You Had Me, You Lost Me, You'll Never Find Me novel Chapter 69

"I refuse to believe that in broad daylight, in a just world, I can't demand simple justice. And I refuse to believe they can actually turn black into white."

Hearing this, Penelope didn't offer another word of caution. Instead, she let out a long, heavy exhale.

"Alright. Good thing I can't stand Reina either."

Sylvia froze in surprise. "You're going to help me?"

Originally, considering Penelope's contractual ties to the agency, Sylvia had planned to hire an outside PR firm to run the campaign.

Penelope smiled and lit a slim cigarette. Staring out at the towering skyscrapers reflected in the polished glass, her face carried a trace of world-weary grit.

"We only get one life. Aside from the daily grind, what are we living for? We live for our own conscience. You can compromise on a lot of things, but you can't compromise your soul."

"I gave you all those warnings just to make sure you understood the stakes. Since you're absolutely certain, let's go to war."

-

A PR war was a bloodbath without smoke.

By July, the scandal surrounding "Reina Winslet stealing Sylvia Harlow's stunt work" steadily began to escalate. At first, they couldn't even break the trending charts. Then, they snagged one or two lower-tier spots. Eventually, dedicated forums were formed, and the public engagement and scrutiny skyrocketed.

Reign Media was a brand-new powerhouse. They were flush with Winslet cash and had deep industry roots, but their PR crisis team was glaringly inexperienced.

Penelope, on the other hand, was a master of black-ops PR. She had countless connections, and since Sylvia held the absolute moral high ground—and was willing to burn cash—plenty of high-profile influencers happily took their money to lead the charge and dictate the narrative.

In no time at all, Reina's public image tanked to absolute rock bottom.

When Ryan realized what was happening, he specifically reached out to Sylvia.

"I apologize, I was completely unaware of the situation beforehand. However, in light of the audition opportunity I provided you previously, could you please call off the campaign? My team will fully compensate you for the emotional distress."

This wasn't the first time he had intervened on Reina's behalf.

Back when Reina had hijacked Sylvia's role, he had cleaned up Reina's mess by handing Sylvia that very audition as an olive branch.

Sylvia's impression of Ryan had always been that of a perfect, refined gentleman.

Suppressing a trending topic cost exponentially more than buying one.

A hashtag that originally sat at number three was artificially buried into the forties. The actual discourse hadn't died down, but its visibility had been crippled.

For the past two days, Reina hadn't dared to look at a single comment online. She had cried until her eyes were swollen shut.

She was the pampered princess of the Winslet family. When had she ever been bullied or dragged like this?

Every time she posted, her feed was instantly swamped with vicious, mocking comments that she couldn't delete fast enough.

People had even started weaponizing the limp from her car accident, cruelly mocking her and calling her "frog legs."

"Ryan, you have to do something!" she sobbed, clutching his sleeve.

Ryan sighed helplessly. He stroked her hair comfortingly and looked at his PR team. "It's been days. Why hasn't this died down yet?"

The PR rep looked equally defeated. "Suppressing the traffic is backfiring. Right now, our best play is to manufacture a massive distraction to hijack the public's attention. That way, this scandal will fade out quickly."