Chapter 111 Persistent Ghost
After hanging up, Scarlett's fingers flew across her phone screen. She found the news Briar had mentioned in seconds. Tapping the link, a video popped up, showing the scene outside Rainbow Kindergarten. There was Opal, throwing a full-blown tantrum on the pavement, screaming accusations about her cheating.
She watched the one-minute clip, a knot tightening in her stomach, then scrolled down to the comments. It was a tidal wave of vitriol. They were all calling her shameless, a slut, a homewrecker. The names themselves didn't sting as much as the personal information posted just below.
Her heart did a sickening lurch.
They doxed me?
Scarlett's eyes scanned the details: name, profession. The rest was still missing, for now.
She'd kept a low profile for years, deliberately avoiding the spotlight. But there it was, clear as day. Was this the work of random internet trolls or one of her enemies?
Why would this video surface now? It didn't even leak when Rainbow Kindergarten was being dragged through the mud. The timing was too perfect, too malicious.
Someone was targeting her.
Wesley?
No, he was locked up in a holding cell. He couldn't orchestrate something like this from the inside. Besides, if he wanted to use this against her, he would have done it during the divorce to fight over assets, not waited until now. It had to be someone else.
Who, then?
Tatum?
That felt more likely. It was exactly her brand of petty, underhanded revenge. If it were her, she was more resourceful than Scarlett had given her credit for.
But right now, it didn't matter who was behind it. If this post went viral, an army of keyboard warriors who knew nothing about the truth would descend on her. Her life would become a living hell of online harassment.
Even worse, it could drag Yara into the mess.
No. I have to shut this down. Now.
But how?
Just as a wave of panic began to rise, her phone vibrated, a sharp, clear ringtone cutting through the silence. She glanced at the screen.
An unknown number.
She hesitated for a beat, then swiped to answer.
"Ms. Mellon, hello there. It's Ulysses." The voice on the other end was slick with a familiar, smarmy charm.
Scarlett's grip on the phone tightened. Ulysses was like a cockroach, impossible to get rid of. How did he find her?
"What do you want?" Her voice was flat, but the undercurrent of disgust was unmistakable.
The memory of him drugging her drink, coupled with the fact that the Mitchell family was the architect of Owen's downfall, made her skin crawl.
"Why, the little matter on the internet, of course," Ulysses chuckled, a nasty, self-satisfied sound.
The internet. The words were so direct, so pointed. It all clicked into place.
"You posted the video," she stated, not a question.
"Sharp as ever, Ms. Mellon. You guessed it in one," he drawled, his tone dripping with mock admiration.
Scarlett switched the phone to her left hand, her right closing over the mouse on her desk. She clicked open a program, then put the call on speaker.
"Last time, your pathetic little scheme to pressure me failed. This time you're using a doctored video. What are you trying to threaten me with now?" She asked, her voice deceptively calm.
"You really are a breath of fresh air, Ms. Mellon. It's so much easier dealing with someone who isn't a complete idiot."
"You've heard of the Serene Bay Peninsula project, haven't you?" Ulysses said from the other end.
Serene Bay Peninsula? So that was his angle.
"What if I have, and what if I haven't?" She replied coolly.
Ulysses's voice turned colder. "It doesn't matter. What matters is that I want you to make sure Ambrose doesn't get that project."
Scarlett almost laughed. "You're certifiably insane. If you want to stop Ambrose from getting a project, you go compete for it. What's the point of telling me, a designer? Are you an idiot?"
"Oh, don't play dumb with me, Ms. Mellon. Everyone knows Orion used to work for your father. If you asked him for a favor, do you think he'd say no?"
"Don't you dare project your family's dirty tactics onto us. Who are you trying to disgust? Or are you admitting that the Mitchell family clawed its way to the top using blackmail and manipulation?"
"Ms. Mellon, such a sharp tongue! Accusing the Mitchell family of slander with a single sentence."
She refused to take his bait, turning his attack back on him. "This whole phone call is a setup, isn't it? The Serene Bay Peninsula project is already in your pocket, with your family about to take power. You're making this call so that when the Boleyn Group inevitably loses the bid, you can use this recording to frame me and whoever was managing the project. Is there no low the Mitchell family won't sink to? Aren't you afraid of a little karma?"
"I'm telling you, my dad is in prison. He has long since had no connections or power outside. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been bullied by you like this for the past four years. You can't get any leverage on me, so you want to threaten me with unfounded slander? No way."
"Last time, you claimed you had evidence that could prove my father's innocence. I believe you. If you could frame him, you can certainly clear his name. But you'll never give it to me. I won't fall for your games. Don't ever contact me again. Otherwise, I'll make sure your family's new reign is a nightmare before it even begins."
Scarlett ended the call, the finality of the click echoing in the quiet room. She immediately stopped the recording on her computer and leaned back in her chair, her mind racing.
How did the Mitchells pick someone as brainless as Ulysses to run their company? His tactics were laughably amateur.
But as clumsy as his scheme was, the video's impact was real. After a moment of thought, Scarlett pushed her phone aside and placed her hands on the keyboard, opening a discreet application.
Inside the program, she double-clicked an avatar shaped like a keyboard. A chat window appeared. She typed a message.
[Finnian, I need a favor. I need you to scrub the name 'Scarlett' from the internet.]
Less than a minute later, a reply popped up.
[No problem.]
Another message followed. [Haven't seen you on here in a while. What have you been up to?]
Scarlett typed back: [Getting a divorce.]
An animated sticker of a champagne bottle popping appeared, along with a message: [Congrats! Welcome to the singles club.]
She sent back a smiling emoji and a party popper. [I'll wire you the fee in a bit.]
There was no immediate reply. A minute passed.
Keyboard Warrior: [Done. Consider it a divorce present.]
Scarlett accepted graciously, thanking him and promising to buy him a drink the next time he was in Silverlight City.
While they chatted, she pulled up the news article on her phone again. The topic thread was still there, but the video player was broken. And every comment that mentioned her name was now a jumble of nonsensical characters.
A wave of relief washed over her. After a few more messages, she logged out of the program.
From now on, no one would be able to smear her name online. It was a permanent fix. Otherwise, they'd just take down one video and post another. She couldn't spend her life playing digital whack-a-mole with these people.
In the CEO's office at the Boleyn Group, Chase knocked and entered. He walked briskly to the massive desk. "Mr. Boleyn, a video of Ms. Mellon has surfaced online. It's from the incident at Rainbow Kindergarten, with Opal yelling at her."
Ambrose looked up, his expression turning to ice. "Who did it?"
"We traced the upload back to Opal's phone," Chase reported.
Ambrose's eyes narrowed. Opal was a woman from the countryside who had only moved to the city after Wesley's company took off. She barely knew how to use a smartphone, let alone orchestrate a viral smear campaign. Someone was helping her.
"However," Chase added, seeing the storm gathering in his boss's eyes, "by the time I moved to take it down, the video was already inaccessible. Any mention of Ms. Mellon's name online has been completely wiped or garbled."
Ambrose's expression immediately turned sour. When something went wrong, she didn't come to him first; instead, she asked someone else to handle it. She was keeping her distance from him.