I Stopped Loving Him When He Let Me Bleed Out novel Chapter 491

Every eye in the vicinity snapped toward Sienna.

The shock was especially palpable among Mrs. Townsend and her immediate circle.

Sasha completely lost her composure.

"Impossible. How could she possibly be the owner of that bookstore?"

Soren shot Sasha a furious, reprimanding look, but she was too worked up to notice.

She kept her vicious glare locked on Sienna.

"She's just a figurehead, isn't she? Finn really went out of his way to artificially inflate your worth."

Paxton slammed his glass down, his face thunderous.

"Seriously, are you psychologically unhinged? What kind of delusional trash are you rambling about?"

His tone was sharp and completely unforgiving.

The atmosphere instantly devolved into chaos.

Even high-society elites couldn't resist the gravitational pull of a spectacular scandal, and the crowd eagerly closed in to watch the carnage.

Sasha was completely out of her depth.

This was the first time she had ever crossed paths with someone like Paxton—a man who gave zero thought to public decency or his own reputation.

She was trembling with rage, completely lost for words.

"Sasha. Enough," Soren hissed.

Sasha flinched.

She knew her eldest brother prioritized the family's public image above all else. Terrified of pushing him too far, she gripped her champagne flute and stayed dead silent.

She gripped her glass tightly and clamped her mouth shut.

Sienna ignored the drama entirely, keeping her focus on Paxton.

"Are the reserve prices finalized?"

Paxton nodded.

"Yeah. If you think we're undervaluing them, I can have them adjusted."

Sienna shook her head.

"Stick to your numbers, I don't interfere with the art side."

The entire crowd absorbed the interaction in stunned silence.

The casual, breezy dynamic between Paxton and Sienna made it glaringly obvious how deep their alliance ran.

It was a partnership built on absolute trust. The way people looked at Sienna had fundamentally changed from just fifteen minutes ago.

She took a slow sip of her champagne.

Setting the glass down, she answered in a perfectly calm, unbothered voice.

"The Health Commission. The Inspectorate Division."

She hadn't raised her voice, but the moment the words left her mouth, a heavy silence fell over the immediate area.

Mrs. Townsend's hand froze mid-air, the rim of her glass hovering an inch from her lips.

The woman who had just mentioned recognizing Sienna from the hospital looked equally stunned.

Health Commission, Inspectorate Division, exceptional promotion, cracked a massive corruption case—all the fragmented rumors violently snapped together in a fraction of a second.

Mrs. Townsend stared at Sienna for several agonizingly long seconds before slowly lowering her glass.

When she finally spoke, her voice was soft, but laced with profound respect.

"So you're the famous inspector everyone's been talking about."

A brilliant smile broke across Mrs. Townsend's face—one entirely devoid of her previous condescension.

"My husband mentioned your name several times. He said you handled that case with absolute brilliance. An exceptionally young and talented Lead Inspector... your future is truly limitless."

The surrounding guests immediately began chiming in with enthusiastic agreements. Nobody dared utter a single word of the malicious gossip from earlier.

The derogatory labels Sasha had so desperately tried to staple to Sienna's forehead—'small-town nobody' and 'social climber'—were instantly incinerated.