees.

With someone like Julian Sinclair, his rates can’t possibly be cheap, right?

So I sent him a WeChat message: "Mr. Sinclair, how much are your legal fees? Just want to be mentally prepared."

He didn’t reply right away.

When I arrived at the hospital room, Jenna Sutton happened to call me.

On the other end, she fumed, "Did you see what those brainless Serena fans are saying? Absolutely shameless!"

I was talking with her while opening X.

Just one casual scroll, and the comments were overwhelmingly one-sided.

The stuff Serena’s parents did has already been buried under new public opinion.

All her fans were attacking me:

"No matter what Serena’s parents did, Serena herself didn’t know anything about it! Why should she have to suffer for it?"

"Zoe Ellison is a scheming, vicious woman! Serena treats her like a real sister and helps her in every way, yet she wants to wipe out the Sawyers and leave the whole family in shambles!"

"Zoe Ellison, that bitch deserves to die a horrible death! No matter what, she’s still Serena’s half-sister. Can’t believe she ignores all sisterly bonds like that—no wonder she’s an orphan, only left with a dying mother! She doesn’t deserve family!"

"..."

I’m used to all the other insults by now; Serena’s brainless fans never did care for right or wrong anyway.

But that line about "sisterly affection" and "half-sisters" was truly disgusting.

Guess it’s time I reveal my paternity test with Peter Sawyer.

I posted the test results online, with the caption: "The whole process was on hospital camera. I don’t have any half-sisters. Please stop trying to latch on!"

I turned off the comments—I could already imagine Serena’s paid trolls getting frustrated, unable to comment under my post.

Peter Sawyer called me late at night; I hung up on him.

He must be shocked; this paternity test result is definitely not what he expected.

After posting that report, aside from Serena’s fans still defending and pitying her, most of the bystanders finally saw the light.

The Sawyers called out as crooks while being crooks themselves; Mrs. Sawyer used her family’s background to break up someone else’s marriage, forced her way into their home, and then tried to play the victim.

Mr. Sawyer—like Judas Cohen—used his wife to climb the ranks, helped his useless son fake a degree, and tried to mess with the academic system.

Serena may have seemed innocent, but the next day, the official Aurelia social media actually commented on the issue.

The official account called out the viral Sawyer family celeb and her relatives for misusing public resources, manipulating public sympathy to distort the facts. Luckily, the truth eventually won out, and the post ended with a reminder to other entertainers to take caution.

Once that news broke, the whole internet blew up.

That meant Serena’s career was getting cut short—right now, today.

Major brands immediately took a stand, refusing to work with artists with tarnished reputations.

Even the official promotional pics for Serena’s last movie were deleted.

No matter how big Serena’s fanbase is, it’s no match for the official attitude.

At last, my life returned to peace.

The day after I’d asked Julian about his fees, he got back to me: "No fees. I promised Grandma. If there’s anything, my assistant will contact you."

He didn’t even give me a chance to refuse; I could only reply, "Thank you, and thanks to Grandma Sinclair as well."

He didn’t respond.

Afterward, all the procedures and evidence collection were handled by his assistant, Leo Grant.

"Miss Ellison, if you have time, you can come to Apex Law Firm to sign the authorization mandate."

I made an appointment with Leo, and went to Apex Law Firm.

Even the assistants there had their own offices—I didn’t run into Julian himself.

Leo was very polite, explaining to me, "The boss is really busy right now so he can’t meet with you personally, hope you don’t mind."

I quickly replied, "No worries. Honestly, I feel like this is too small a case for him, I shouldn’t have troubled him."

Leo laughed easily, "The case may have Julian’s name on it, but he probably only shows up in court. All the prep and evidence work is done by his team or assistants. So you don’t need to feel indebted to him."

I was too awkward to respond.

And it confirmed that Julian hadn’t made any special case for me.

Probably, he didn’t even want to take on a small case like mine—just wants to stay filial and keep Madam Sinclair happy.

Once Leo and I had sorted out the whole case, he walked me to the elevator.

"Julian has a meeting coming up, so I need to head up. Miss Ellison, take care."

"Okay, get back to work."

I smiled at him and got in the elevator.

But as soon as the elevator hit the ground floor and the door opened, I was face to face with Timothy Xavier and Serena Sawyer.

Actually, I’d heard Serena talking out in the hallway just as the door opened: "Timothy, will Attorney Sinclair help my mom? After all, Miss Ellison is controlling Madam Sinclair now."

I couldn’t help but sneer—Timothy really sticks by his woman no matter what.

The Sawyers have gotten themselves tangled in all kinds of filthy drama, yet he’s still helping Serena chase down a lawyer, ready to defend Faye Warren.

Too bad they didn’t expect me to show up at Apex Law Firm, where all the clients are loaded.

Serena’s pretty eyes flashed surprised.

I ignored them, walking past with a blank look as if they were invisible.

But as I was passing Timothy, he suddenly grabbed my wrist.

I was forced to stop and calmly met his eyes.

Timothy asked in a low voice, "What are you doing here?"

"Same as you—looking for a lawyer."

I smiled a little, saying, "Looks like you’re too late. I just signed the authorization contract with Apex Law Firm."

Serena stared at me in shock, nearly losing her balance.

Timothy steadied her, sounding disappointed, "Zoe Ellison, do you really have to go this far? Serena has never hurt you, not once."

I swallowed my anger and pain, replying coldly, "Where were you when the Sawyers went as far as they could to ruin me just a few days ago?"

Timothy’s face changed subtly—in the end, he couldn’t defend the Sawyers and stopped asking me to let them off.

