A mistress, if you were being kind. A kept woman, if you weren''t. And they were only engaged, a status with no legal protection. Yvonne knew that until the final papers were signed, anything could happen. She repeatedly warned Bianca to be strategic.


    "Also, I''ve heard rumors that Wade is meeting withwyers to draft his will," Yvonne added. "Has Seth mentioned anything?"


    "No, nothing."


    Yvonne frowned. “Does he not know, or is he keeping it from you?"


    "He must not know. Seth doesn''t hide things from me." Bianca was confident on this point.


    "Still," Yvonne insisted, "when you get back from Westbrook, find an excuse to visit Wade. See what you can find out."


    "I will."


    Bianca had to get back to the event, so Yvonne ended the call. In their group chat, Jude was spamming celebratory emojis for Bianca and had forwarded the livestream link to his father, telling him the project was about to take off and that he could rest easy.


    As the fireworks faded, Ethan and Bianca took the stage to give their speeches. The number of viewers in the livestream chat was climbing, a testament to the event''s sess.


    Back at the office, Sophia was recording the stream, muttering to herself. "Thesements have to be from bots, right? Not a single negative one? Impossible."


    "There are a hundred thousand people in this stream, and at least eighty thousand of them are fake ounts!"


    "I can''t take it anymore. I''m out." She stood up angrily, intending to get a ss of ice water from the break room.


    On the screen, Bianca was confidently proiming that *Aetheria* would be the nation''srgest mobile game within five years. In the split second of silence as she paused for apuse, someone threw a rotten egg from the crowd. It sttered directly across her face.


    Her perfect makeup was ruined. The foul stench hit her, and she doubled over, vomiting.


    The livestream chat erupted.


    "Who gave you permission to set off


    fireworks in Westbrook?!" a voice


    ет


    yelled from off-camera. "Do you


    have any idea what this does to the environment. This is a protected nature reserve! You greedy


    capitalists are destroying it for your own profit! You''re sick!"


    "Get out of Westbrook!"


    "Down with corporate greed!"


    The livestream was abruptly cut.


    Sophia, who had been halfway out the door, scurried back to her desk and hit


    rey. And again. And again. The frustration that had been building all afternoon vanished in a wave of pure satisfaction.<fnf0f5> The rightful source is FιndNovel</fnf0f5>


    *Glorious.*


    She grabbed her tablet and burst into Noreen''s office without


    knocking. Noreen was on the phone with Mrs. Joyner, discussing the


    acquisition Sophia''s sudden


    entrance made her frown What is


    it?"  shovels


    "Noreen, you have to see this!" Sophia held out the tablet, reying the clip.


    Recording the livestream had been


    Noreen''s idea; she liked to keep up with industry trends. Sophia had been reluctant at first, but now she


    was grateful for N?reen''s foresight. The clip was short, less than a minute, but it had captured everything before the feed was cut.


    Even Noreen was surprised.


    "Noreen," Sophia whispered conspiratorially, "was that you...?"


    "Stop right there. I don''t have time for that kind of thing."