?Chapter 75:


    Thepetition had entered its final stretch—only the champion, runner-up, and third ce remained to be named from the top three entries: Elliana’s Lonely Sunset, Paige’s Riding the Waves, and Bentlee Potter’s Brick Bridge.


    Tension crackled in the air as the judges deliberated. Both Luciano and Paige sat stone-faced, their expressions tight with unease.


    For Paige, it was bitterness. The thought of Elliana—her longtime punching bag—rising to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her at the summit was intolerable. Elliana was supposed to grovel at her feet, not rival her on center stage. The bile of envy burned in her throat. Meanwhile, Luciano was being skewered in real time. The crowd at the venue and online viewers alike were tearing into him.


    “Luciano’s a petty man abusing his title to go after personal enemies. He trashed Elliana’s painting live on air, but now she’s a finalist! Even if she ends up third, that’s still leagues ahead of the garbage he spewed.”


    “Anyone surprised? This is textbook Luciano. As president of the Calligraphers and Painters Association, how many brilliant artists has he quietly shut out just for not kissing up to him?”


    “He struts around pretending to be some enlightened master, preaching about art and life, but deep down he’s a bitter, petty fraud. Absolutely revolting.”


    Hailey had tried to smother the bacsh by flooding the livestream with paid bots, but with millions watching, her efforts were a drop in the ocean. Thements roasting Luciano just kepting, brutal and relentless. The real-time outrage swelled, impossible to contain. Beneath the storm of public scorn, Luciano was unraveling. His grip onposure slipped by the second. Would Elliana be the one to destroy everything he’d built? No. He refused to let that happen. He’d wed his way to the top, forged his name through sheer will. He couldn’t let it all burn now.


    Panic tightening his throat, he leaned toward Paige. “Paige, call Mr. Carman—see if he can get a handle on this. I can’t let my name get dragged through the mud like this!”


    But Paige barely heard him. She was too wrapped up in her own unraveling disaster. Merritt had poured money into the show to boost her stardom, betting on her rise. Too confident in her n, she had dragged Elliana into it without even giving Merritt a heads-up, intending to use the show as a weapon to wipe Elliana out for good. But the n had backfired—Elliana wasn’t just surviving. Elliana was stealing the spotlight.


    What kept Paige up at night was the thought of Elliana ranking higher. If that happened, she wouldn’t just lose face—she’d be the punchline of every gossip reel. And worse, Merritt might pin the failure squarely on her.


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    “Merritt’s tied up with bigger things. He can’t waste time on this,” Paige remarked smoothly, dismissing Luciano without a second nce.


    Luciano swallowed his fury. He didn’t dare go head-to-head with Paige, not with her ties to Merritt. Still, his stomach churned. If anyone had dragged him into this mess, it was her.


    The moment Paige turned away from Luciano, she fired off a message to Hailey. “Shut down the live stream. Now.”


    She could no longer risk everything on chance. If the audience caught even a glimpse of Elliana outshining her, she’d be the butt of every joke on the inte by tomorrow.


    Hailey didn’t hesitate. The stream went dark within seconds.


    Across the country, millions of viewers who’d been glued to the broadcast were suddenly met with a nk screen. At first, they thought it was a short-lived malfunction, and the crew was already huddled by the cameras, primed to restart the live feed any moment now. But more than ten minutes ticked by and still no stream. Frustration boiled over. Discussions exploded across social media, forums, and livement sections. Conspiracy theories took off, usations flew, and hashtags surged until the topic rocketed to the top of the trending charts.


    Meanwhile, outside the Evans Group’s conference room, Myles, Aron, and Hugh gathered together, sneakily watching the stream on Aron’s phone. When Elliana’s painting was announced as a top-three finalist in the Starry Oil Painting Competition, all three froze in disbelief.


    Hugh, who had always mocked her behind her back, looked like he’d been punched in the gut. “Hold on—wasn’t Elliana just some talentless eyesore? How the hell did she pull that off?”


    Myles and Aron gave him matching side-eyes.


    “I think I finally get why Mr. Evans found Elliana so fascinating,” Myles said, rubbing his jaw. “He must’ve seen her potential from the start. He’s got an eye for talent—he doesn’t judge by surface-level stuff.”


    Aron gave a quick, affirmative nod. “She’s full of surprises. Word is, she used to live all by herself in some rundown warehouse in the Jones estate. She waspletely ignored for years. When the hell did she even learn to paint?”


    Their questions were piling up just as the screen in front of them glitched and went dark. All three froze, eyes wide, stunned into silence. What on earth was that? They’d been seconds away from finding out whether Elliana had clinched the championship.


    Fueled by growing impatience and a need for answers, the brothers exchanged restless nces.


    Then, without another word, Myles squared his shoulders and marched straight into the CEO’s office. Cole, a world-ss hacker with skills sharp enough to breach military firewalls, must have already been one step ahead and tuned in to the museum’s internal camera feeds, calmly watching the finals from his phone.


    Myles didn’te in to interrupt—just to watch alongside.


    Catching on fast, Aron and Hugh exchanged a nce and then marched in after Myles without hesitation.


    Sure enough, Cole sat at the desk, legs crossed, phone in hand, eyes fixed on the live security footage ying on-screen…


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