Feeling overwhelmed, Hailey stopped pretending she could handle this alone. She quickly took a series of screenshots and messaged Paige. “Miss Jones, it’s getting bad out there. Should we shut down the live stream?”
Paige didn’t answer right away. Her brows furrowed as she stared at the screen, unsure whether they were already past the point of saving it. Calling it quits now felt like giving up everything she had fought so hard for. The championship was right there, practically in her hands. Pulling the plug now would feel like throwing it all away. And even if she shut off the cameras, she couldn’t erase the murmurs rising from the crowd just a few feet away. She didn’t have the luxury of time. After a quick breath and a sharp decision, she responded, “Not yet. Hold off for now. Get some paid commenters to stir the chat and buy the negative stuff.”
“Got it,” Haley replied without hesitation.
Without wasting a second, Haley deployed a wave of burner accounts to stir the comment section and guide the conversation.
For now, the audience was only questioning Luciano’s narrow-mindedness. Luckily, no one had dragged his name through the mud when it came to his reputation in the art world. His credibility and standing remained untouched.
Off to the side, Hailee stood frozen. Wide-eyed, she grabbed Elliana’s sleeve and leaned in close. “Elliana, did I really make it? I mean, to the actual finals? This feels unreal!”
A grin tugged at the corners of Elliana’s lips as she nodded. “You did it. You’re officially a finalist in the Starry Oil Painting Competition.”
“But how could that even happen?” Hailee asked, a little unsure. “I’m nothing more than an artist who taught herself everything!”
“You thought you didn’t belong. Turns out, you were wrong.” With a warm smile, Elliana gave her hand a reassuring pat. “I’ve always believed in your talent. Your work speaks for itself. Now, just wait a bit. The final rankings will be out soon, and you’re about to walk away with more than just praise.”
Hailee’s eyes sparkled as she remembered the cash prize. The thought of walking away with at least a hundred thousand made her cheeks glow with excitement.
Behind the scenes, the judges-seasoned artists who had spent their lives surrounded by oil and canvas-had wrapped up their deliberation. Their process was methodical, their standards high. After a careful evaluation, the top three were finalized.
This round hadn’t sparked any disagreement. The distinction in skill was evident, and the remaining seven submissions couldn’t quite measure up to the chosen few.
Hailee landed in sixth place. Even though she didn’t claim one of the podium spots, she could barely contain her joy. This outcome had already gone beyond…
What she had ever imagined. Turning eagerly to Elliana, she asked, “What’s the prize for sixth place?”
“Two hundred thousand,” Elliana replied.
Two hundred thousand! Hailee felt like her heart might burst right through her ribs..
The competition had entered its final stretch-only the champion, runner-up, and third place remained to be named from the top three entries: Elliana’s Lonely Sunset, Paige’s Riding the Waves, and Bentlee Potter’s Brick Bridge.
Tension crackled in the air as the judges deliberated. Both Luciano and Paige sat stone-faced, their expressions tight with unease.
For Paige, it was bitterness. The thought of Elliana-her longtime punching bag-rising to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her at the summit was intolerable. Elliana was supposed to grovel at her feet, not rival her on center stage. The bile of envy burned in her throat. Meanwhile, Luciano was being skewered in real time. The crowd at the venue and online viewers alike were tearing into him.
“Luciano’s a petty man abusing his title to go after personal enemies. He trashed Elliana’s painting live on air, but now she’s a finalist! Even if she ends up third, that’s still leagues ahead of the garbage he spewed.”
“Anyone surprised? This is textbook Luciano. As president of the Calligraphers and Painters Association, how many brilliant artists has he quietly shut out just for not kissing up to him?”
“He struts around pretending to be some enlightened master, preaching about art and life, but deep down he’s a bitter, petty fraud. Absolutely revolting.”
Hailey had tried to smother the backlash by flooding the livestream with paid bots, but with millions watching, her efforts were a drop in the ocean. The comments roasting Luciano just kept coming, brutal and relentless. The real-time outrage swelled, impossible to contain. Beneath the storm of public scorn, Luciano was unraveling. His grip on composure slipped by the second. Would Elliana be the one to destroy everything he’d built? No. He refused to let that happen. He’d clawed his way to the top, forged his name through sheer will. He couldn’t let it all burn now.
Panic tightening his throat, he leaned toward Paige. “Paige, call Mr. Carman-see if he can get a handle on this. I can’t let my name get dragged through the mud like this!”
But Paige barely heard him. She was too wrapped up in her own unraveling disaster. Merritt had poured money into the show to boost her stardom, betting on her rise. Too confident in her plan, she had dragged Elliana into it without even giving Merritt a heads-up, intending to use the show as a weapon to wipe Elliana out for good. But the plan had backfired-Elliana wasn’t just surviving. Elliana was stealing the spotlight.
What kept Paige up at night was the thought of Elliana ranking higher. If that happened, she wouldn’t just lose face-she’d be the punchline of every gossip reel. And worse, Merritt might pin the failure squarely on her.
“Merritt’s tied up with bigger things. He can’t waste time on this,” Paige remarked smoothly, dismissing Luciano without a second glance.
Luciano swallowed his fury. He didn’t dare go head-to-head with Paige, not with her ties to Merritt. Still, his stomach churned. If anyone had dragged him into this mess, it was her.
The moment Paige turned away from Luciano, she fired off a message to Hailey. “Shut down the live stream. Now.”
She could no longer risk everything on chance. If the audience caught even a glimpse of Elliana outshining her, she’d be the butt of every joke on the internet by tomorrow.
Hailey didn’t hesitate. The stream went dark within seconds.
Across the country, millions of viewers who’d been glued to the broadcast were suddenly met with a blank screen. At first, they thought it was a short-lived malfunction, and the crew was already huddled by the cameras, primed to restart the live feed any moment now. But more than ten minutes ticked by and still no stream. Frustration boiled over. Discussions exploded across social media, forums, and live comment sections. Conspiracy theories took off, accusations flew, and hashtags surged until the topic rocketed to the top of the trending charts.
Meanwhile, outside the Evans Group’s conference room, Myles, Aron, and Hugh gathered together, sneakily watching the stream on Aron’s phone. When Elliana’s painting was announced as a top-three finalist in the Starry Oil Painting Competition, all three froze in disbelief.
Hugh, who had always mocked her behind her back, looked like he’d been punched in the gut. “Hold on-wasn’t Elliana just some talentless eyesore? How the hell did she pull that off?”
Myles and Aron gave him matching side-eyes.
“I think I finally get why Mr. Evans found Elliana so fascinating,” Myles said, rubbing his jaw. “He must’ve seen her potential from the start. He’s got an eye for talent-he doesn’t judge by surface-level stuff.”
Aron gave a quick, affirmative nod. “She’s full of surprises. Word is, she used to live all by herself in some rundown warehouse in the Jones estate. She was completely ignored for years. When the hell did she even learn to paint?”
Their questions were piling up just as the screen in front of them glitched and went dark. All three froze, eyes wide, stunned into silence. What on earth was that? They’d been seconds away from finding out whether Elliana had clinched the championship.
Fueled by growing impatience and a need for answers, the brothers exchanged restless glances.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.