Chapter 722 - 718: Where Did This Big Sucker Come From?

"Boss, the... the illegitimate child..." Mason Hughes whispered from the side.

"What illegitimate child?" Leontis Howard froze, then his mind caught up and he shot the idea down. "No, not that one. We were paid for that story!"

"Oh? You don’t have anything?" Cecilia Sterling asked.

Leontis Howard nodded hastily. "We do, we do! Just... give us some time to discuss which one would be best to release."

Cecilia Sterling wasn’t in a hurry. She had no fear they would dare try any tricks. She rose slowly and tossed the device in her hand to Duane before looking at Leontis Howard with a warning. "I’m taking this. If you want to have a future, you’ll do exactly as I say. Don’t do anything to make me angry."

"One more thing. Tell your boss—he’s out of town right now but should have already received the message I sent him. When he gets back, if he’s got a problem with any of this, he can come find me. My name is Cecilia Sterling. I’ll be waiting."

With that, Cecilia Sterling turned and left the office. The men behind her followed suit.

Leontis Howard felt like he’d been granted a pardon. His knees buckled, and he nearly collapsed. The next second, he scrambled out after them with a fawning expression. "I’ll see you out."

But the moment he stepped out of the office, the scene outside made him freeze on the spot.

The company’s employees were corralled in an open space like criminals, standing ramrod straight with their hands on their heads. All the surveillance cameras had been destroyed.

Cecilia Sterling stopped in the center of the lobby. She let out a soft breath and said nonchalantly, "I was tempted to trash this whole place. But forget it. I guess I’m just too law-abiding."

All eyes were on her. They were captivated by her beauty, yet terrified by her monstrous aura. The expressions on their faces were a mixture of awe and fear.

"Sorry to interrupt your work," Cecilia Sterling said, looking at the employees. She had no intention of making things difficult for them. She knew they were just ordinary office workers, pulling all-nighters to chase trending news. It was already seven, and they still hadn’t gone home.

"What happened today has nothing to do with any of you. My methods might be a little rough, but I trust none of you were harmed. So, based on the principle of staying out of each other’s way, let’s all just pretend you didn’t see a thing. All right?"

She asked with a beaming smile, but it sent a chill down everyone’s spine. No one dared to reply.

Cecilia Sterling nodded to herself. "I’ll take that as a silent agreement, then. Since you’ve all agreed, we’ll be on our way."

A hundred people watched as Cecilia Sterling led her swarm of several dozen men in black out of the company. Only after the very last one had gone did the employees dare to lower their hands.

For a moment, they just stared at each other, at a complete loss. They had no idea what had just happened or what they were supposed to do next.

"Did anyone record that? If you did, delete it now! Anyone who dares to leak this gets fired!" Leontis Howard demanded, glaring at the employees.

Everyone frantically shook their heads. They had been under scrutiny before they’d even had a chance to process the situation. No one would have dared to pull out their phone and record.

Cecilia Sterling led her men downstairs. "Good work today, everyone," she said to them. "Don’t worry, they won’t dare to call the police."

"It’s no big deal, Cecilia," Duane said. "We’re not afraid even if they call the cops. We didn’t hurt anyone. A few broken cameras... worst case, we pay for them. That’s it."

No one understood the cops’ love for smoothing things over better than they did. As long as it wasn’t a violent crime, it always ended in mediation and a private settlement.

Cecilia Sterling looked at Duane. "Have the guys disperse for now. I just need three or five of them to go somewhere else with me."

"Is it going to get physical?" Duane asked.

Cecilia Sterling smiled and shook her head. "No need. It’s nothing big."

Duane got the picture. He picked a few men to stay and sent the rest on their way.

They all piled into a van, which was just the right size. Cecilia gave Duane an address and told him to follow the GPS.

「Elysian Boutique Hotel, Room 505.」

Leopold Hughes was lying on the bed with his legs crossed, smoking a cigarette while watching TV.

The BEEP of a keycard sounded at the door, and Tanya Hughes pushed it open. A strange odor wafted from the bathroom near the entrance, mingling with the stale cigarette smoke in the room and making her frown.

"Dad, it’s time to eat."

She came in carrying a plastic bag and set the food on the table. "I borrowed a microwave from the hotel to heat this up."

It was all leftovers they’d packed up from the restaurant at lunch. Leopold Hughes had ordered a ton of food, but he was the only one who ate much, so there was plenty left.

Leopold Hughes stubbed out his cigarette and got off the bed. He glanced at his daughter. "Would have been better to go out for hot pot. Lorcain is famous for its shabu-shabu."

"It would be a waste not to eat all these leftovers. You’re the one who ordered all this expensive food," Tanya Hughes said.

Leopold Hughes pouted and muttered, "So *now* you’re worried about saving money? When we checked in, I told you to get one room, but you wouldn’t hear of it. You insisted on getting two. Wasn’t that just throwing money away?"

"Dad, I have my own room at home. I’m a grown woman now. Of course I can’t share a hotel room with you."

"Oh, come on. I’ve watched you grow up. What is there about you that I haven’t seen? Don’t give me that now!"

His words made Tanya Hughes’s stomach turn. Her appetite vanished in an instant.

Leopold belatedly realized he probably shouldn’t have said that to his daughter. She really was a grown woman now, and his words had been inappropriate.

"Hey, your dad didn’t mean anything by it. Two rooms it is. We’ve got money now, what’s a hotel room cost, anyway?" Leopold Hughes picked up a pair of chopsticks and handed them to his daughter. "Let’s not waste this. Eat up."

Tanya Hughes took the chopsticks. "It’s not that I don’t want to take you for shabu-shabu. Let’s finish this today, and I’ll take you tomorrow. I already checked online. There are coupons, so it won’t cost us too much."

"Great. My daughter’s the best." Leopold Hughes nodded cheerfully, then changed the subject. "Did you check online? Is our interview up yet? What are people saying about it?"

"I checked when I woke up, but I didn’t see it." Tanya Hughes pulled out her phone and opened the trending topics list. Her expression grew even more puzzled. "It’s not here."

The top trending topic was: "BREAKING: A-List Celebrity Kevin Holden in Hit-and-Run, Victim Declared Brain-Dead"?

A whole string of related topics followed it on the trending list—

"Kevin Holden".

"Kevin Holden Hit-and-Run".

"Kevin Holden’s Studio Silent".

"Kevin Holden Repeatedly Logs Into Social Media".

"..."

Meanwhile, any news about Lily Sterling had virtually disappeared from the trending list, completely replaced by stories about someone else.

’Who was this chump who’d suddenly appeared out of nowhere?’

"What’s going on?" Leopold Hughes was dumbfounded. He had been counting on their interview to go viral. Then more reporters would come flocking to him, and he could use the opportunity to make even more money.

Tanya Hughes sighed. She, at least, understood. "The internet’s like that. It has a short memory, and the news cycle moves fast. No matter how big a story is, nobody will be talking about it in a few days."

"That’s not okay!" Leopold Hughes grew frantic. "If no one’s talking about it, then what are we going to do?"