Too Late to Hold Me Back novel Chapter 315

"That's absolute nonsense!" Mara snapped. "I just arrived in Aethelgard last night. When would I have possibly been with Owen?"

Honestly, if she actually had the chance to get close to Owen, would she have waited this long to come to the city? She would have replaced Mira ages ago.

Everyone in the room was momentarily stunned by Quinn's outburst. Before they could even process it, Quinn pressed her attack.

"She's a liar, Lawrence! I saw her with my own two eyes the day before yesterday. She was with Owen, and they were acting extremely intimate."

Lawrence frowned, thoroughly confused. He turned to the assistant who had handled Mara's travel arrangements.

"Did you arrange her pickup straight from Melvion City?"

"Yes, Mr. Lance," the assistant confirmed, looking bewildered. "I'm absolutely certain. I booked her flight myself."

Lawrence's cold gaze snapped back to Quinn.

"When and where exactly did you see her with Owen?"

He needed to get to the bottom of this. If Owen was secretly maneuvering against him, he couldn't afford to be caught off guard.

"The evening before last," Quinn answered, her eyes darting nervously.

"In the courtyard of The Grand Sovereign."

She lowered her head, suddenly looking sheepish. She didn't want to admit that she had been stalking Owen at the time.

"She's talking completely out of her mind. We were still in Melvion City the day before yesterday," Mara defended herself hotly.

Who was this crazy woman anyway? Mara had literally just arrived, and some stranger was already aggressively trying to frame her.

Norman immediately stepped forward. "Mr. Lance, I am the Mercer family butler. We did indeed just arrive. Miss Mercer has never set foot in Aethelgard before this."

Desperate, Quinn latched onto Lawrence's arm, her voice dripping with artificial sweetness. "Lawrence, I swear I'm not lying to you."

Looking at the woman clinging to him, Mara finally realized exactly why she was being targeted.

"You're just jealous that Mr. Lance invited me here, so you're making up these insane lies to sabotage me!" Mara accused.

Mara recognized the tactic immediately—it was the exact same playbook she had used for years to sabotage Mira out of pure, venomous jealousy.

With the distraction gone, Mara settled onto the sofa, ready to strategize with Lawrence on exactly how to destroy Owen and Mira.

Within hours, gossip forums and private chat groups across Aethelgard were exploding with vile rumors about Mira. The fabricated stories detailed how vicious and cruel she was, how she sadistically bullied her sweet sister, and how her own parents were forced to kick her out of the house.

Mara played the role of the tragic, abused victim flawlessly. With a small army of paid trolls amplifying the narrative with gross exaggerations, the rumors spread like wildfire.

The trolls also tried to push a narrative that Owen had been kicked out of the Lance family in disgrace. But the elite circles of Aethelgard already knew the truth: Owen had walked away on his own terms, refusing to associate with their corruption.

Their ultimate goal was to completely annihilate Mira's character, thereby tanking Solflare Entertainment's highly anticipated concert.

Sitting in the Solflare office, Mira scrolled through her phone and sighed. "I really thought they would have come up with a new strategy by now. But nope, same tired old playbook."

Owen shook his head, a look of utter contempt crossing his face. "My half-brother has never been capable of anything more than this."

Lawrence had absolutely zero vision. He didn't understand how to actually run a tech empire or steer a company's macro strategy. Instead, he spent all his time orchestrating petty, vindictive smear campaigns like a reality TV villain.

They both decided to completely ignore the noise, letting the rumors fester and reach a boiling point online for a full twenty-four hours.

People everywhere loved scandalous gossip. It gave them a twisted sense of moral superiority to jump into the comments, pass judgment, and hurl vicious insults at strangers.