The company unilaterally canceled a series of her scheduled events, reassigning them to other artists under contract. They also clarified yesterday's newspaper incident, producing a witness who stated that Isabella Miller's arrogant remarks had offended Chairman Barry, leading to his anger and the cancellation of her magazine shoot.
As soon as the press release went out, Isabella was completely stunned. She couldn't believe Liam Williams was actually fighting for Emma Johnson. Weren't they divorced? Where were the feelings after the separation? Even at the height of their conflict, Liam had only hidden her away, never actually terminating her contract. How could this be happening?
But this blow was just the beginning for Isabella.
The contract termination press conference was held in the morning. By afternoon, several media outlets had received leaks about Isabella's explosive temper and her habit of verbally abusing her assistant. Someone even dug up an incident from a year ago, when a young assistant who had worked for her for three months was scalded by hot water Isabella had thrown at her face. The assistant, barely twenty years old and timid, had come from the countryside. Isabella had paid her off and sent her away.
Isabella was still a popular star, so some reporters tracked the assistant down in her rural hometown. They recorded a video. A few days later, when Emma saw the young woman on television, crying as she recounted all the things Isabella had done, she felt a deep sense of helplessness.
If Isabella had treated her staff even a little better, no one would be stabbing her in the back today. Now, she didn't even have a place to cry.
It seemed the crisis surrounding Emma was over for now. At least no one was paying attention to her anymore. People in the office were buzzing with gossip about Isabella, who now dominated the headlines of every major media outlet. But this kind of news was enough to destroy the modeling career Isabella had painstakingly built over the past decade.
Falling from the clouds was the most painful feeling. Still, Emma felt little sympathy for Isabella. Her pity for her cousin had vanished five years ago.
After sighing for a moment, she immersed herself in figuring out how to get New York Fashion Magazine back into the top ten domestic fashion publications.
At noon, she was surprised to see Daniel Taylor appear in the office.
She thought he would have given up after she refused him at the restaurant a few years ago. Emma felt helpless.
"I just came to take you to lunch. You won't refuse me this time, will you?"
Daniel was determined to pursue Emma, but she couldn't afford to be rude to him in the office. She politely told him she had other plans and was having lunch with a client.
"What if I said I wanted to be the sponsor of your magazine? Can I have a meal with you in exchange for a two hundred million dollar annual sponsorship?"
Daniel continued. Two hundred million was a huge sum for New York Fashion Magazine, but Emma knew she couldn't accept the sponsorship. If she gave Daniel an inch, he would find every opportunity to have a second and third meal with her.
And once she accepted his sponsorship, she wouldn't be able to refuse him. She could never let that happen.
"I'm sorry."
Emma's voice was clear and gentle, but her refusal was firm. Daniel wanted to say more, but Ava came in with a stack of documents. Seeing how busy Emma was, Daniel couldn't say anything else and reluctantly left.
"How did he find you?" Ava asked Emma.
"It's because of the newspaper."
Now that her identity was exposed, it was only a matter of time before people found out. Daniel couldn't wait for her at the Jiangnan branch, so he came to New York Fashion Magazine in person. Emma rubbed her forehead, a headache forming.
"If you didn't know that Mr. Taylor is a wolf in sheep's clothing, you might think he's decent just by looking at him."
"Do you think he's only good-looking? His abilities shouldn't be underestimated," Emma said.
"What do you mean?" Ava asked curiously.
"Although Daniel was a bit of a mess in the past, over the last five years, the interests of the Oasis Holdings group have doubled. That's no small feat for any group. Plus, his aunt, Kennedy Taylor, is just as capable. They're both legal heirs to the Oasis Holdings group. It's just that Daniel has always had a problem with his character. This kind of person might be a good business partner, but he's not worth befriending in private."
Emma made her assessment of Daniel, especially since he still had ulterior motives. Thinking about the things he had done to get to her made her feel disgusted.
Suddenly, the words of the two gangsters she had heard earlier flashed through her mind, making her heart even more uneasy.
Compared to Daniel, she couldn't stand the way Liam Williams had treated her.
"It's true that you can know a person's face but not their heart," Ava said with a sigh.
Emma nodded, but she wasn't sure who she was thinking about. Just as she was about to skip lunch and ask someone to bring her a meal, her phone suddenly rang. She saw the caller ID was Liam Williams. Emma hesitated for a moment before answering.
"What's the matter?"
Emma thought Liam was calling about Charlie.
But what surprised her was that it wasn't about Charlie. He told her to come to the police station. Captain Reed had found the two gangsters who had harassed her before, and she needed to identify them.
Emma didn't know how she hung up, but Liam's words echoed in her mind. When she calmed down, she got up and drove to the police station.
Along the way, her heart couldn't help but waver. If Liam had done it, there was no need for him to let the two gangsters take her to the bamboo forest. Even if he could cover the sky in City A, he couldn't make Captain Reed do such things for him. Emma knew a little about Captain Reed.
But she couldn't change her mind so quickly. After all, Liam had deceived her like that before. Emma still felt she had to see it with her own eyes and hear it with her own ears before she could truly judge.
When she arrived at the police station, Liam accompanied her to identify the two men. Then, through the interrogation glass, she saw Captain Reed questioning them with her own eyes. Although the two gangsters initially refused to admit anything, they became scared when Captain Reed said something.