Seeing the clear red handprint on Felix''s face, Madeline charged at ire angrily. "What right do you have to hit Felix? If you have a problem with me,e at me! Felix is innocent!"


    Her tone was that of a wife fiercely defending her husband.


    But before she could get close to ire, Noreen shoved her away.


    Madeline was intimidated by Noreen. After all, with Noreen''s current status, crushing


    her would be as easy as squashing an ant.


    In the end, all she could do was turn back to Felix with tear-filled eyes and


    apologize. "Felix, I''m so sorry. I''ve dragged you into this."


    Felix once again shielded her behind him. "This has nothing to do with you. You did nothing wrong. She''s the one with no manners."


    As he said this, he shot ire a look of utter coldness, as if he was profoundly disappointed in her.


    The heat in the room was cranked up high, but ire felt a chill seep into her bones.


    She stared at Felix, unable to speak for a long time.


    Looking at ire in that moment, Noreen felt as if she were seeing a ghost of her former self.


    She stepped forward and squeezed ire''s icy hand.


    ire knew what she meant and managed a faint smile.


    But it was a deste, heartbreaking smile.


    More people arrived at the door. It was Castle and Katy, nked by the two bodyguards who were always with Castle.


    Castle had an imposing aura. As he entered the room, his sharp gaze swept over Madeline.


    Madeline flinched and shrank further behind Felix.


    "You said you needed Katy''s help with something. What is it?" Castle''s gaze softened as he turned to Noreen.


    Noreen quickly exined the situation and what she needed from Katy.


    Katy understood immediately. "This is easy. I just need to check a few IP addresses."


    She always carried a small, custom-designedptop from Castle. It looked tiny, but it was incredibly powerful.


    She opened theputer, her fingers flying across the keyboard. A page full of data appeared, and after running a custom script she wrote, she generated the required information.


    Then she pointed it out to Noreen. "All the gossip blogs that posted the smear articles have the same IP address. It''s also the same address as the posts that were praising Madeline before."


    Faced with hard evidence, Madeline was still trying to argue. "How would I know anything about gossip blogs? You''re just trying to frame me!


    Besides, who would be stupi enough to use the same ounts that praised them tounch an attack? That''s practically admitting guilt!"


    It had to be said, Madeline wasn''t entirely brainless. She had dared to use her paid ounts to attack


    ire precisely because she''d


    guessed ire would suspect her, So she had prepared her excuse Th advance.


    Noreen was genuinely shocked that someone could be so shamelessly brazen.


    Just as she was about to say


    something, Katy spoke up in her clear, young voice, "But why does your studio use this same IP


    address? And even your pers


    Twitter uses this IP for promotional posts. Also, I just checked. These hundred-plus gossip ounts belong to a single marketing


    representative of thatpany is


    your agent. How do you exin that?"


    Initially, Madeline hadn''t paid Katy any mind. She was just a kid in her early teens; what could she possibly know? So when Noreen brought her in, Madeline hadn''t been worried.


    But she never could have imagined that Katy could untangle thisplex web of connections so clearly and quickly...


    Even a professional investigator would have needed time to dig all this up. But she had found it all just by tapping a few keys on herputer...