Phoenix Rising: From Heartache to Heroism
Chapter 573 Scandal Chess

Now, the priority was to protect Celeste.

Zelena's eyes narrowed as she made up her mind. "Then we'll go to court!"

A trial could take six months or even a year.

By the time it was over, who would still remember this?

The label on Polly wouldn't be so easily removed!

But Zelena had miscalculated.

The next morning, a video of Horace's apology was posted publicly on Facebook.

He apologized to Polly and admitted that he had been paid to spread defamatory lies about her.

The video sparked a new wave of widespread discussion.

Polly was vindicated.

In the entertainment industry, Zelena wasn't the only one who knew how to buy trending topics and mobilize online support.

Following Violeta's advice, Polly also spent money to push the narrative, subtly suggesting that Zelena was the one who had bribed Horace. Zelena's assistant being taken into custody became a trending topic, and once again, Zelena's name hit the top of the search charts. This time, she wasn't riding the wave-she was being crushed by it.

Previously, it was Zelena who had sent Polly to the top of the trends, making her the subject of widespread online discussion.

Now, Zelena herself was caught in the storm, becoming a target of public scrutiny.

"Didn't they say Polly stole Zelena's necklace? What's going on with her assistant being arrested? Was it the assistant who stole it?"

"Oh my god, could it be that Zelena tried to frame Polly and then paid someone on Facebook to falsely accuse her? What kind of grudge is this?" "Wow, I didn't see that twist coming!"

"Honestly, it feels like everyone in the entertainment industry has a hundred hidden agendas."

Zelena was deeply affected.

She even started losing followers on Facebook.

After all, if it was all lies, who was really innocent?

Besides, Celeste had indeed been taken in by the police-so it wasn't exactly false information, was it? Ha.

The flames that had started as a small spark now scorched Zelena, burning her to the point where she finally felt the pain.

Zelena urgently instructed Clifford to have someone draft a clarification statement.

But this wasn't an easy statement to write, considering that Celeste had actually been taken in by the police.

Many people at the company had seen it happen.

So, the clarification statement ended up vaguely stating that the incident had nothing to do with Zelena personally. Bots flooded Facebook with comments.

"If it has nothing to do with Zelena, then it must have something to do with her assistant, right?"

"Never thought I'd see the day when the thief cries 'Stop, thief!""

"Why would anyone want to frame Polly?"

"This is so messed up-trying to ruin Polly's career by falsely accusing her!"

The online drama was a source of entertainment for the public.

Zelena's fans still didn't want to believe she was that kind of person, so they continued to defend her on Facebook.

But the situation was growing increasingly dire for Zelena, and she couldn't help but start to panic.

Clifford suggested, "Right now, our best hope is for Polly to come forward and help clear your-."

Before he could finish, Zelena cut him off.

"She's not going to do that."

Clifford continued, "Then we can only hope for an even bigger scandal to break and distract people from this."

A bigger scandal?

That reminded Zelena of something.

She just so happened to have an even bigger bombshell up her sleeve.

It might be time to use it.

But before she did, she wanted to reach out to the other party involved-after all, they had known each other for years.

The drama on Facebook had become common knowledge, and even those far from the action were following along.

Hattie, who was filming in Icroln, was one of those spectators.

No one in the industry really knew what had sparked the feud between Zelena and Polly.

The two didn't have any known history of bad blood.

But Hattie had a pretty good idea.

Last year, Polly had worked with

Nolan on a reality show, and even now, some fans were still shipping themand discussing their chemistry online.

Nolan had been in the industry for years, and there were only a handful of actresses he had been romantically linked with.

Besides Polly, the only other woman

who had been labeled as Nolan's "rumored girlfriend" was Zelena, and that was thanks to a fleeting glance Nolan had given someone at an awards show when he won Best Actor a few years ago.

To this day, no one knew who Nolan had rea been looking at that night, but Zelena had capitalized on that moment to earn the title.

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Hattie was one of the few who knew the real reason Zelena had started this feud with Polly.