Chapter: 312

"Wait a moment," Marcia called after him.

She grabbed a bag from the table and handed it to him. "This is a dessert from my personal chef. Could you please give it to Mr. Gilbert? I remember he's fond of it," she said, her smile unwavering.

The assistant accepted the bag with a nod and then left.

As the door clicked shut, Marcia's facade fell. She didn't lash out at her assistant again, but her anger showed on her face.

"Go and sort out this mess. I spent a fortune securing that news piece. It can't go to waste," Marcia instructed sternly.

After a moment's pause, she added, “The second round starts this afternoon. Make sure the paparazzo spread rumors about Kaitlin during the livestream."

With a dismissive shrug, she murmured, "She's just a designer. What could she possibly do?"

Marcia's plotting was interrupted by another knock.

Though the office was reasonably soundproofed, there was no certainty that her conversation hadn't been overheard.

Marcia straightened up and cleared her throat as she opened the door.

It was Denton's assistant again, holding the bag she had given him.

“Marcia, Mr. Gilbert doesn't like sweets. He asked me to return this,” he said plainly.

Caught off guard, Marcia smiled awkwardly. But she didn't take the bag. “It's actually not sweet. It's quite delicious. Please, let Mr. Gilbert try it. Trust me," she insisted.

The assistant's cold gaze only heightened her discomfort.

Not wanting to prolong the awkward exchange, Marcia reluctantly took back the bag. "If Mr. Gilbert doesn't wish to try it, I won't insist. Thank you," she said, her voice polite but strained.

She quickly closed the door.

Outside, the assistant paused for a moment, pondering, before heading back to Denton's office.

"How is the investigation progressing?" Denton felt a twinge of annoyance. Despite efforts to keep things quiet, he was still bothered.

“Mr. Gilbert, we've identified the paparazzo responsible for maliciously altering the videos and spreading them. However, we are still looking into who's behind it," his assistant replied.

Denton sighed. “Let it go. You won't uncover anything significant so quickly."

"I was just updating Marcia about the quarter-final and I accidentally overheard some disturbing comments."

"What did you hear?"

"Marcia mentioned that she couldn't afford to waste her money. She instructed her assistant to circulate the news once more. She even demanded that her assistant ask the paparazzo to slander Ms. Gilbert in the second round of the competition." The assistant told everything he had overheard to Denton.

Marcia had been too careless.