Chase Sterling lowered his gaze to Kiana Sterling, who was standing in the doorway.
For so reason, he felt a little dazed.
’Since when did Kiana start looking so tearful every ti she faced her family, as if she’d been terribly wronged?’
Everyone in the family treated her very well.
He knew he would have gladly ripped out his own heart for her.
His sister was suffering from such a serious illness. There was little else he could do, so he could only grow to dote on her, granting her every wish.
As for Madeline Jennings, that went without saying.
She was a wealthy woman who had spent ten years abroad for Kiana’s sake.
His mother’s love for her was certainly no less than his own.
Stella...
Although Stella had a bit of a temper and wasn’t very affectionate—and though her youthful carelessness had caused Kiana’s injury and subsequent illness—she was still Kiana’s biological sister. She had even donated her bone marrow for Kiana at the tender age of fourteen.
And as for their father...
Their father covered all the family’s expenses. Without him, how could they have possibly afforded the exorbitant, ever-flowing costs of Kiana’s treatnt abroad?
’So what terrible injustice had Kiana actually suffered?’
Chase Sterling didn’t speak for a mont. His silence made Kiana panic.
She glanced up and saw Chase frowning slightly, lost in thought.
"Brother?"
Chase snapped out of his daze. "Co in and talk."
The brother and sister sat facing each other. Chase looked at Kiana with a distant gaze.
For so reason, his expression made Kiana feel uneasy.
Chase suddenly asked, "Kiana, during those years you were getting treatnt abroad, did you and Stella get along?"
Kiana was taken aback for a mont, not expecting the topic to shift so suddenly.
"What’s wrong? Brother, why are you suddenly asking about this?"
Chase shook his head. "I just suddenly realized. You two were so young, living abroad for so long, and I don’t think I ever really asked about how things were between you."
It was one thing not to have thought about certain things before.
But once he did, he realized the brain has a way of unconsciously ignoring many things.
For instance, Chase suddenly rembered that when Stella had first gone abroad with Kiana for her treatnt, she had been a cheerful little girl.
She wasn’t used to life abroad and would secretly call him to complain about how awful the "white people food" was overseas.
She had a quirky, mischievous streak on the phone, always telling him about the interesting people and things she’d encountered outside...
He didn’t know when it started, but at so point, Stella had changed.
She stopped calling, stopped being so attached to him, and started treating her family with a lukewarm indifference. She’d ignore them whenever they tried to talk to her.
He might have noticed, but he had his own mountain of problems. ’Who had ti to worry about all that?’
Compared to dealing with Stella’s cold shoulder, the gentle and sweet Kiana was naturally far more endearing.
Kiana thought for a mont before replying, "Stella... she doesn’t seem to like very much. She wasn’t close to when we were abroad, and to be honest, I don’t really know her well. It’s shaful to admit, seeing as I’m her older sister. As for , I tell you everything, don’t I, Brother?"
Hearing this, Chase nodded.
He then added a warning, "About this whole situation, nothing else really matters. The main concern is the Shaw Family. Dad is still trying to contact them and figure sothing out, so you’d best be prepared."
Speaking of which, he suddenly recalled sothing. "By the way, Kiana, didn’t you tell once that you had a neighbor with the surna Shaw when you were abroad? They wouldn’t happen to be part of the Shaw Family, would they?"
Kiana was stunned. She had completely forgotten about that.
It was true. When she first arrived in Lyra, she had a neighbor nad Ryan Shaw.
But her relationship with him wasn’t particularly close.
In fact, Stella was the one who was quite close to him...
Kiana blinked and replied, "I’m not really sure. He was just a neighbor, after all; we didn’t know each other well. But it’s an uncommon surna, so perhaps it was."
Chase nodded.
’If they weren’t close, then it didn’t matter.’
’If their relationship wasn’t strong enough, it was unlikely he would offer any help.’
The two of them chatted for a few more monts before Kiana got up and returned to her room.
The first thing Kiana did upon returning to her room was open Eyeball to check the latest direction of online public opinion.
To her surprise, things were going even more smoothly than she had anticipated.
She had hired so paid comnters to accuse Umi of plagiarism.
She had originally thought it wouldn’t make much of a splash and that she might even need to spend more money to achieve the desired effect.
But she had underestimated Zion Shawcross’s fans.
The fans’ initial awe at the new album cover was matched only by their fury upon learning that this unknown artist was suspected of plagiarism.
Zion Shawcross was their most treasured idol; how could they tolerate so fa-chasing, small-ti artist tarnishing his reputation?
Bolstered by "Kiana Sterling’s Art Tiline," a growing number of online onlookers began to believe that Umi was definitely the plagiarist.
After all, Kiana’s fa was well-established. When Kiana was making a na for herself, this little artist was a complete unknown.
The internet was flooded with voices condemning Umi.
Most of them ca from Zion Shawcross’s fans and the paid comnters Kiana had hired.
They were unanimous in their belief that Umi was the plagiarist and demanded that Vantage Entertainnt issue a response on the matter.
Henry Wright felt like he’d been completely blindsided.
Overnight, he had beco the main culprit responsible for Zion Shawcross using a tainted artist.
Henry Wright felt incredibly wronged.
And so, the wronged Henry Wright called Faye Rhodes.
"You’ve seen what’s happening online, right? The fans are about to demand the company replace Zion’s agent! Faye, for the love of God, you were the one who suggested her in the first place. Don’t you have anything to say to ?"
Faye Rhodes was filled with righteous indignation. "This is outrageous! What a load of bullshit! I’ve been following Umi for years. There’s absolutely no way she plagiarized. Do they really think our Umi doesn’t have fans?!"
With that, Faye Rhodes hung up.
’A tiline, huh? What, you think only Kiana Sterling gets to have a tiline?’
As a die-hard Umi fan, Faye Rhodes had been following Umi’s overseas social dia accounts for ages.
’A tiline? She could make a tiline for Umi, too!’
Fired up, Faye Rhodes began creating an art tiline for Umi.
At the sa ti, the music video for Zion Shawcross’s title track quietly began to gain traction.
A rumor began to circulate from an unknown source, claiming that the lead actress in the music video was none other than the artist Umi herself.
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