Chapter 553: The Charged-Up Ultimate Move 2

"President Fairchild isn’t the kind of old man who’s easy to fool. For someone like Melody Monroe, once he discovers her true nature, she’ll realize just how severe the consequences are." Cheryl Rhodes grew more agitated as she spoke.

"Exactly," Ruby Gordon immediately chimed in.

"I think Melody Monroe is playing with fire. In the end, she’s bound to have a miserable fate."

The women nodded, agreeing that this was the most likely outcome.

Lois Hughes walked to the signing area and glanced at Melody Monroe and Evan Fairchild, who were standing not far in front of her. Her mind replayed the conversation they’d just had.

Melody Monroe signed her name. Evan Fairchild then took the pen from her hand and began his own signature by extending from the last stroke of hers. The two names were now linked together.

Evan Fairchild looked at Melody Monroe’s signature, then back at her.

Her handwriting was incredibly fluid, yet it had a certain edge to it—the kind of skill that could only come from years of practice.

He’d seen her handwriting before in her notes, and it was just as beautiful. It didn’t look like a signature she had practiced just for show.

As it happened, some of the materials from his background check contained a sample of her handwriting. But that ’her’ deserved to be in quotes. The penmanship was on par with a grade schooler’s; it was indescribably bad.

When his suspicions were first aroused, he had investigated further. He had confirmed then what he was confirming again now: the old handwriting and her current script had to have been written by two different people.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Melody Monroe felt a little flustered by his stare.

His gaze was sharp as an arrow, as if it could pierce through her body and see straight into her soul.

"Your handwriting is beautiful."

"If I’d known, I wouldn’t have made that last stroke so long. You just used it as an excuse to write your name on top of mine."

"What’s wrong with my name being on top? I’ve been on top of the person, too."

"Evan Fairchild!" Melody exclaimed, her voice a mix of embarrassment and warning. She quickly glanced around. Thankfully, everyone else at the signing wall was a good distance away; no one could have heard him.

"Let’s go inside," Evan Fairchild said, taking Melody Monroe’s arm and leading her in.

Melody tried to pull her arm away a few times, but to no avail.

’Her seat wasn’t next to Evan Fairchild’s. He’d have to let go eventually, whether he wanted to or not.’

"My seat is over there," Melody said, pointing.

Ever the gentleman, Evan Fairchild escorted Melody all the way to her seat before taking his leave.

After sitting down, Melody let out a long sigh of relief.

She’d been the center of attention outside, and now that she was inside, everyone who saw Evan Fairchild leading her in turned to stare at her in unison.

Melody sighed heavily.

So many people were looking her way that she kept her head down, completely missing one particular gaze, one thick with emotion.

Shannon Paxton glanced at Melody Monroe before turning her gaze elsewhere.

She had tried so desperately to curry favor with Melody Monroe before. But when it came to Melody’s new drama, all the others from their show got cast in major roles, while she, and she alone, was left out.

She had even tried to audition for a part, but the director had turned her down.

Later, she’d heard that Melody herself had arranged for the others to join the cast and that they had all signed with Melody’s new studio.

And for that, Shannon Paxton hated Melody Monroe’s guts.

In her eyes, Melody was either looking down on her or had never taken her seriously in the first place. It was a complete humiliation.

Her popularity was even higher than any of theirs, yet Melody hadn’t given her a single chance.

She had even turned down an opportunity with Aya Winters’ production crew.

And even though that incident later happened with Aya Winters, Shannon found a way to blame Melody for that, too.