Chapter 600
Chapter 599:
“Confirmed! The nurse on duty says Elouise Stein is in Room 3B and is currently on her phone p>
Penelope made the riskiest decision of her career. This was a verifiable source. This was her way out of the nosedive. She looked at her social media manager, her eyes blazing with a gambler’s certainty.
“Post it. Now p>
Back in the penthouse, Richard had moved into the second act of his performance, describing in elaborate, heartbreaking detail the long, lonely nights he had spent by his “sick” sister’s bedside.
Then the tone of the live chat began to shift. A few confused comments appeared — then a torrent.
Bella’s line rang again. This time, her voice carried something that sounded startlingly close to awe. “Jossie — oh my god. Look at the show’s Instagram. Right now p>
Gaston’s assistant was already holding out a phone.
On the screen was a new post from the official account of The Collins Heir. The background was a stark, impersonal photograph of a hospital room. The text was a nuclear bomb.
“I, Elouise Stein, issue this formal statement: My relationship with my daughter, Jocelyn Wolfe, was terminated long ago, by mutual consent. My current medical expenses are my own responsibility. I have never, and will never, request any financial assistance from my daughter. The actions of my brother, Richard Stein, today are his alone and do not represent me in any way. His statements are a gross misrepresentation of the truth. I am deeply ashamed of his shameless act of using my health to attempt public extortion. — E.S p>
The world went silent for a moment.
Then it exploded.
𝘚h𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘺𝗈𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝗵𝗼𝘶𝗀h𝗍s оո
Richard’s performance stopped mid-sentence. He stared at the phone, his jaw slack. The blood drained from his face, leaving it a pasty, sickly white.
The live chat audience, after a moment of collective shock, turned on him with the ferocity of a betrayed mob.
“LIAR p>
“He’s using his sick sister to scam his own niece p>
“This is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen p>
A slow, cold smile spread across Gaston’s lips. He stepped toward Richard, his voice dropping to a low, satisfied whisper.
“The show’s over p>
Jocelyn stared at the statement, a maelstrom of confusion churning in her chest. Why? Why would the woman who had sold her out, again and again, choose this moment to save her?
Richard’s plan — so perfectly constructed, so ruthlessly executed — had been demolished completely by a single text message from his dying sister.
He looked up at Jocelyn. The manufactured grief was gone from his eyes. What replaced it was something unfiltered and undiluted.
Pure, venomous hatred.
Two of Gaston’s security guards, who had been waiting silently in the hall, stepped forward. They took Richard by both arms and removed him from the apartment without ceremony — dragging him out like a marionette with its strings cut, limp and defeated, leaving nothing behind but the poison of his final glare still hanging in the air.