Wesley sat down beside her and gently pulled the dejected girl into his arms. “Since iyou /iknow it won’t help, then don’t think about it anymore.

    “The doctor said her condition has stabilized, and with Brian there for the psychological support, she’ll get better gradually. So please don’t worry so much, okay?”

    Wesley spoke softly, trying tofort her and bring back her usual cheerful spirit.

    Sana could feel what he was doing. She knew she should pull away, but maybe she was just too exhausted, or maybe his embrace was too warm to resist. Either way, she awkwardly epted the hug.

    Gabri noticed and couldn’t help but smile. Her nerves, which had been tense ever since learning about Jessica’s ident, finally began to rx.

    The group stayed at the hospital with Dereck and Ste for most of the night. Even when Steter suggested that Gavin, being the oldest, should go home first, he refused to leave.

    But as dawn approached, a phone call suddenly rang through to Gavin’s cell. Whatever the caller said on the other end made his face immediately darken. “Alright, I understand. I’ll be right back,” he said grimly.

    Gavin hung up the phone and quickly said goodbye to Dereck and Ste before rushing off.

    Sana had been dozing against Wesley’s shoulder when the sound of footsteps woke her up. She watched Gavin’s retreating figure and mumbled sleepily, “What’s going on?”

    Wesley opened his eyes, and something about her question made his expression darken. He pulled out his phone and opened the country’s biggest social media tform.

    The top trending topic was all about Brian and Jessica’s divorce, and right below it was yesterday’s video of him carrying Jessica out of the restaurant after she’d been pushed down.

    He clicked on one of the posts and scrolled through thousands ofments. “Brian’s really in deep trouble this time,” he

    muttered.

    Outside the hospital, Madeline watched Gavin hurry away, her eyes shing with irritation. ‘Why is only Gavining out?‘ she thought. ‘The inte is going crazy, and Brian really doesn’t care about anything except staying by Jessica’s

    side?‘

    The thought put her in a foul mood. Madeline grabbed her phone and called the head of the online trolls she’d hired.

    “I want you to push this harder,” Madeline demanded. “Make sure everyone knows Brian and Jessica have been divorced for a while nowi. /iDo whatever it takes to destroy Brian’s reputation!”

    Madeline refused to believe that once Brian got dragged down by Jessica and faced a wave of online hatred–maybe even affecting Atkinson Group’s stock price–Gavin would still want to keep Jessica around.

    The man on the other end of the phone hesitated. “We can definitely push harder, but the price is going to be…”

    14:48 Tue, 26 Aug A

    Madeline gritted her teeth, but she needed this done. “I’ll give you another 150 thousand dors. Just make sure you

    63%

    “You got it!” The troll farm boss‘ mood instantly brightened at the mention of more money. He hung up and immediately

    ordered his team to ramp up their efforts.

    Within hours, the inte was flooded with analysis posts iming Brian and Jessica had already divorced.

    [I’ve been wanting to say this for ages. There’s no “doting husband” here. He’s clearly trying to win her back. You people shipping this couple have been yed by corporate PR this whole time.]

    [Exactly! I have a friend whose bestie works at the courthouse, and she says that famous couple filed for divorce ages ago. The woman didn’t even fight for custody of the kid, which tells you how badly she was hurt.]

    [Is it true?]

    [Of course it’s true! Have you heard him posting any lovey–dovey stuff recently? If they weren’t divorced and he wasn’t trying to win her back, someone with his status would never let those videos leak.]

    [No way, I refuse to believe it! They can’t be fake!]

    [Go check the trending topics right now. There’s an even bigger bombshell!]

    C

    bAD /b