The Coldest Man in the Room Melted Only for Me novel Chapter 532

Riley sighed and locked her phone, deciding not to read any further. She didn't want to ruin her mood and risk another sleepless night.

Over the next two days, the hype surrounding their relationship hit unprecedented heights. Hashtags about them dominated the trending charts, and the media began digging aggressively into their pasts.

They found out about her car. It looked basic, but it was actually a luxury model worth nearly a million dollars—clearly a gift from Sebastian.

They dug up the fact that she had visited the St. John estate on New Year's Eve, supposedly to meet the family, which had allegedly triggered Eleanor's critical condition.

People even started submitting photos of them together. There was a shot of them talking in the crowd at the St. John Midnight Gala, and another of them standing side by side at Eleanor's eightieth birthday party.

Some photos even went back to her time in Riverport—like when Alora was having surgery, and Sebastian was caught talking to Riley in the hospital hallway.

There was even a photo of him standing outside the emergency room when she had suffered her massive hemorrhage.

The internet was flooded with conspiracy theories, wondering if they had been having a secret affair this entire time.

Riley had no idea where people were finding these photos, but every time a new one surfaced, it sparked another wave of wild speculation, keeping the scandal burning white-hot.

For two straight days, stock forums, financial analysts, institutional investors, and major shareholders were aggressively assessing the risk. Every single one of them predicted the same thing: when the market opened after the holiday, St. John Global's stock was going to plummet!

On the seventh day of the New Year, Riley woke up before dawn. She had barely slept, tossing and turning all night, her mind entirely consumed by the impending stock market opening. She dozed off, woke up, and dozed off again.

At 9:30 AM sharp, the stock market opened.

St. John Global's stock nose-dived immediately. The green numbers flashed wildly, the downward trend so vicious it made her heart pound in her throat.

Even though Sebastian had called her the night before to warn her about the impending volatility and told her not to panic, seeing the actual nosedive on the screen still made her chest feel incredibly heavy.