Chapter 171 Were You Not?
Adeline's words on the big screen had both Stella and Lily furrowing their brows.
This press conference was meant for Adeline to clear her name. Instead, she was just openly admitting her faults.
Lily shot a glance at Stella.
Staring at her shoes, Stella knotted her fingers together nervously.
Meanwhile, the press conference room buzzed with anticipation.
Reporters clamored with questions.
"Ms. Collins, when you mentioned you had your sights on Mr. Foster, what did you mean exactly?"
"Are you admitting you intend to seduce Mr. Foster? Do you want to be his mistress?"
"Ms. Collins, is it appropriate to so boldly declare your intent to become his mistress?"
Standing at the podium in the eye of the storm, Adeline was the epitome of calm. Her lips curved in a slight smile. "When did I say I wanted to be a mistress? Can't I be after a man's wealth?"
The room fell silent.
With a light chuckle, Adeline continued, "The internet is buzzing that I stayed at The Foster Group just to seduce Mr. Foster. So why would I be interested in a man like Jasper who's been touched by countless women?"
That remark left the room deathly quiet, where one could hear a pindrop.
At the mall's central atrium, Jasper watched Adeline's face on the big screen, his eyes deep and unfathomable.
But Adeline remained smiling at the camera, projecting analytical charts for all to see.
"Three days ago, Mrs. Foster attacked me, supposedly because she found it suspicious that Mr. Foster and I were working late nights together, and in the process damaged a masterpiece by the renowned painter, Sebastian Carter. Let's take a look at what I was actually doing leading up to that incident." Taking a deep breath, Adeline displayed her entire itinerary on the big screen. "Before that exhibit, I was dealing with a personal matter and ended up in detention. After staying there for a few days, I went to stay at a friend's house."
She brought up a surveillance video. "Here's the hallway footage from my friend's building. The video clearly shows that only I, my friend, and her boyfriend were there. Mr. Foster never entered."
Finishing her explanation, she took a deep breath and looked into the camera. "Firstly, Mr. Foster would not sneak into detention to meet me, and he certainly doesn't have the superpower to evade security cameras.
"So, why would Mrs. Foster use the excuse of late-night work sessions with Mr. Foster to push me down and frame me?"
Adeline's arguments were logical, coherent, and well-structured.
The journalists were stunned into silence.
If there had been truly no inappropriate relationship between Adeline and Jasper before the art exhibition, then the entire notion of Stella framing Adeline out of jealousy simply fell apart.
Adeline was never a mistress.
A hush fell over the crowd, and then the murmurs began to ripple through the gathering.
On the big screen, Lily's brow furrowed as she turned to cast a cold glance at Stella. "What's the meaning of this, Stella?" she asked sharply.
Stella bit her lip hard, her mind racing.
When she had shoved Adeline that day, she hadn't thought it through. Calling her a mistress was just a spur-of-the-moment action; she hadn't considered the implications.
Now that Adeline had started threading together the sequence of events from scratch, she found herself trapped without an explanation.
"It doesn't prove a thing." Suddenly, a crisp voice filled the room.
Diana stood up with a sneer. "Who said anything about having to get involved with Jasper at night?"
Sebastian's eyebrows twitched as he laughed. "Those were Stella's own words."
"She might have said it to save your faces," Diana retorted with a smirk. "After all, it doesn't look good for a male boss to have an unsavory relationship with a female subordinate during work hours, does it?"
She sighed melodramatically. "Adeline, if there's really nothing between you and Jasper, why is Stella only suspecting you and not any other woman?"
"That's right." Right after Diana spoke, Helen quickly chimed in. "My daughter has always been gentle, sensible, and virtuous. She would never slander someone else."
As if struck by a thought, Helen looked up. "When my daughter was with Jasper six years ago, it wasn't like he didn't work with other female employees, but she never made baseless suspicions! So, why are you under such scrutiny now? Isn't that your own doing?"
Standing there, Adeline watched Helen's spitfire delivery, her heart sinking with sorrow.
Six years ago, it was her blind trust in Jasper that led her to this miserable predicament.
And now, the suffering she endured turned into another woman's character witness.
What a cruel irony.
"Adeline." After a pause, a reporter stood up from the crowd. "Since you can demonstrate that you've never spent the night with Jasper, can you clarify the nature of your relationship with him during other times?
"And considering the past rumors about you two, even if they fizzled out within a day, can you say with certainty that everything between you was aboveboard?"
"Did you get involved with Jasper knowing he had his eyes on someone else?"
"Aren't you going to admit that you're the mistress?"
"Adeline..."
The barrage of questions from the reporters became more intrusive and aggressive.
Adeline gripped the edge of the table with a grip of steel.
She looked over the crowd, her lips curling with a determined chill.
No one really cared about the truth.
They were just after the scandalous headlines they craved.
Proving every encounter she had with Jasper was squeaky clean was harder than reaching for the stars.
"Ladies and gentlemen." At that moment, Sebastian stood up, protectively stepping in front of Adeline. "It is Mrs. Foster who suspects something illicit between Adeline and Mr. Foster. The burden of proof lies with Mrs. Foster. Isn't it a bit much to hound Adeline for evidence?"
"I don't think it's too much," Diana sneered mockingly, "Adeline came to this press conference to clear her name, didn't she? If she can't prove her innocence, we can only believe the facts as we see them. How is that bullying?"
Through the big screen, Jasper watched the woman shielded behind Sebastian, his eyes narrowed in a gaze.
He reached for his phone, about to make a call, when a hand pressed down on his.
Stella bit her lip, looking up at him with a mix of hope and fear. "Jasper, are you going to help Adeline? If it weren't for Diana's quick thinking, I would be the one slandered and insulted. She brought this on herself... Don't..."
Jasper frowned sharply, shrugging off her hand, his voice icy. "So, I should just let people think Adeline and I are mired in scandal, that I'm some scumbag and she's a mistress?"
Stella squinted, noticing the love bite peeking out from under Jasper's collar, her lips curling into a frosty smile. "Isn't that true?"
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