She Left She Thrived She’s Worth Billions novel Chapter 822

"Is she really that terrified I'm going to run away?"

Sitting in the passenger seat, Melanie let out a helpless laugh before opening her door.

"Or maybe... Leila just wants the entire country to know she's getting a hundred million dollars? Someone isn't afraid of being targeted by kidnappers, huh!"

Melanie turned to look at Preston, who was driving her.

Preston remained utterly silent, clearly showing zero interest in Leila's theatrics.

"There are too many people. Stay behind me."

Preston stepped out of the car and smoothly moved to open Melanie's door like a perfect gentleman.

Melanie assumed that when he said 'stay behind me,' he meant he would walk ahead and clear a path.

Instead, Preston reached out, firmly grabbed her hand, and pulled her alongside him as they walked toward the testing facility.

Countless camera lenses flashed furiously at Melanie. One overzealous reporter practically tried to shove a smartphone directly into her face.

Preston shot the man a single, glacial glare. Terrified, the reporter's hand violently spasmed, dropping the expensive phone flat onto the pavement with a loud crack.

Inside the testing facility, Leila was already waiting.

Standing beside her were Dominic, Julian Lester, and a handful of prominent executives from major pharmaceutical firms.

Also present were the executives from the downstream companies who had blindly followed Gabriel Whitmore's lead and signed discount contracts with the Royce Group at the Expo.

It was painfully obvious that these men were already regretting their choices.

Or rather, they were terrified.

They were deeply paranoid that the Royce Group's current crop of Arctic Burdock Roots would fail the quality checks, meaning their contracts would go up in smoke.

Simultaneously, they had prepared a backup plan.

If Melanie had truly scammed Stellaris PharmaTech and Gabriel Whitmore, they could use this highly public opportunity—surrounded by industry leaders and the press—to aggressively demand their breach-of-contract payouts, essentially forming a public mob to collect their debts.

By putting her on the spot, they hoped to extort their compensation immediately to cover their losses.

If they waited until after Melanie lost a hundred million to Leila, the Royce Group might not have a single dime left to pay them, leaving them as the ultimate casualties.

Melanie had instructed him to bring them, and he had naturally executed her orders perfectly.

Originally, Everett had planned to wipe the sweat from his forehead and shoot Melanie a meaningful look, hoping to score some points and prove he was a valuable asset.

But the moment he looked up, his eyes landed on Melanie and Preston holding hands.

His heart plummeted instantly, and Everett lowered his head, unable to hide the crushing disappointment on his face.

So this was his reward? He broke his back doing her dirty work, while Melanie publicly flaunted her romance with her ex?

Melanie took a step forward, naturally sliding her hand out of Preston's grasp.

Feeling the sudden emptiness in his palm, Preston slowly rubbed his white-gloved fingers together, his long eyelashes casting dark shadows over his eyes.

"Ms. Langley..."

Melanie stopped in front of Leila and gestured casually toward the sacks of roots.

"Let the inspection begin."