Chapter 7

Over the next two weeks, I intentionally slowed down the acquisition of the Chapman Group.

Meanwhile, through several intermediaries, I gradually leaked the core information of the Nirvana Project to Wilbur.

It appeared to be a promising project with astonishing profits, but it was actually a financial quagmire.

As long as Wilbur took the bait and invested everything he had, he would meet his ruin.

And Wilbur fell into the trap as I had expected.

He thought it was a secret from the Norris Group and his only chance to turn things around.

He recklessly mortgaged all remaining assets of the Chapman Group and even took out high-interest loans.

He was eager to start the project before the Norris Group did.

Nora wasn't idle either.

She was busy trying to pull strings, hoping to meet me.

After I rejected her, she commissioned defamatory online content to smear my reputation.

She spread the rumors that I had climbed the ladder by selling my charms and that I had an affair while I was married to Wilbur and was pregnant with an illegitimate baby before being expelled by the Chapman family.

She even fabricated scandalous images of me.

Online public opinion was highly unfavorable towards me for a while.

"Miss Hayes, do you need the PR department to handle this?" my assistant asked worriedly.

"Not necessary." I calmly closed the webpage filled with vicious comments. "Let them continue. The harsher the criticism, the more dramatic the reversal will be when the time comes. Nora's little tricks can only fool someone as foolish as Wilbur."

The real culminating strike was yet to come.

I had evidence from years ago when Nora conspired with the Hayes family's competitors to frame Jeremy.

I also had the proof of her laundering money through the Chapman Group over the past few years.

In these three years, the most important lesson I'd learned was patience under Theo's guidance.

I would wait until the enemy let their guard down, and then I would deliver a fatal blow.