Chapter 220 Chapter 220
When the credits finally rolled on the movie screen, it was already past ten o'clock at night.
Caroline's cell phone had been on silent mode in her bag the whole time. As soon as she picked it up, she saw that she had ignored Tania's messages for over an hour. The notification panel was full.
Tania: \[Wow, Carol, have you checked Instagram yet?! Have you seen the latest news about Claire?!!\]
She sounded frantic. As if World War III had broken out in the world of celebrity gossip.
Caroline blinked, curious, and typed quickly as she walked alongside Nicholas toward the parking lot:
Caroline: \[??? What happened to Claire?\]
The answer came in milliseconds.
Tania: \[Why are you only responding now? The movie must be over by now. Don't tell me you and Prince Charming are already “making out”...?\]
Caroline felt her face burn instantly. She glanced furtively at Nicholas—who stoically carried the three designer bags as if they were report folders—and replied:
Caroline: \[Tania, you pervert! How can your head be filled with such obscene things all the time?!\]
Tania: \[What do you mean, naughty? It's totally normal for you and your billionaire husband to be enjoying the night! Are you going to tell me nothing happened?\]
Caroline was speechless. The “billionaire husband” was, technically, in the friend zone, serving out his notice period as a suitor.
Tania: \[Haha. Okay, leaving your intimate life aside. You're not going to sleep yet, right? Check Instagram NOW!\]
Caroline wondered what kind of hole Claire had gotten herself into this time.
She opened the app. As soon as the page refreshed, her ex-friend's face flooded the screen on various gossip accounts.
Claire was a rising actress, so any slip-up became a feast for the media. The headline of the largest entertainment portal screamed in bold letters:
“Pure and innocent” actress involved in wild public brawl! Has the StarColi star lost control?
Then there were paragraphs and paragraphs detailing how Claire had been involved in a scandalous physical altercation with another woman in the middle of the street.
There was a carousel with nine clear photos attached as irrefutable evidence. The images showed the two women rolling on the ground, pulling hair and tearing clothes in a shameful brawl. Claire's face, contorted with rage and hatred, was captured in high resolution. As for the other woman, her features were blurred or hidden by the angles of the photos.
When a scandal was accompanied by a photo shoot of aggression, there was no public relations in the world that could deny it. Claire's face was unmistakable.
After absorbing the shock, Caroline replied:
Caroline: \[I saw it. That's crazy.\]
Tania: \[Isn't it the best thing you've read today? Haha! A shameless fake moralist like her deserves to be exposed to the whole country. StarColi must be in a panic. They spent fortunes to shape her “good girl” image, and she throws it all away by rolling around on the asphalt!\]
Caroline had to admit: karma was swift and relentless. And the feeling was delicious.
News like this was fatal to budding careers. Claire was sold to the public as a fragile, pure, and innocent girl — the embodiment of the perfect “first love” that makes men sigh.
A rowdy shrew, caught punching the curb, did not fit this aesthetic. While her career may not be over for good today, the damage to her angelic image is irreversible. Brands and directors will shy away from her.
Caroline: \[It's karma at work. But it's very strange... why would Claire lose her mind to the point of fighting in the middle of the street? Wasn't her manager there to prevent the disaster?\]
Tania: \[I also found it bizarre. Her manager is a sly fox, how could she allow her “star” to do something so low? Anyway, the fact is that she assaulted someone and dozens of onlookers filmed it. Let's see how Edward Collins' scum cleans up his fiancée's mess this time.\]
Tania: \[Haha, I'd love to see Edward's face. Doesn't he think she's the kindest, most gentle creature in the universe? I wonder how he'll feel after seeing these photos. Will he still think she's a delicate flower?\]
Caroline stopped walking, her eyes fixed on the illuminated screen.
A dark epiphany crossed her mind.
Edward was a manipulative idiot, that was a fact. But what really intrigued Caroline now was not his moral shock at seeing his fiancée's true face.
Her mind wandered to a physical, biological, and very dangerous detail.
Claire was pregnant.
That same morning, at the hospital, Claire had rubbed her pregnancy in her face like an untouchable trophy.
Rolling on the floor. Exchanging punches and kicks in an uncontrolled street fight. Blows to the abdomen.
What would Edward think... not of his fiancée's public image, but of the survival of the precious child she carried in her womb, after seeing the mother risk a miscarriage in the middle of a public brawl?
Caroline frowned, her eyes fixed on the chaotic images on her cell phone screen.
Is Claire really pregnant? she wondered mentally.
If what Claire had rubbed in her face at the hospital was true, she must be less than three months pregnant. The first trimester. The most delicate, unstable, and dangerous phase of any pregnancy.
What kind of woman, knowing she was carrying a baby only a few weeks old in her womb, would dare to roll on the floor and exchange punches with another person in the middle of a hotel lobby?
Wasn't she afraid of getting kicked in the stomach? Wasn't she terrified of having a miscarriage? Was Claire's maternal instinct non-existent, or was there something very wrong with this story?
“What are you thinking about so seriously?”
Caroline blinked and looked up when she heard his deep voice.
The metal elevator doors opened with a soft ding, revealing the VIP level of the underground parking garage.
Instead of answering immediately, Caroline opened the full article on Instagram and handed her phone to Nicholas as they walked toward the Bugatti.
Nicholas took the device. His dark eyes scanned the screen quickly, reading the headline and analyzing the degrading photos in a matter of seconds, before handing the phone back to her.
“Claire got into a physical fight and ended up at the police station,” Caroline explained, still processing the information. “It seems to be a huge scandal.”
“Hmm, I saw it,” Nicholas nodded, his expression completely indifferent to the ruin of others. “Getting into a public fistfight has a huge impact on the career of an ‘innocent actress,’ doesn't it?”
“Quite. It could be the end of her advertising contracts.”
Nicholas stopped beside the passenger door. He looked at Caroline and a cold, calculating smile curved his lips—the kind of smile that made his competitors in the business world tremble.