The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance

But the whole industry was buzzing about it.

Some people said he'd finally come out; others whispered he'd been violated.

Rumors were flying in every direction.

Rachel hadn't paid much attention at first, but after hearing Jasper's words, she was stunned.

"What are you saying?! Karl was-?"

Jasper looked almost gleeful. "He was found stripped naked and dumped right in the middle of the street. Plenty of people took photos and videos—now his nudes are everywhere online.

If you ask me, Karl's reputation is finished. Absolutely wrecked."

Rachel's eyes flickered uneasily. "Was this... Haynie's doing?"

Jasper nodded, absolutely certain. "You know Haynie and Foreman were plotting

to get back at Karl. But I didn't expect Haynie to go this far.

Honestly, I kind of admire it.

If only Sellers Burton-the old creep-got exposed like that too. Maybe then he'd lose his shot at inheriting everything."

Rachel was still in shock. "This doesn't really seem like Haynie's style. Are we sure it was him?"

Jasper shrugged. "If not Haynie, then who? Stella? I don't buy it—she's not capable of pulling something like this off."

Rachel knew better; with Joshua undercover beside Stella, she was sure Stella wasn't behind it.

Stella had shattered Karl's hand once, crushing the bones-but even then, she hadn't gotten her own hands dirty. There was no evidence anyone could use against her.

After a moment, Rachel muttered, "Haynie really went for the jugular this time..." For a man, something like this was almost worse than death.

And in fact, it was true.

Sellers had tried to suppress the news the moment it broke, but this was Novaris their PR team just wasn't as fast here.

By the time they'd managed to scrub

everything, plenty of photos and video clips had already been saved and shared in private channel

Quite a few rich kids with grudges against the Burtons paid a hefty price to get

their hands on the videos and photos.

Good news travels slow, bad news travels fast.

Some people even bought plane tickets to Neo-Vespera just to laugh in Karl's face their expressions mocking and cruel.

"Hey, Mr. Burton, not a bad body-could have been a top escort at any club."

"The Burtons sure have weird tastes. Sellers is a pervert, and Karl turns out to be an exhibitionist."

"Gross, maybe he's into men? He touched my hand once-totally creeped me out."

"Karl, ever thought about dating me? You can be the top, I'll be the bottom-how about it?"

Karl's face turned ashen with rage.

Being stripped naked and left on the street all night was beyond humiliating. It made him want to kill someone.

When Sellers arrived, he found the entire apartment trashed-furniture shattered, glass everywhere.noveldrama

He looked at Karl, who was drinking alone. "Your hand still hasn't healed; you shouldn't be drinking."

Karl laughed bitterly. "I'm already half-crippled. If my hand's ruined, so be it." Sellers said quietly, "We've managed to bury all the stories. Anyone who needed to be paid off has been paid off.

From now on, nobody will dare mention this in front of you."

bet

Karl took another swig, his words slurred. "Sure, they won't say it to my face They'll just whisper behind may back..."

Sellers fell silent, unsure how to comfort him. After a pause, he asked, "Do you

have any idea who did this?"

Karl set the bottle down, his eyes cold and venomous-like a snake.

He spat the name out through clenched teeth.

"Stella."