CHAPTER 152: CHAPTER 152: THE GREAT FIRE

Seeing that even after a few days there was still no response from Melanie, Seraphina decided to give things a little nudge.

Using an anonymous account, she sent all the ambiguous photos of Ethan and Avril from the past few days to Melanie.

After seeing these photos, Melanie’s last shred of sanity instantly vanished.

She waited in the Lloyd Group’s parking lot before getting off work. After a short wait, she saw Ethan wrapping his arm around Avril’s waist, flirting all the way as they got into the car.

Melanie stared intensely, even ignoring the fact that she bit her lip until it bled.

She drove at a not-too-close, not-too-far distance following Avril, smoothly entering the neighborhood, and watched as they stopped the car, snuggling together as they walked into a cream-colored villa.

Melanie felt that everything she had been holding onto began to quietly shatter at that moment.

She weakly released herself, tasting the metallic flavor of blood in her mouth.

"Ethan..." Melanie took a deep breath and called Ethan, her voice weak and soft.

When Ethan originally answered the phone, he was impatient, but hearing her voice, his tone softened a bit: "What’s wrong?"

"Ethan, I’m feeling terrible right now. Mrs. Lloyd isn’t here today. Could you come back and take me to the hospital?" Melanie kept her eyes fixed on the villa, speaking softly.

"Alright, wait at home. I’ll leave the office right away and come back." Ethan hesitated briefly, then said, telling Avril he had some business to attend to before leaving.

Watching Ethan drive away, Melanie finally let out a breath.

She picked up her bag from beside her, applied her makeup meticulously, and then opened the car door to step out.

Inside the villa, Avril was originally making soup and suddenly heard the doorbell ringing incessantly. She furrowed her brows, quickly turned off the gas, and walked toward the door.

"How did you come back so soon? Did you forget your keys?" Avril said with a hint of teasing after opening the door.

But when she saw Melanie standing outside, her expression turned ugly in an instant.

Melanie’s gaze paused for a moment on the strawberry marks on Avril’s neck, then she pushed her way inside without hesitation.

"What right do you have to barge into my house! Get out!" Avril followed her inside with a stern face, blocking Melanie’s path.

"Barge into your house? Then why don’t you mention you’ve also stolen my man? Is being a mistress really that enjoyable?" Melanie glanced around at the villa’s decor and sneered.

Hearing this, Avril suddenly calmed down.

With a flirtatious toss of her hair: "Do I need to tell you? If I remember correctly, weren’t you also raised up as the mistress, Melanie?"

Hitting a sore spot, Melanie’s gaze turned cold, and she raised her hand to slap: "What nonsense are you talking about!"

Avril, caught off guard, received a slap and, realizing afterward, retaliated, slapping Melanie back.

She laughed coldly, saying: "Nonsense? Who doesn’t know about this? What right do you have to hit me in my house?"

Stunned by the slap, Melanie eventually reacted, threw her bag aside, and lunged. The two became entangled in a scuffle in the living room.

Avril’s family favored sons over daughters, so she used to do all kinds of dirty and heavy work, leaving Melanie no match for her strength.

Ultimately, she held Melanie down on the floor, slapping her several times.

After finishing, she stood up, looked down at Melanie, let out a cold snort, and turned back into the kitchen.

Smelling the carbon monoxide spreading from the kitchen, Avril glanced irritably at Melanie on the floor, thinking she must have left the gas on.

Just as she intended to turn off the gas, Melanie suddenly entered the kitchen, grabbed her hair from behind, and the two began another brawl in the kitchen, spilling pots and pans everywhere.

They fought their way into the living room, and as they exited the kitchen, a lighter on the table by the door was knocked over, falling to the ground.

As the lighter hit the ground, there was a loud boom, and the kitchen was instantly engulfed in flames.

When Ethan arrived home, he found Mrs. Lloyd there and noticed Melanie was missing. Calling her but getting no response, an ominous feeling crept up his mind.

He only learned a major incident had occurred when the hospital phoned him.

At the hospital, after explaining his identity, a doctor informed him that Melanie had suffered only minor burns. Apart from a fractured right foot, she was relatively unharmed.

However, Avril’s face had been disfigured, and with moderate burns, her condition was quite serious.

Hearing this, Ethan understood clearly that he had fallen for Melanie’s scheme.

However, the pressing matter was to quickly settle this affair; otherwise, if it got out, it would be a devastating blow to Lloyd Group. Yet, unexpectedly, he was still a step too late.

Seraphina had been monitoring Melanie all along. Once she got the news, she sent someone to anonymously contact reporters, exposing the whole affair.

"This time, I want to see how they clean up this mess." Seraphina sneered, turning her head to look out the window.

"Payne, have you arranged the reporters as I instructed?" Seraphina called Payne to ask.

"It’s all set, President Sinclair, rest assured, I’ve arranged everything." Payne responded.

Before Ethan could catch a breath, his secretary called: "President Lloyd! There are journalists all over the company entrance now! The stock price has suddenly started to drop! You better come back at once."

Ethan rushed back to the company, barely managing to get inside with the help of security.

It was only then he realized the fire incident had spread online, causing the reputation of Lloyd Group to plummet drastically.

"Where’s the PR department! Are you all just useless, letting this matter blow out of proportion like this?!"

In the conference room, Ethan furiously swept everything off the desk, exploding in anger.

The employees sitting below didn’t dare to make a sound. With the scandal now fully public online, no matter how much they worked at public relations, they couldn’t change the facts, especially with Kevin Group and Cloudsea Group pushing things from behind.

"President Fairchild, Lloyd Group is already at the brink of collapse, should we give them a push?" In the office, Ace asked, holding a file.

"A push might be warranted, but to say they are on the edge of collapse is still premature." Desmond rubbed his temples and then smirked dismissively.

Ace was puzzled, thinking, isn’t the current situation enough to destroy Lloyd Group?