"Haynie, she''s been throwing your money around like it''s nothing—and now she''s evening after our stuff. Unbelievable! When are you finally going to freeze her assets? It''s time she stopped pretending to be someone she''s not."
Haynes shot him a look. "I''m divorced from Ste. Freezing someone else''s assets isn''t as easy as you think."
A temporary freeze was doable, sure-but for what? A week or two? That wouldn''t change anything.
Haynes continued, "I''ve got things to take care of. Jasper, I''ll leave it to you to make sure Rachel gets home safely."
Jasper nodded, and Haynes left the room.
Once he was gone, Rachel turned to Jasper. "Weren''t you saying you''d try to pin something on her? How''s thating along?"
"If Ste gets convicted, all her money goes back to Haynie, right?"
Jasper scratched his head. "I talked to thewyers. Turns out, pping charges on someone isn''t that simple. But I''ve already got people working on it. Give it a couple days-maybe two or three."
Rachel looked visibly relieved. Two or three days-she could wait for that.
Rachel could wait, but Jasper''s patience was wearing thin.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. "No, this can''t wait. I''m going to expose this gold-digger for who she really is-let the whole world see her true colors!"
With that, he grabbed his phone and started pulling strings, determined to ruin Ste''s reputation even further.
"She actually thinks she can take me on? Please. Just because she got her hands on a hundred million, she thinks she''s untouchable? Today, I''ll show her who really holds the power around here."
Smearing someone''s name was all too easy for Jasper.
But making up sordid rumors he wouldn''t stoop that low. Ste was Haynes''s ex-wife, and Keen''s mother; crossing that line would just end up humiliating Haynes, too.
Still, there were ways to socially destroy her.
In a cold voice, he instructed, "Spread the word-Ste''s crossed both me and Haynie. Anyone who helps her is making an enemy out of us."
On the other end of the line, the person shuddered. In Novaris, crossing Haynes and Jasper was social suicide.
"Oh, and another thing..." Jasper''s smile turned icy. "Reporting Ste to the authorities might not get her convicted right away, but if a reporter catches her walking into the police station, no amount of exining will save her from the gossip blogs."
With that thought, Jasper made a few more calls, setting his n in motion.
After he hung up, Rachel nced over. "Jasper, aren''t you working with Mr. Richards on this?"
"You mean Foreman?" Jasper waved his hand dismissively. "He''s too much of a nice guy. He''d never go for something like this. Doesn''t matter-Haynie and I can handle it ourselves."
In her room, Ste scrolled through news on her phone.
"Oh wow, so that violinist girl everyone was talking about her social media''s gone because The Wilkinson Group cklisted her!"
"Rumor has it, she crossed the big bosses at The Wilkinson Group and The O''Brien Group. That''s why she got shut out."
"The Wilkinson Group and The O''Brien Group? Don''t tell me she tried to seduce Jasper and Haynes, and Rachel found out. That''s why she got cklisted, right?"
"Maybe she just pissed off Rachel. Everyone knows Jasper and Haynes would do anything to protect her."
"I mean...honestly, Rachel''s so talented, it''s hard to me those two for liking her."
Just then, there was a knock at Ste''s door.
She got up to answer it—and found two uniformed police officers standing outside.
"Ms. Cameron, you''ve been used of leaking confidential business information. Pleasee with us to answer some questions."