Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Mr. and Mrs. Hayes hear this and spend the night screaming at Carter. Next morning they drag the still–stubborn Melody to Winters Corp.
In my office, Melody’s still being defiant:
‘Why should I apologize? I didn’t do anything wrong!”
Mrs. Hayes pinches her hard. She yelps but still turns her head away.
Mr. Hayes starts, voice full of pleading:
‘Sloane, we’re here to apologize. Melody’s young–please don’t hold it against her. We’ll pay back the money ASAP, and about the project… we’re really hoping you’ll work with us here.”
lean back in my chair, glancing at Melody:
‘Apologies need to mean something. Melody, if you don’t wanna be here, there’s the door. But you’ll deal with
whatever comes next.”
Melody bites her lip, looking at Carter’s furious face and his parents‘ desperate expressions. Finally, she forces out:
‘Sorry…”
Barely audible.
‘Can’t hear you.”
take a sip of coffee:
‘Louder. And mean it.”
Melody clenches her fists, takes a deep breath, and raises her voice:
‘Miss Winters, I’m sorry! I was wrong to misunderstand you, spread lies, harass you, and break your bracelet. I’ll never do it again!”
Tears are building in her eyes but she’s fighting them back. That’s her personality–fearless and stubborn. Even apologizing, she’s got attitude.
I nod, looking at Mr. and Mrs. Hayes:
“Bracelet compensation–three days, transfer to my account. Also, Melody has to publicly apologize online and delete all her lies and livestream recordings. Plus, her defamation campaign cost our company money. Market rate compensation: two million. If you can’t do it, you know the consequences.”
17:05
She Slandered Me to Millions (Cue the Fake Tears 1 ival) But Her Viral Performance? All My Courtroom Evidence!
4.5%
Chapter 7
Mr. and Mrs. Hayes nod frantically:
“Yes, we’ll do everything! Everything!”
Carter wants to say something but my glare shuts him up.
When Melody hears two million, she loses it:
“Two million? That’s robbery! I don’t have that kind of money!”
‘No money?”
I smirk:
‘Then get a job and earn it. Or have your boyfriend pay up. After all, you did this shit for him.”
Carter’s face cycles through every shade of embarrassment, but he forces himself to say:
I’ll… I’ll cover it…”
He knows damn well that refusing means losing the partnership, and that’ll cost way more than two million.
After leaving the office, Melody forces Carter to cough up the two million, but she’s nowhere near ready to let this go.
he secretly makes a new account and keeps posting lies online, claiming I “use money to crush regular people” and force Carter to pay me off.” Makes up a bunch of fake stories about me “acting like a diva” and “bullying mployees.”
But this time nobody’s buying it.
‘he previous statement already showed everyone the truth. Plus our PR team’s been watching her every nove–screenshots taken the second she posts, evidence sent straight to court.
¡efore long, Melody got served with a lawsuit for defamation.
At the hearing, I submitted all the evidence of her lies–screenshots, video recordings, witness statements.
Melody can’t afford a lawyer, rambles incoherently in court. Judge rules she’s guilty of defamation–public apology, 50,000 in damages, plus fifteen days in jail.
After her sentence, Melody’s reputation is completely destroyed.
fer tiny influencer following vanishes, nobody in the content creation world will work with her, and her criminal ecord makes job hunting impossible.
Worse yet, she’d been living off credit and sketchy online loans to keep up appearances. Now with zero income, lebt collectors are at her door 24/7. She’s dodging them left and right until she finally gives up and crawls back to her hometown, never daring to show her face here again.
17:05
A 706
Chapter 7
And Carter? After all that shit with Melody went down, Carter was totally broken.
He knows the Hayes family can’t survive without the Winters family. Every project meeting with me is careful and respectful–not one snarky comment.
As for me? I got my justice and moved on.
