Chapter 19: She was Not My Canary in Any Way​

“Has the SG Jewelry Magazine gone mad? Why didn’t they do a background check on their signed designer in the first place? The fact that the woman who has designed the ‘Puppy Love’ Series’ was a woman who used to be a mistress is a sick joke to this day.”


“They have failed to get anything going this time despite having a hand full of nice cards. I have a feeling that this incident might become the greatest tragedy in Sg Jewelry Magazine’s history.”


“Isn’t there anybody who continues to expose that Sharon? I am really enjoying myself in this scandal. We should find out who that rich person is too. We need to make sure their reputations are beyond repair!”


The post had garnered traction on the internet, and Sharon’s background was finally put in the spotlight. However, that rumoured rich person’s details couldn’t be found no matter what netizens did.


Stanford was gathering his employees in an urgent meeting. They were trying to find a way to fan down the flames of this incident in the shortest amount of time possible.


Obviously, there was a perpetrator to this incident. When they made sure that post was not trending anymore, immediately someone was able to create new trending posts by using key words to make that topic ever so popular.


They probably wanted to an announcement detailing the termination of Sharon’s contract with SG Jewelry Magazine. Otherwise, they didn’t seem like they would stop their efforts in ruining her career.


Stella could see at first glance that someone was obviously targeting her. Of course, the SG Jewelry Magazine could see that as well.


In the end, terminating Stella’s contract was just a small matter that didn’t resolve the whole problem. If they couldn’t find out the truth and resolve this problem, SG Jewelry Magazine had to shoulder this accusation forever, which would affect their reputation.


However, no one could control public opinion on the internet. No matter what SG Jewelry Magazine did, the public would interpreted them as siding with Stella.


Often times, people wouldn’t care about the truth of the matter. They just wanted to see the wishes in their hearts manifested.


Throughout the whole afternoon, Stanford was buried in his office without being able to come out, and there were countless calls by the media coming in too. They were all asking about Stella’s story, and some of them even wanted to book their slot to be the first media to interview the company.


Stella was seated in the meeting room, and as she scrolled the internet and read the comments, she suddenly felt that she had a lot of fans, although those fans were haters.


In fact, this matter was simple in its nature. She could even guess who was behind this, trying to bring her down.




There were only a handful of people who knew her and the fact that she had married someone.


Coupled with the fact that even the casino Jeffrey often visited had been exposed too, it was obvious she was the one being targeted and humiliated here. They didn’t even mention anything about that wealthy person, which showed that the person who started this post not only knew her, they knew Clarence too.


Since that person wanted her to go into ruins but didn’t want Clarence’s identity to get exposed, they labelled her as a mistress who had hooked up with a married man.


Clarence didn’t marry anyone before that, so no matter what, he wouldn’t be involved in this scandal in any way.


At the same time, in the president’s office in the Conrad Group.


Clarence was browsing the breaking story on the internet, and his eyes were cold and emotionless, which were devoid of any feelings.


After a while, he broke his silence, “Does the SG Jewelry Group respond?”


“Not for now. I think it is because this incident is so sudden and so widespread that they are caught off-guard.”


Clarence said nothing to that, and he looked undecipherable.


Nathan added, “Mr. Conrad, although this scandal wouldn’t affect the Conrad Group directly, the young lady’s information has been leaked somehow. We can’t guarantee that the Conrad Group won’t be dragged into this mess in the future.”


“Go on.”


Nathan tried to go along his line of thoughts, albeit everything was just his conjecture, “We have collaborated with SG Jewelry Magazine before this, and we share a decent business relationship with them. If we could help them go over this obstacle, not only we can stop this matter from going out of hand and making the public opinion less arbitrary, we can make sure the young lady can come out of this alive. The SG Jewelry Magazine has to owe us this one time. No matter how you look at it, helping them brings us more benefits than losses.”


Clarence mumbled a response and shut off the website, “Send the publicity department over.”


If not for the fact that the SG Jewelry Magazine had collaborated with the Conrad Group in the past, he would have no problem seeing Stella going into ruins by herself.






Nathan heaved a sigh of relief. He was really treading the thin line here. In order to make sure his boss could keep his face, Nathan had no choice but to dish out such a noble-sounding excuse.


…


Just when the whole internet was in a huge uproar, Stanford suddenly received a call from the publicity department, informing them that the PR department of the Conrad Group had contacted them. It seemed like they wanted to offer a helping hand to the company to overcome this juncture.


The PR department of the Conrad Group was one of them in the nation. Although the Conrad Group had businesses in the entertainment circle, its PR department never worked with any artists before. Their only job was to maintain the company’s image.


Stanford felt pleasantly surprised at this sudden gesture of kindness. Although he had crossed paths with Clarence before, he knew that Clarence was not someone who would be so charitable all the time.


Seeing that they were in a pinch, they couldn’t come up with any good ideas anyway.


Just as Stanford was about to accept the offer of the PR department of the Conrad Group, Stella suddenly appeared at the door of the meeting room. She said in a soft voice, “Mr. Leif, I am willing to be interviewed by the media so that I can give a thorough explanation of this matter.”


Sherry who was beside her was trying to stop her, “Stella…”


Stella continued, “I have thought through this well. I know that this might not be the best way to deal with the situation, but if this matter continues to spread like wildfire, the image of the SG Jewelry Magazine would suffer greatly.”


Stanford agreed with her suggestion.


The SG Jewelry Magazine was a big shot magazine in the nation. They were not a musical group or artist, so while faced with accusations out of nowhere, the best way to resolve the issue was to provide an explanation by the person involved in it.






Very soon, the SG Jewelry Magazine started a press conference.


After receiving a phone call, Nathan knocked on the door of the president’s office with a catch in his throat.


Clarence didn’t even look up as he spoke calmly, “Has the matter been resolved?”


“Mr. Conrad, the SG Jewelry Magazine has rejected our offer for help. They said that they have come up with a way to deal with the situation.”


Clarence shut the documents in front of him and raised his head slowly. There was no expression on his features, “What kind of way have they come up with?”


“They are hosting a press conference to clear up this mess.”


Clarence put down his ballpoint pen and couldn’t help chuckling.


This matter had its roots on Stella. Other than her, he couldn’t think of anyone else giving the explanation to the media.


Was she that fond of being scrutinized under the public’s eyes? Didn’t she know that all of her information had been spilled to the internet?


Just when Nathan thought that his boss would become enraged, Clarence uncharacteristically said, “I got it. You can leave now.”


Nathan left promptly, and Clarence’s phone began to ring. It was a call from the Conrad family house.


“What is the deal with that rumour on the internet?”


Clarence replied faintly, “It’s just as you saw. Everything is just rumours.”


Dempsey growled, “Of course I know that it is a rumour. I am asking about the reason as to why Stella isn’t behaving herself at home. Why is she creating such a big ruckus in the first place?”


“She is not my canary anyway. She can do whatever she likes.”


Dempsey didn’t call to just shoot the breeze with that topic. He said after a moment of hesitation, “Clarence, I heard that the woman by your side has become pregnant. Since there isn’t anything new from Stella’s side after marrying into the family for three years, you should find a time to divorce her. This is to prevent her from maintaining her position as the young lady in the family while doing nothing useful.”