NovelApexChapter 377
He rushed to tell his grandmother everything.
But when she found out, instead of standing up for what was right, she scolded his mother for embarrassing the
O'Brien family at the party, berating her harshly.
When his father heard about it, he merely said a few words criticizing Mr. Wilkinson, but in the end, did nothing
more.
He saw his mother holding back tears, her lips pressed together in humiliation.
In that moment, he thought she looked so pitiful.
He wanted to comfort her, but the mocking stares from those around them stabbed into him like needles, leaving
him lost and unsure of what to do.
He stood there, dazed, with no idea how to help.
No one offered him an answer.
Deanna's voice, tinged with contempt, snapped Keen out of his thoughts.
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"So what if it was on purpose or not? What are you going to do, stand up for Stella? Those are your so-called best
friends we're talking about!
If Stella really mattered that much to you, would Jasper and his friends ever dare bully her?
Just look at Jasper-every the sees Stella, he mocks her.
Even the fact that little kids at school make fun of Stella-doesn't that cdown to your negligence?
If you weren't always flaunting your love affair with Rachel, making it obvious to everyone that your own wife is
unwanted, who would dare say a word against Stella?
It's your failure as a husband that led to this. And now you're blaming me?
I'm not taking the fall for you!"
Deanna's barrage of words left Haynes speechless.
A faint look of bewilderment flickered in his eyes.
Had he really been neglecting Stella all along?
The next day, Jasper and his crew were all over the trending news again.
Clips were going viral of a group of young men driving luxury cars, blatantly breaking traffic laws, hitting
someone-and then acting outrageously arrogant. "You think | was driving drunk? So what? Yeah, | was!"
"So what if | hit you? Even if | killed you, | wouldn't be held responsible!"
"You want to know why? Maybe ask who my daddy is! Or who my best friends are!"
"You know Haynes from the O'Brien Group? That's my buddy's best friend!"
"You say there's no law? | am the law!"
The video exploded online within minutes.
Early that morning, Haynes's phone rang-it was Jasper, sounding frantic.
"Haynie, it's bad! That video of my friends-no one could stop it, and now it's blowing up everywhere! Everyone's
talking about it!"
These days, whenever Haynes saw Jasper's non his phone, he knew it meant trouble, and his irritation only
grew.
He glanced at the headlines, then replied coldly, "I saw it."
From his tone, it was impossible to tell what he was really thinking.
Stella's recent scandal had already affected the Wilkinson Group's stock price.
The old man was now trying to repair the damage by promoting Stella, and to keep Haynes from interfering, he'd
already stripped him of real authority.
Jasper, at this point, had no power to remove the trending news.
But he'd already bragged to his friends that he could make it disappear.
Now, his only hope was Haynes.
He pleaded, "Haynie, you have to get that video taken down! If we wait any
longer, it's going to blow up even bigger!"
Haynes rubbed his tired temples, his voice icy.
"Take down the trending news? So you wantto admit that the O'Brien Group —me, Haynes-am the one
backing your friends? Do you want the whole world calling us corrupt?"
Jasper was stunned into silence.
Haynes's patience was already worn thin.
Coldly, he said, "Jasper, do you have any idea how much trouble you've causedsince you started going after
Stella?"
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