Loving A STRANGER 139 Chapter 139: Inside Stories

Khloe tidied herself in the car and drove to the Garcia Entertainment building. As she approached the door, Lawrence saw her and rushed over to her. "Khloe," he said as he touched her hospital gown, "shouldn't you be resting?"

"Daddy," she replied. "I've seen the news... How could my own sister do that? Wasn't that a slap in your face?"

Lawrence met his daughter's tormented eyes, and his heart nearly broke for her.

"Daddy," Khloe continued, "you have to post an article to save the reputation of our company... Now Kylie's getting famous, but it is at the cost of our company. If we can't turn the tide of popular opinion, who will cooperate with us in the future? At the moment, people like Harvey Weinstein more than they do us, and he's a rapist!"

Of course, Khloe didn't realize that everything that happened over the past 24 hours was a direct result of Karma. She was only getting what she deserved. All she saw was Kylie, and all she felt was a desire to do Kylie harm.

Khloe: "Daddy, why don't you tell the public that Kylie planned the whole 'piracy thing' in order to raise her own profile?"

Khloe wasn't the only one irritated. Laurence was also irritated. Garcia Entertainment was in trouble again, because of Kylie. He had just wrapped up a meeting about how to save the reputation of the company and, though he loved his daughter, he wasn't always in a mood to hear out her little tantrums. Furthermore, his PR department was handling the whole debacle, so they did not need Khloe's input.   

Initially, Laurence had allowed the PR Department to publicize that the play had been led by Kylie. Her purpose, in his mind, had been to make money and raise public awareness. When the announcement had come out, everyone understood. Kylie had struck out against the Entertainment, though, so being banned was a natural consequence. Furthermore, once the story began to get out, employees of Garcia Entertainment began to speak ill of Kylie. "Kylie Finch," they said, "is not as nice as what you see on the screen. She was so unruly and harsh. She has even bullied the cleaner!"

One employee took to the internet and wrote, "I'm an employee of Garcia Entertainment, and I can no longer keep silent. I have to tell everyone the truth. The piracy thing was truly Kylie's self-directed performance, and it has nothing to do with our company."

An ex-employee wrote, "I used to be an a.s.sistant to Kylie Finch. She always flattered the senior staff but spoke ill of them behind their backs. I couldn't watch her bad deeds, so I quit after only a month. That was a long time ago, and I still haven't received my salary for the time that I spent there."

Several well-known live broadcasting APPs disclosed "inside stories," whereby they tried to guide the negative public opinion away from them and dump the responsibility onto Kylie. Regardless of what was said though, one way or the other, Kylie remained silent and, despite what any insider said, her popularity continued to grow like a mushroom.

It was about this time that the media uploaded a very interesting video. In it, everyone could see the harsh treatment that Kylie received while she had worked at Garcia Entertainment. Garcia Entertainment had created many difficulties for Kylie. They had even deliberately arranged for her to have a pirated script, which had had the potential to ruin her reputation. The video also showed that while Garcia Entertainment had been in the midst of a public relations crisis, they had thrown Kylie under the bus.

Kylie had suffered all kinds of abuse at Garcia Entertainment. The thing that irritated Kylie the most, though, was that Laurence's daughter, Khloe Finch had initiated the whole smear campaign against her. Now that the video had been released, though, Kylie felt a little better about the whole situation.

The video had been recorded in the CEO'S office of Garcia Entertainment, so some sensible netizens had begun to question its source. But before they could a.n.a.lyze the situation, even bigger new broke out. While Kylie had been working for Garcia Entertainment, she had received lots of job offers, but the company had turned them down without notifying her. Reading between the lines, most people could see how this had been an intentional attack on her, and that it had come from Khloe, who practically ruled over the CEO's decisions.

Lucas, to his credit, admitted that he had taken part in the operation to suppress Kylie. In an on-line post, directed to her, he had sincerely apologized to Kylie about the things that he had done. He also confessed that he had been forced to be Kylie's a.s.sistant against his will, but he had gradually come to see what a good person she actually was, which was why he'd decided to stand up and disclose the truth.

Compared to the 'inside stories,' the evidence that Lucas posted was irrefutable. "Laurence Finch," he wrote, "is not qualified to be a CEO!"

User HeatedHotHead wrote: "Laurence is sc.u.m. He doesn't deserve to live! G.o.d is watching him, and the devil has a hot place reserved for him! I hope that Garcia Entertainment goes bankrupt!"

User Jesus_Does n't_Save wrote: "I'd like to know who these anonymous 'insiders' are! I have no doubt that they were hired by Laurence in a last-ditch attempt to clear his name!"

Still, Kylie kept quiet. After all that had been said and done, there was no need for her to say anything. Her name was clear. The advertisers who had been cooperating with her, though, they no longer wanted to work with her. The television dramas that she'd star in, were all banned by the government.