Just then, Serena spoke up: "Miss Ellison, considering the life-saving equipment your mom has is designed by my dad, can’t you just be a little generous? No matter what, my dad saved her life!"

She kept looking at Timothy, purposely or not.

Seems like she was trying to remind Timothy to use my mother’s equipment to threaten me and force me to back down.

He’s done exactly that before.

But this time, Timothy didn’t say a word.

Serena’s pretty eyes swelled with tears, begging Timothy, "Timothy, could you talk to Miss Ellison for me? Please?"

She wanted to keep up her "gracious" persona, but she was really pushing Timothy to use that move against me.

I called her out, bluntly: "You want Timothy to say what to me? Tell me that if I don’t let your mother off, he’ll turn off my mom’s equipment and let her die?"

Serena’s face went pale, but she didn’t dare admit it.

Timothy said, "Zoe Ellison, stop acting so petty. Serena’s not like that—she’s always defended you. Quite honestly, she’s a way better fit for ’Mrs. Xavier’ than you are!"

Serena couldn’t believe after all her little hints that Timothy still hadn’t used my mom as leverage against me.

Failing to achieve her goal, her eyes flashed with frustration.

I finally felt a sliver of relief—at least Timothy hadn’t completely lost his conscience.

I said, "President Xavier, I don’t care who you want as your wife. Just let me know whenever you decide, and I’ll go with you to sign those divorce papers right away—won’t waste a second!"

With Serena glaring at me bitterly, I strode away, not giving her a chance to retaliate.

Back home, I took a shower and washed away my exhaustion.

Then my QQ beeped on the computer.

I opened it—my novel editor messaged: "Vera, great news! A big company wants to invest fifty million to adapt your novel into a TV series."

I was stunned.

Never thought my spur-of-the-moment novel would bring in a 100K monthly royalty, let alone get picked up for adaptation.

Even though, thanks to Timothy and Serena, I’d lost my job again, this side hustle just kept giving me more and more fulfillment.

I asked the editor to send over the adaptation contract—I wanted Attorney Quincy to review it for me.

When she sent it, I saw the counterparty was: The Xavier Group.

Wait—did Timothy already know I’m the author?

I mean, I’m open about it, but I still don’t want him to know.

I asked the editor, "I heard The Xavier Group is a big name in Veridia, why would they be interested in my novel?"

The editor replied, "You know about President Xavier’s relationship with star Serena Sawyer, right? Apparently it was Serena’s team who set their sights on your novel. So, The Xavier Group—as Serena’s backer—is willing to invest in the copyright."

Ha!

So in the end, it’s got nothing to do with me!

It’s just that my novel happens to be trending everywhere, so Serena’s team saw a chance to help her make a comeback.

I didn’t reveal my attitude, just asked, "Do they know my identity?"

"You don’t need to worry—even our editors don’t know who you are. Only company higher-ups know, and no one will leak the author’s real identity unless you authorize it."

I felt a bit relieved.

That’s good.

Makes it even more fun!

I didn’t reject them immediately, just asked the editor, "Can you have her studio add my QQ? Otherwise, I find it hard to believe such a big star actually wants to star in my novel."

"Let me check with the boss, but it should be fine."

Soon, the editor replied, saying my QQ number had been given to Serena’s studio, and her agent would reach out to me directly.

...

The next day, sure enough, I got a friend request on QQ from Serena’s agent.

Once I confirmed her identity and cleared it with my editor, we started talks.

The agent: "Vera, hello! Congratulations! Serena loves your novel. The Xavier Group will invest in adapting it for TV, and Serena is willing to play the female lead! Hope to work well together!"

The tone was so patronizing, as if Serena starring in my novel was some kind of honor for me.

The last sentence made it sound like they were certain I’d agree to work with them.

What’s even more shameless—Serena, the mistress, wants to play the heroine in my story, someone betrayed and taunted by her husband’s mistress!

I replied, "But lately, Miss Sawyer’s reputation has been pretty negative. I heard her mother’s a mistress? Doesn’t seem too fitting for her to play the heroine in my novel."

Much later, the agent finally responded, "That’s all fake news online. The mistress is just smearing our Serena. This is exactly why Serena wants to play the lead, to turn public perception around."

"Let me think about it."

I had no intention of agreeing, but stringing them along felt kind of fun.

The agent clearly wanted to buy my copyright ASAP, pressing, "How long do you need to consider? I need to schedule Serena’s publicity."

I shot back, "Serena’s career’s basically ice cold—she still has publicity? Just wait. I’ll let you know when I’ve decided!"

Thinking of how high up Serena used to be, I bet her team would’ve blocked me for this kind of sass.

But now, even after I said that, they just sent me an ’OK’ emoji.

For two whole days, I didn’t respond at all.

They were obviously getting anxious.

But the website wouldn’t give them my contact info without my permission, so now they can only reach me via QQ audio.

I hung up, staying cool and distant throughout.

Surprisingly, they started sending voice messages.

I clicked play—there it was, that nails-on-chalkboard pitch that made me physically cringe.

"Vera, hello! I’m Serena—your loyal fan!"

Turns out Serena can really swallow her pride—right away she tried to chum up to me.

She’s fighting tooth and nail for her comeback.

Honestly, I’m a bit confused. Even if my novel’s not a carbon copy of my life, a lot of the character settings are ridiculously similar to me, Timothy, and Serena herself.

If she’s read my novel, did she not notice that the mistress character is nearly a one-to-one match with her?

"Vera? Still there?"

Serena sent another message: "Your novel’s got big numbers, and I’ve got a huge fanbase. If I play the lead, it’s a win-win."

I curled my lip in a mocking smile and replied, "Does Miss Sawyer have to play the lead? Are there any roles in my novel that might suit you better?"