Chapter 21
Anastasia’s PR team needed damage control yesterday. For that, they desperately needed Bastien to step up.[]
At this point, only statements from Bastien and Ophelia could save Anastasia’s ass from the social media firing squad.[]
But Bastien had ghosted everyone. Unable to reach him, Anastasia’s management company reluctantly reshared Ophelia’s tweet, adding their own statement threatening legal action against “malicious rumor–mongers.”
Piper had known about Ophelia’s collapse in London from day one. She’d jumped on the first flight and seen Ophelia lying unconscious in the ICU. She’d stayed until Ophelia out of danger before rushing to LA for an emergency meeting.]
Piper knew the whole messy story–why Ophelia posted that announcement, the fake divorce scheme, all of it. Now that the fake divorce had become real, with Bastien stalking around London, Piper had bitched to Connor about it multiple times.]
Sure, Bastien was trash, but Anastasia was equally shady. She always do that before.If it wasn’t pre–planned, why the hell would her first call after her “accident” be to Bastien?
If Bastien hadn’t help Anastasia, Ophelia could have had her surgery in time.[]
Remembering that Ophelia collapsed just one day after landing in London, Piper still got cold sweats thinking about it.]
Now, seeing Anastasia and her PR team resharing Ophelia’s post, Piper was ready to nuke them from orbit. But she respected Ophelia enough to check first. She texted Connor, whose response was crystal clear: Ophelia might be too nice for her own good, but the Hartleys weren’t about to let this slide.]
Connor asked Piper not to call Ophelia directly–he’d handle it face–to–face.]]
Connor found Ophelia and talked about Anastasia. Ophelia just shrugged. “They can’t find Bastien, so they’re taking advantage of you,” Connor said. “Stop being such a damn doormat about this.“]]
Thinking about her brothe none of this petty drama seemed to matter anymore.]
“Do whatever you want, Connor. I’m too exhausted to give a shit.“[]
She couldn’t bring herself to think about her decade of loving Bastien or her five–year sham of a marriage. She had emptied herself of all of it, focused only on healing.
She had already wasted too much emotional energy on Bastien Moreau.[]
Having finally cut him loose, she didn’t want to waste another second thinking about him!
Minutes after Anastasia’s retweet, Piper posted a statement on Ophelia’s behalf.[]
She didn’t mince words: Ophelia was recovering from brain surgery and had authorized Piper to handle this bullshit. The original post had been Bastien’s divorce condition–Ophelia had been forced to post that lie. On the day of Anastasia’s convenient “accident,” Ophelia had just been diagnosed with a brain tumor and was waiting for Bastien. But Bastien never showed because Anastasia’s manager had called him away!
Piper directly tagged Anastasia and her management: “Hey, quick question–when you have an emergency, why is your first call to someone else’s husband? Was this another conspiracy?”
Piper’s post dropped two bombs: the “we’ve been divorced for months” claim was total bullshit, they signed papers the very day of Ophelia’s post. []
Seeing Piper’s post, Anastasia’s manager Jenna went pale. Anastasia herself smashed a glass against the wall, screaming, “That fucking bitch! Who asked her to stick her nose in my business?”
Jenna’s face turned serious. Seeing her hesitation, Anastasia snapped, “Don’t just stand there like an idiot! Fix this!“[]
Before Jenna could respond, her phone rang–it was the CEO.
“Get to the office. Now. We’re discussing about Anastasia.“]
Jenna got a sick feeling in her stomach. She cautiously asked, “Is there new work coming in?“]
Anastasia perked up, listening intently. From the phone came a harsh laugh.]
“Just get your asses over here before 1 fire you both now!“]
Every single brand had already sent termination notices for Anastasia’s contracts. Worse, since the fault was clearly hers, she would owe massive breach of contract penalties.[]
As soon as they walked in, the head of PR shot Jenna a death glare.[]
“Look,we never even got the chance! Someone has already turned this into a complete dumpster fire. What the actual fuck were you thinking, resharing Hartley’s post? Did you honestly think nobody would check the timeline? Their divorce certificate has a goddamn date on it!“[]
Anastasia, not used to anyone talking to her like this, fired back.]
“What brilliant strategy did PR have in mind then?“]
“We HAD options before you torched them all! Now every brand is jumping ship. Have you managed to get hold of Bastien yet? If he could back you up now, or at least cover the millions in penalties you’re about to ewe, we might have a prayer of salvaging something from this trainwreck.”
