The Scorned Heiress: No More Mercy novel Chapter 453

The schedule moves on to free time. The guests are tasked with helping the local villagers with chores to earn food and Elite Tokens.

Tara brushes off the lingering tension, quickly teaming up with Loretta and Danny to find work. As luck would have it, they learn that the village chief's son is severely ill, having seen multiple doctors to no avail. Fortunately, they have Tara on their team. Tara quickly mixes a specialized medicinal remedy for the boy, and within hours, his condition noticeably improves. Overwhelmed with gratitude, the village chief's family insists on hosting them for dinner and generously rewards them with a massive stash of Elite Tokens.

Meanwhile, Jade's team is completely out of luck. Her group operates like a disorganized mess. Evan refuses to lift a finger, aggressively ignoring everyone. Nikolai, accustomed to a life of pampered luxury, refuses to stoop to manual labor—especially since he is wearing a crisp white dress shirt and tailored slacks. That leaves Jade to scramble around doing all the work by herself, naturally resulting in a pitiful payout.

As night falls and the cameras finally stop rolling, Tara and Loretta take early showers and retreat to their room. Without the lenses tracking their every move, they can finally speak freely.

Loretta frowns, unable to hide her anxiety. "Do you think Jade exposing Julianna as Mr. Calhoun's fiancée is going to backfire on you? Everyone has been shipping you two lately. Even if you aren't actually together, the media is going to spin this. I bet Jade did it just to brand you as a scandalous homewrecker."

"Don't worry about it," Tara replies smoothly. "I'm not the one who's going to crash and burn. She is."

That very night, an anonymous source drops a massive folder of intimate photos online. The pictures feature Jade sharing highly questionable, physically affectionate moments with Jake—dining together, hitting up bars, and cozying up in private booths. But it doesn't stop with Jake. There are similar photos of her with Alec and Nikolai.

Within the Dennis household, this level of physical contact has always been normalized. Whenever Jade felt wronged or needed comforting, her three older brothers would instinctively pull her into their arms, hold her close, or even let her sit on their laps while they consoled her. To the Dennis family, it is just how they show affection. To the rest of the world, however, the heavy, lingering physical intimacy looks deeply disturbing and undeniably romantic.

To make matters worse, the leak includes several photos of Jade going on secret, private outings with Evan—dates that took place long before Evan and Tara officially ended their engagement.