Chapter 259
Chapter 259:
Stella blinked at her, caught between disbelief and irritation. “Who comes up with this bullshit?”
Lainey leaned in, her voice low but urgent. “Obviously, I know it’s all crap. But not everyone here does. After all that drama with you, Marc, and Haley, the gossip mill went wild. And don’t forget, Allen’s team is just waiting for an excuse to drag you down. That’s why these stories are catching fire right now.” She gave Stella a sympathetic look, her tone earnest. “I know none of it’s true, but when these rumors keep swirling, sooner or later, management starts to question things.”
Stella’s expression darkened, her jaw set. She hadn’t come here to get tangled up in office gossip. But if her personal mess was poisoning the institute’s atmosphere, she knew even the director might lose patience—no matter how blameless she actually was.
“I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry,” Stella said, forcing a calm smile as she pressed her lips together.
Lainey lingered, concern etched across her face, but after a few hesitant words, she finally drifted away.
Once the office fell silent, Stella pulled out her phone and opened her favorite social media app. Predictably, her notifications had exploded.
Headlines screamed across the screen: “Female Researcher Leads Chaotic Private Life!”
“Years of Marriage, No Children—Wild Behavior to Blame?”
As she scrolled through the headlines, a hollow laugh burst out.
Whoever had orchestrated this smear campaign hadn’t even bothered to hide their tracks.
She tapped into the top post, her name plastered front and center in bold, accusatory text.
Among the flood of comments, one netizen fanned the flames. “I’ve seen Stella sneak into the OB-GYN alone to end pregnancies—at least eight or ten times. Who knows the real number? No wonder she can’t have kids. She wrecked her own womb.”
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The accusation exploded online, blazing out of control in an instant. A few people questioned whether any of it was true, but most treated it as damning evidence of Stella’s supposed unfaithfulness.
Amid the trending chaos, a video surfaced—a public statement from Marc himself.
Facing the camera, Marc insisted he and Haley had always kept their relationship clean. He said he’d chosen to be with Stella, not in spite of her past, but because he genuinely loved her. Even though they never had children, he claimed, he’d never once blamed her.
But as Stella watched his public statement, her gaze sharpened with suspicion. The entire performance felt overly rehearsed, almost as if Marc was deliberately putting on a show.
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