After the divorce, he begged

hapter 315

Chapter 315

An hour later, Stephen and Karen finished dinner together.

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Stephen headed back to his study to work. Karen was just planning to put on an act and tag along with him,

playing the role of the dutiful companion, when her phone rang just as she picked up her water glass-it was her

agent.

She thought it was about having dinner with Mr. Sutton again, to apologize for what happened last time.

She was just trying to figure out how to turn it down when her agent's voice cthrough the phone, much

calmer than usual. “Karen, just be honest with me. Who are you with right now?”

Karen paused.

‘I didn’t see that coming,’ she thought, surprised her agent even brought it up.

Stephen Hanson was dead set against letting anyone know about what was going on between them. He never let

her breathe a word of it outside their little bubble.

Not even her agent was in the loop.

“Don’t even think about trying to deny it,” her agent jumped in, shutting down any chance of her lying. “I've

seen more in this business than you ever will. Believe me, | know a thing or two about what's really going on

with you.”

Karen's fingers curled a little tighter around her phone.

Her agent dropped the tough act, sounding more like a strategist now. “If you keep all this under wraps and then

shoot to fonly for the truth to cout, how am | supposed to pull off damage control for you?”

“Make it big?” Karen was genuinely taken aback. She never expected to hear that word coming from her own

agent, of all people. ‘Wow, since when did she becso optimistic about me?‘ Karen thought with a hint of

sarcasm.

She was just a small-tactress—one of many in her agent's lineup. But thanks to her striking looks and solid

acting chops, she’d always gotten a bit of preferential treatment. From the day her agent first picked her up,

there had been high hopes riding on her shoulders.

But after every show she landed ended up getting shelved, and she refused to play the casting couch game, her

agent's hopes faded into thin air. These days, there wasn’t much expectation left.

“All those shows you've had collecting dust are finally getting released,” her agent blurted out, not beating

around the bush. “I checked the release schedule-your stuff starts rolling out, no later than next Wednesday, one

after another.”

Karen paused, instinctively glancing over at the study.

But she dismissed that idea in a heartbeat.

‘There's no way Stephen’s behind this,’ she thought.

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He couldn’t stand the thought of people paying too much attention to her-let alone her appearing on screen and

attracting gossip about being involved with someone, especially him.

‘But seriously, if it’s not him, who else could possibly pull this off?’ Karen thought.

“Honestly, even if you've got someone supporting you, | understand,” her agent said bluntly. “As long as you get

famous, stay out of trouble, and don’t break the law, I'm fine with whatever it takes.”

Karen knew her agent would be on board with whatever worked-otherwise, she would've never arranged that

dinner with Mr. Sutton to begin with.

“No one,” Karen replied, keeping her tone steady, not letting any emotion show. “Honestly, | don’t know what's

going on either.”

“You really don’t know?” Her agent sounded doubtful.

Karen just hummed in response.

Her agent still had more questions on her mind.

But Karen changed the subject and asked her agent to help figure out who was backing her up behind the

scenes.

As expected, her agent instantly dismissed the idea. “Con, you're so far down the celebrity ranks you

practically don’t exist-haven’t had a single project aired. What kind of miracle would it take for someone to do

you a favor like that?” she said, not buying it for a second.

Karen had already predicted that reaction. The only reason she brought it up was to distract her agent and stop

her from asking more questions.

After hanging up, Karen stood there in silence, not sure how to feel, waves of emotion rolling inside her.

She should've been happy that all her shows were finally hitting the screens, but thinking about Stephen

Hanson's usual methods made her nervous. With his personality, he'd probably wait for her to get a bit of

traction and then blow everything up-maybe even leak that she had someone backing her just to make sure she

was kicked out of the spotlight.

He never cared about hurting her.

He'd use whatever means necessary to get his way.

And there's no way she could cout and admit Stephen was the one backing her. She was a nobody in the

entertainment world, no clout, no connections-if she tried claiming a business mogul like Stephen Hanson was

her patron, online trolls would rip her to shreds even harder.

That thought swirling in her mind, Karen picked up her glass of water and headed for the study, determined to

face Stephen.

She was about to gamble everything.

She was about to gamble everything.

