Chapter 528:

It didn’t sink in until the cold handcuffs were clamped on her wrists.

"You!"

"Suspect apprehended."

"Suspect?" Aya Winters started to exclaim, but a jacket was suddenly pulled down over her head.

"Cooperate! We’re doing you a favor by not letting anyone see your face! Aya Winters, you know who you are. Do you really want everyone to know you’ve been arrested?"

"Why are you arresting me?"

"Theft, and for a massive sum."

"Theft? You must have the wrong person!"

"We’ll find out if we’ve made a mistake back at the station."

Aya Winters’s heart plummeted. She thought of Mrs. Coleman, whom she had just seen.

’Could it be? Since Mrs. Coleman couldn’t find any evidence of my affair with Carl Coleman, she’s resorting to this to take me down? It’s the only explanation!’

’But why frame me for a crime like this?’

’I haven’t stolen anything! This charge won’t stick!’

But she never dreamed that during her interrogation, Carl Coleman would adamantly insist that the card she had been using all this time was not a gift from him!

What’s more, the cardholder was actually Mrs. Coleman!

’I’ve been using that card for so long. How could it suddenly belong to Mrs. Coleman?!’

Before Aya Winters could even process this, investigators found problems with her studio’s accounts, and the studio was shut down immediately!

This sudden storm of events swept through her life like a tornado, leaving only devastation in its wake.

She was left with no room to even try and fight back!

Just as the theft charges were made solid and her studio was being investigated, Mrs. Coleman publicized the affair between her and Carl Coleman, kicking Aya while she was already down.

No A-list actress in the entertainment industry had ever fallen from grace so quickly. She went down without so much as a ripple, like a fish slapped dead on the shore.

The network Aya Winters had built in the industry seemed to vanish overnight. She became a pariah, public enemy number one.

...

Keith Coleman’s brow was furrowed. Across from him, Melody Monroe was waiting for an answer.

"I... Yes, it was my plan. But I underestimated Mrs. Coleman’s ferocity! A woman betrayed by her husband is a force to be reckoned with."

Melody Monroe felt something was still off about the whole thing.

It had only been three days since Aya Winters’s downfall, yet it was as if someone had forcibly scrubbed her from the face of the entertainment industry.

She had looked into Mrs. Coleman’s background; there was no way she could have executed this so cleanly and decisively on her own.

’This method... it felt vaguely familiar.’

"Aya Winters brought this on herself! With her studio shut down, Mia Sutton’s popularity has plummeted too. Now we don’t have to worry about the Best Newcomer award. It’s a guaranteed win."

...

Meanwhile, Jasper Rockwell stood in a Jansburg villa, looking at the little guy in front of him.

"Hey, we’ve met before, remember?" Jasper Rockwell said, trying to be friendly.

"I remember," Ian Monroe replied softly, his eyes fixed on the lollipop in Jasper Rockwell’s mouth.

"Want one? I’ve got more! Here." Jasper Rockwell pulled one out and handed it to Ian Monroe.

Ian Monroe took it, slowly unwrapped it, and called out, "Bunny!"

A little piglet wearing a small blue bow tie came running out, and Ian Monroe stuck the lollipop in Bunny’s mouth.

The moment Bunny saw the treat, it chomped down.

Jasper Rockwell stared at the pig.

Bunny stared back at the man.

Man and pig, each with a lollipop in their mouth.

Jasper Rockwell blinked. Bunny blinked back.