Chapter 324
Nate growled under his breath, his voice sharp with rage. “When the hell did I ever tell you idiots to post positive press about Sharon? Are you all brain-dead? Delete it. Delete every single piece of positive coverage about her. Push out the dirt. I don’t care if it’s real or fake. Flood it. And hire more trolls to stir the pot. Damn it! I don’t believe I can’t ruin her!”
The assistant hesitated. “But, Sir… Sharon’s 100-million-dollar donation really won her a lot of public support. Even the state media praised her for it. Sir… going against the state media… are you sure that’s wise?”
Nate’s face contorted, his jaw clenched so tight it looked painful. “I already said-post the dirt. Push it out!”
The assistant sighed, helpless now. He was a media professional, a top graduate from a reputable communications university, and everything about this screamed disaster.
Dropping negative press now, when public sentiment was tilting overwhelmingly in Sharon’s favor, wasn’t just reckless-it was suicidal for their reputation.
“Sir… given the current online climate, I’m afraid any smear campaign won’t work. It’ll just make the public hate us even more.”
“Besides,” the assistant continued, “the tide has fully turned. The narrative’s no longer balanced. Before, we could still spin it- play the donation against the accusations. But that reporter… the one who pushed those aggressive questions during the livestream… actually gave Sharon the perfect opening to explain everything.”
“If it hadn’t been for that,” the assistant added, “we might still have room to maneuver. But now… there’s nothing left. Every path’s blocked. My suggestion? We think long-term. Let’s not rush into this.”
Nate froze. His mind reeled. It was him. He was the one who instructed those reporters to go hard, to ambush Sharon during the livestream, to tear her down in front of everyone.
And now… he’d shot himself in the foot. No-worse. He’d handed her the gun.
Nate wanted nothing more than to slap himself.
“Fine. Pull back. Cancel everything the influencers and PR accounts were about to post.”
The assistant finally exhaled in relief. “Understood. I’ll handle it right away.”
But not even two minutes passed before Nate’s phone rang again. It was the PR manager-the same one who’d called earlier.
“Sir… the order came too late. The positive press releases… they already went out. About ten minutes ago…”
“Fuck!” Nate exploded. “Are you insane? I told you to ruin Sharon. You think this is the time to turn her into a hero? What the hell is wrong with your head?”
The PR manager sounded like he was about to cry. “Sir, I swear, I was following your instructions! You told me this was your strategy!
“Right after the donation hit the trending lists, I called to confirm with you. You said it was your plan and told me to coordinate the rollout…
“I thought… I thought it was one of your tactics. You know-start with controversy, get attention, then flip the narrative to paint her as resilient and courageous. We’ve done it before. It works…
“Besides, it was your account that initially promoted Sharon’s livestream. That’s why I believed this was deliberate…”
Nate’s relentless smear campaign against Sharon had once made him certain-Nate truly bore a grudge against her. He genuinely wanted her blacklisted.
But the phone call with Nate not long ago had shaken that belief.
Smear first, then clean up-this wasn’t a tactic they hadn’t used before.
But this time… this time was different. Out of all the most successful publicity stunts he’d ever witnessed, nothing else even came close. And more importantly, it was impossible to replicate.
For a moment, he’d even thought Nate must’ve received guidance from some master strategist, as if he’d suddenly unlocked some hidden power to come up with something this brilliant.
The PR manager was afraid he might’ve misunderstood Nate, so he kept a close eye on the livestream.
And when he saw the reporters corner Sharon, only for her to dissolve their attacks with ease, he was finally confident that his assumptions hadn’t been wrong.
