Sign the Papers Mr. Langford novel Chapter 428

She looked up at the street across from her.

The massive billboard was still broadcasting the gala's promotional video, featuring a child smiling radiantly. Pedestrians hurried past below the screen, oblivious to the fact that behind this warmly packaged content, a real child's boundaries had already been violently torn open.

Joey ran out from inside, his face completely pale.

"Ms. Whitaker, Maya found the first wave of marketing accounts."

Wren turned to him. "Go on."

"It wasn't a single source. There were three groups of accounts. Group one pushed Vivian's statement, group two pushed the Stellaris leak, and group three doxed Logan's identity. The three groups interacted with each other, but the seeding accounts were different."

Phoebe frowned. "Meaning someone layered the attack?"

Joey nodded. "Maya said the first group seemed to piggyback on the gala's traction, the second group targeted Stellaris, and the third group was the dirtiest, specifically pushing the child's privacy to the forefront."

Wren tightened her grip on The Cobalt Folder.

This wasn't necessarily all Willow's doing.

Gavin Shaw had a motive to hype up the gala.

Willow had a motive to drag Stellaris down.

And someone inside Langford Medical wanted to shift the blame for the project complaints.

Several forces had collided, and the one shoved to the front to absorb the damage was Logan.

Phoebe asked quietly, "What do we do now?"

Wren didn't answer immediately.

She watched the new messages continuously popping up on her phone.

A message arrived from Dr. Lewis at the Ethics Board.

[Ms. Whitaker, we have noted the public sentiment tonight. Tomorrow at 9:00 AM, the Stellaris project team is required to submit a comprehensive explanation of the receipt and handling of the anonymous email. Until the investigation is complete, we recommend temporarily suspending recruitment for new pilot participants.]

Suspending recruitment for new pilot participants.

As those words sank in, Phoebe's expression shifted drastically.

Stellaris had just passed the small-scale demonstration and finally gained a sliver of momentum, only to have the pause button slammed down on them.

Wren stared at the screen for a long time before replying with a single word.

[Understood.]

Phoebe's voice was strained. "They're pinning us down first."

"They're protecting themselves, and protecting the pilot subjects," Wren replied. "It's understandable."

"And what about us?"

Wren looked up.

In the darkness, her face was pale, but her gaze remained piercingly sharp.