?Chapter 259:


    Ste blinked at her, caught between disbelief and irritation. “Whoes up with this bullshit?”


    Lainey leaned in, her voice low but urgent. “Obviously, I know it’s all crap. But not everyone here does. After all that drama with you, Marc, and Haley, the gossip mill went wild. And don’t forget, Allen’s team is just waiting for an excuse to drag you down. That’s why these stories are catching fire right now.” She gave Ste a sympathetic look, her tone earnest. “I know none of it’s true, but when these rumors keep swirling, sooner orter, management starts to question things.”


    Ste’s expression darkened, her jaw set. She hadn’te here to get tangled up in office gossip. But if her personal mess was poisoning the institute’s atmosphere, she knew even the director might lose patience—no matter how meless she actually was.


    “I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry,” Ste said, forcing a calm smile as she pressed her lips together.


    Lainey lingered, concern etched across her face, but after a few hesitant words, she finally drifted away.


    Once the office fell silent, Ste pulled out her phone and opened her favorite social media app. Predictably, her notifications had exploded.


    Headlines screamed across the screen: “Female Researcher Leads Chaotic Private Life!”


    “Years of Marriage, No Children—Wild Behavior to me?”


    As she scrolled through the headlines, a hollowugh burst out.


    Whoever had orchestrated this smear campaign hadn’t even bothered to hide their tracks.


    She tapped into the top post, her name stered front and center in bold, usatory text.


    Among the flood ofments, oneizen fanned the mes. “I’ve seen Ste sneak into the OB-GYN alone to end pregnancies—at least eight or ten times. Who knows the real number? No wonder she can’t have kids. She wrecked her own womb.”


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    The usation exploded online, zing out of control in an instant. A few people questioned whether any of it was true, but most treated it as damning evidence of Ste’s supposed unfaithfulness.


    Amid the trending chaos, a video surfaced—a public statement from Marc himself.


    Facing the camera, Marc insisted he and Haley had always kept their rtionship clean. He said he’d chosen to be with Ste, not in spite of her past, but because he genuinely loved her. Even though they never had children, he imed, he’d never once med her.


    But as Ste watched his public statement, her gaze sharpened with suspicion. The entire performance felt overly rehearsed, almost as if Marc was deliberately putting on a show.


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