Chapter 455
Grady had already made up his mind-Sylvie didn’t deserve to be slandered by anyone. If she was willing, he wouldn’t mind being her safe harbor.
He’d liked Sylvie from the very beginning. The only reason he’d kept his distance was out of respect for her connection to Jarrod. But now that he knew there was nothing official between them, what was stopping him from trying?
Sylvie, however, showed no surprise, as if she’d faced conversations like this before. She met his gaze calmly. “Mr. Mercer, thank you for your feelings. But I’d prefer if we stayed friends.”
Besides, everyone in their circle seemed convinced Elodie could hold her place, but Jarrod didn’t care for Elodie in the slightest. Not even a hint of emotion. Why did people assume she could secure her position?
Still, Sylvie didn’t reject Grady outright. She left her answer open-ended-people in this industry would cross paths again, maybe even work together. It was always wise to leave the door slightly ajar.
Grady picked up on the nuance. He knew Sylvie didn’t set her standards low, but when it came to relationships, he was just as good as Jarrod maybe better. At least he was willing to offer Sylvie the respect of a real relationship.
Sylvie didn’t say much more. “Mr. Mercer, thank you for coming all this way. It means a lot-help is rare when you need it most. But there’s nothing between me and Jarrod, not in the way you think. Our relationship is entirely aboveboard.” With that, she turned and walked away, leaving Grady to mull over her words. Grady frowned. So… was Elodie the one insisting on staying married?
Elodie had already scheduled her next check-up with Elias the night before.
It wasn’t until the next day that she heard about the drama that had unfolded online.
She’d spent last night working on a proposal, barely checking her phone. Now, just as she walked into the office, Esmeralda rushed over, grinning from ear to ear. “Karma, right? I spent half the night scrolling through posts bashing her By one in the morning, people had even dug up some of her personal details, speculating she was the third wheel.”
Esmeralda’s smile faded into a pout. “But because Jarrod publicly introduced you
in that leaked video, everyone thinks your marriage is pretty solid. It’s Sylvie
they’re suspicious about.”
Elodie set her bag down, brows raised. “When did this story break?”
“Last night. My friend sent it to me close to eleven.”
Elodie considered that. “Did they take the news down?”
Qu
Esmeralda nodded, looking annoyed. “I was still scrolling through it at one in the morning, but it disappeared after that. Jarrod must really treasure Sylvie. Now there’s not a single whisper left-some other celebrity scandal took over the trending topics.”
So, the story had circulated for a few hours.
Elodie was genuinely surprised Jarrod hadn’t cleaned up the mess immediately. For a man like him, handling something like this was a matter of a single word.
The Silverstein Group’s PR team was never slow to act.
But Elodie didn’t care much about Jarrod scrubbing away every negative post. Online criticism was one thing, but in their circle, even if the videos and posts vanished, everyone still knew the real story. They saw each other too often; nobody was clueless.
“It doesn’t matter. Anyone who
needs to know already does.” Elodie
patted Esmeralda on the head.
“Deleting those posts won’t change
much she’s not a celebrity, so the public will forget about her soon enough. But for those of us in the industry, the people who actually work with Sylvie, it’s a different story.”