Joshua cocked his head, his eyes cold and razor-sharp. "That apology doesn''t sound sincere to me."

    Lottie''s face crumpled, tears spilling over as she sobbed to Allison, "I''m sorry, Ms. Allison, I really am. Please, I''m begging you-let me go. I shouldn''t have spread rumors about you, shouldn''t have embarrassed you in front of everyone. Please, just give me a chance to fix this."

    Allison''s gaze was icy. "Post a three-thousand-word apology on every social tform you have, pin it to the top for a month, and pay me a hundred thousand dors for emotional damages."

    Lottie went pale, looking miserable. "Ms. Allison, I have hundreds of thousands of followers on Weibo and Little Red Book. My whole iees from brand deals and sponsorships-if I post this, my whole image will copse..."

    "So you''re saying no?" Allison shot her a look that could freeze water.

    Lottie bit her lip, looking even more pitiful. "It''s not that I won''t do it—it''s just... this

    is too much. You''re asking me to destroy my own career."

    Someone in the crowd chimed in, "Ms. Allison, her whole online persona is ''foreign-educated, rich, and ssy.""

    Allison''s voice was cool and steady. "If you don''t want to apologize this way, that''s fine."

    A flicker of relief shed in Lottie''s eyes. "Thank you, Ms. Allison, I knew you— Allison cut her off, voice t. "Then we''ll settle it in court."

    Lottie froze, her mouth half-open.

    The crowd started whispering.

    "Ms. Owens is being generous. If it were me, I''d have called her out right here."

    "Generous? Please. Ms. Allison''s move is brutal-she''s basically ending Lottie''s career."

    "Oh,e on. Clearly, you don''t get how the inte works-it forgets everything. And honestly, Lottie''s pretty shameless. Once this blows over, she''ll be back making money like nothing happened."

    "Totally agree. The inte never remembers."

    Lottie''s eyes darted around as she did the math. If she went to court, with the Fisher and Owens families power, this wouldn''t stop at an apology or some money-she might even end up in jail. There was that one influencer, Kate, who got sued for nder and actually served time.

    Losing her reputation was bad, but jail was much worse.

    She took a shaky breath and said, "Ms. Allison, I''ll do it. I ept your conditions."

    Trayson, realizing Allison was much easier to deal with than Joshua, quickly turned to apologize too. "Ms.

    Allison, was wrong as well. I''ll post an apology on all my social media,

    and pay you two hundredo fil

    thousand aspensation."

    Allison''s eyes narrowed at Trayson, cold and sharp. “You?" She hadn''t forgotten how cruel he''d been to her at the mall.

    Suddenly, someone from Trayson''s group tried to get on Joshua and Allison''s good side by shouting, "Joshua, Ms. Allison, you can''t let Trayson off that easy. Just a few days ago, he was trying to dig up dirt on Ms. Allison-said if he found her, he''d ruin her."

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!