Chapter 58: Ariana Counters Back
The city stirred beneath the morning haze as Ariana stood in front of the Camelo Corporation's glass-paneled headquarters. Her heels tapped on the marble as she walked out of her car, a steel determination following her steps with grace. There was no guesswork or statistics, no series of pitches and plunges; there was incontrovertible evidence in a folder held in her hand.
For days, she had held back. Watched. Calculated. It was time to give up being polite.
Time had come to burn the shadows to light.
Lincoln was already waiting in his own office, his face inscrutable, a tiny earpiece plugged in his left ear. Between them on a mahogany table lay a hefty legal file with the crest of one of the best law firms: Fang & Yue LLP the very same group Jesse had introduced to her.
"You are
e really going through with this?" Lincoln enquired, but there was rather admiration than scepticism in his voice.
Ariana nodded. Enough of this fun and games. I allowed Rachel to play hers long enough."
She opened a file and proffered a document titled, Defamation & Cyberlibel- Complaint and Motion for Emergency Takedown.
"I want all that she posted online to be washed down, every post, every re-upload, every lie. We have the IP records on her own apartment as evidence and the fact that we rented it out to Lawrence Holdings. It connects it directly with her mother shell PR firm."
Lincoln picked the papers and glanced through them. This amount of firepower will get the court to issue an emergency injunction in twenty-four hours.
"Get the press wind of it--after the takedown is begun," said Ariana, her eyes cold. May Rachel hear the bomb before she perceives the silence.
There was a brief nod on the part of Lincoln. It is finished.
---
Rachel Lawrence, over on the other side of town, was reclining in a white silk robe in her penthouse suite, flicking through her social feed, and sipping on the chilled coconut water. Her lips curled into a pleased smirk Ariana's name was still trending, attached to rumors, exaggerations, and a flurry of 'anonymous' character assassinations.
"And you still think you are above me, huh?" she said to herself.
Then her phone started buzzing with a shower of messages. She frowned.
Anonymous Content Pulled Over Copyright and Defamation
Access Denied Access Restricted- CyberLibel Violation Detected
Several Anonymous Blogs Investigated
Her smirked face dropped.
Hell! what?
She clicked on the links but they all led to a 403 error page or just a generic legal warning: "This page has been removed by court order under the law of digital defamation."
Her chest panicked.
She also attempted to reach the blogger she had contracted using the contact of her mother but the call could not be made. One minute later her mother burst in and held a telephone to her ear, pale and trembling.
"Rachel," Mrs. Lawrence said through clenched teeth. "The judge just approved a full sweep. Ariana filed legal action and we are named in the complaint."
Rachel lost her phone. She, she could not have discovered.
The eyes of her mother flashed. She did, well. Now all the corporate sponsors affiliated with our PR firm are withdrawing. The attorneys of Ariana reached the jugular vein."
---
In the morning, all the hateful articles, blogs and posts against Ariana disappeared by noon. Threads on Twitter were interrupted. Forums on the internet were closed. The phony leaks were blown away by the sun.
Ariana was sitting in a secluded room at Fang & Yue LLP, with her attorney, Ms. Qin Yue, a polished figure of a woman with a pointed jaw and pointed tongue.
Ms. Qin spoke calmly. "It was done. Unless they crawl out of the hole and offer a defendant to compensate and a public apology, Rachel and her mother, her firm will not be able to afford the damage."
Ariana was quick to say, "I do not want an apology. I desire publicity. I would like people in the world to see what she did."
Qin Yue flashed a smile. "And then we issue the second file the one that connects Rachel campaign to Lawrence PR. In the evening it will topple in the headlines."
---
News outlets took it in waves as it had been planned.
Latest: Heiress of Camelo Corporation exonerated of slander--Persecution kicks off in the Lawrence PR service--Legal Proceedings trace that slander to origin in the Lawrence PR network
Legal Counterstrike Patriarch to the Camelo Family is a Superstar in a Corporate Defense Called a Masterclass in Corporate Defense by Ariana Camelo
Opinion turned in a furious course, as an overnight diversion of a river. What was at one time whispered as scandal and betrayal now came in the form of support, apology tags and the vengeful righteous wrath poured forth against Rachel and her mother.
An out of control press release was made by the team at Rachel accusing a go it alone employee, but it was over.
Exposure of screenshots of Madison traces were leaked.
Internet detectives followed time stamps.
The story failed.
And Ariana? She did not have to say anything.
---
Jesse was standing in the balcony of one of the secret rooms of Jiuyang Club, enjoying a glass of quality scotch. He smirked, and watched with satisfaction, the news develop. Ariana faced in every place but not to scandalous influence of power.
Moves like water, he murmured, to himself alone.
A few paces behind him Lincoln smiled. She is a fast learner. Quick as you think."
Jesse was silent a moment. Then what will she do, he said, when she discovers it was Rachel?
She turned no flinching. Treating it as a sword." Lincoln gazed to the horizon. She has a good many of the shocks of marrying you out of her system, I think.
What a pity they do not, echoed Jesse.
He stopped at a video clip running silently on the TV in the room: a confident step of Ariana hand in hand with Ms. Qin, photographers scurrying to get a glimpse of a woman who had silenced the digital war using law and strategy.
Jesse looked away at the scene and grumbled in low-key, not merely a pawn in the history of her father. She is creating her empire."
And Jesse was swept with a fluttering that he had not anticipation to feel, the first time since their illmatched nuptials.
Admiration.
And the little murmur of interest in the woman whom he had underrated.