Chapter 514
Camera flashes went entirely berserk as the media reporters surged forward in a frenzy.
A barrage of questioning, contemptuous glares crashed heavily onto Celeste, who stood frozen and pale as a ghost.
Several leading medical figures turned livid, sternly demanding, “Dr. Vaughan, you blatantly hired a ghost surgeon, committed academic fraud, and stole an award. Do you plead guilty p>
An overwhelming, suffocating pressure crashed down on her.
Celeste couldn’t stop her entire body from violently shaking, her hands and feet turning ice-cold.
Her mind went completely blank, entirely incapable of maintaining her gentle, innocent facade.
She desperately wanted to defend herself.
But in the face of countless mocking, disdainful eyes, any explanation she could offer instantly felt hollow and powerless.
Seeing her silence, Professor Klein turned his sharp gaze back to Lawrence and pressed him sternly.
“Dr. Langley, were you instructed to act as a ghost surgeon? Speak up and give us the exact reasons behind this p>
Lawrence, tears still streaming down his face, cast a terrified glance at the trembling Celeste.
He knew that the moment the truth left his lips, he was doomed.
He hadn’t wanted to be a traitor, but his son’s entire future and destiny were on the line.
Lawrence forced his eyes away, his lips quivering as he prepared to confess the entire transaction and the ugly truth.
Right at that critical, hair-trigger moment, a sharp, urgent ringtone suddenly pierced the tense atmosphere.
The screen of the phone in Lawrence’s suit pocket lit up.
The caller ID displayed a single word: Wife.
Lawrence flinched violently. Almost out of pure instinct, he pulled out his phone and answered it with trembling fingers.
It was impossible to tell what the person on the other end said.
But Lawrence’s face shifted from stark white to a deathly, ashen gray.
He didn’t bother responding to anyone’s interrogations, nor did he offer a single word of the truth.
He violently wrenched his arms free from the bodyguards’ grasp, turned around, and bolted frantically toward the banquet hall doors.
“Wait… Director Langley p>
“You haven’t explained yourself p>
But Lawrence had already reached the exit.
He turned a completely deaf ear to the sharp shouts and attempts to stop him.
Without looking back, he sprinted out of the venue, vanishing from everyone’s sight in the blink of an eye.
With a heavy thud, the grand doors slammed shut.
The hall fell silent for two agonizing seconds.
Then, an absolute uproar erupted once again.
Everyone’s gaze instinctively shifted from the fleeing Lawrence right back to the center of the stage—to Celeste.
The media shoved their cameras forward, practically pushing them into her face.
“Dr. Vaughan, why did you hire a ghost surgeon p>
“Did you intentionally deceive the industry and the public to ride the hype of a genius doctor persona p>
“You didn’t perform the surgery yourself. Does this constitute academic fraud? And besides that… is it true, as rumored online, that your entire identity is fake?
The reporters’ questions were viciously precise, hitting exactly where it hurt.
Upon hearing those words, Helena’s pupils contracted involuntarily, her palms instantly breaking out in a cold sweat.
Jarred, who had been watching the entire ordeal with frigid detachment, had dark eyes that were now entirely. coated in a bone chilling layer of frost.
Celeste just stood there.
She didn’t answer. Tears were still tracking down her face, looking as though she hadn’t quite snapped out of her crying act.
But no one noticed what happened in that brief span of mere seconds.
The same Celeste who had been shivering and on the verge of a breakdown just moments prior suddenly lost all the panicked helplessness in her eyes.
A fleeting flash of utter calmness swept through the depths of her seemingly innocent, gentle gaze.
Somehow, without alerting anyone, she had forcefully dragged out a sliver of hope from this apocalyptic crisis.
But Sienna saw it with crystal clarity.
She was standing close enough to Celeste to catch every micro-expression that flickered across her face.
Lawrence’s phone call was absolutely no coincidence.