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Chapter 315

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No one would randomly drop all her shows online without a good reason. Either someone had a complicated

connection to her, or they were messing with Stephen on purpose. Whatever it was, anyone who went around

Stephen Hanson to make this happen had to be someone powerful.

Knock, knock. Karen tapped lightly on the door, steeling herself for what was next.

“Cin,” Stephen called out.

Karen walked in, holding her cup of hot water, bracing herself for whatever this conversation would bring.

She placed the cup in front of him, hesitating-wanting to speak, but her words stalled, leaving her rooted in

place.

Stephen caught the look on her face, pulled her gently into his arms, and asked, “Is something bothering you?”

“Yes,” Karen said, her gaze lingering on him, emotions flickering in her eyes,

Stephen’s warm fingers brushed softly over hers, his voice calm and caring as always. “Just talk to me.”

“Thank you,” Karen said softly.

Stephen raised an eyebrow.

Karen's eyes grew tender as she looked at him. “For lettingkeep my career going.”

“What work?” Stephen asked, his tone calm and curious.

“My agent already cluedin, so there’s really no point in playing dumb,” Karen said deliberately, her

performance spot-on-each tiny shift in her tone and glance perfectly calculated. “If it wasn’t you behind the

scenes, who else could've pulled this off and aired all my shows at once?”

Rather than tiptoe around and stay on edge, she figured it was better to just throw it all out in the open right

now.

If Stephen stepped in and shut things down again, at least she’d dodge a wave of online hate and go back to

being an invisible extra in the industry.

But if he couldn't stop it, maybe, just maybe, her real career was finally about to begin.

Stephen paused, his grip on her hand faltering for a moment. His usually gentle eyes grew dark and unreadable.

“Wait, it wasn’t you?” Karen froze. ‘Did | guess wrong?‘ she thought, a wave of confusion rushing over her.

“Your agent told you all your shows are getting released?” Stephen asked, his voice giving nothing away.

“Yeah...” Karen murmured, her reply barely more than a whisper.

Stephen released her from his embrace. “Go get srest. I've got work to do here.”

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Chapter 315

Karen hesitated, wanting to say more, but in the end, she just nodded. “Okay.”

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She didn’t press him. Stephen was a puzzle she’d never solve-and all she could do was keep rolling the dice on

him, again and again.

Win or lose. That's all there was to it.

As the study door closed, Stephen's demeanor shifted-his presence turning icy and distant. The warmth in his

eyes vanished, replaced by a shadowy, dangerous darkness. He picked up his phone and made a call.

A minute later, he got his answer.

He dialed the culprit behind all this mess.

Jeffrey had just wrapped up his talk with Gregory when his phone lit up. He answered but didn’t say a word.

Stephen didn’t waste time. “So all that business with Karen-that was you, wasn’t it?” His voice was cool, straight

to the point.

“That's right,” Jeffrey said calmly, not even trying to dodge.

Stephen's voice turned cold. “You know how it is between us-we stay out of each other's business. I've kept my

distance, so you'd better do the same.”

“Did you forget how you botched Rebecca's project last time?” Jeffrey reminded him, his voice cool.

If Stephen hadn't gotten involved, all of Rebecca's effort and dedication would've landed her the Jelasburg

project by now.

With everything Rebecca put into it, she would've had that Jelasburg deal ages ago.

Stephen didn’t deny it. “I had my reasons. It wasn’t out of malice.”

Jeffrey admitted without hesitation. “Yeah, | did it intentionally.”

“Jeffrey,” Stephen said coldly, anger lacing his voice. “Don’t test my limits. You really don’t want things getting

ugly between us. If | decide to cat you, Rebecca won't get off easy either.”

“Be my guest,” Jeffrey replied, his tone calm and unbothered. He'd already planned for everything.

There was a flicker of something deep and unreadable in Stephen’s eyes.

Jeffrey warned him, “Rebecca’s not just gotat her back-she’s also got the Guzman family and the Quinn

family from Honnala behind her. If you really want to risk it all, go ahead. But know this-you’ll never wrest

control of the Hanson Group from me, not in this lifetime.”

There was a long silence on the other end of the line.

Jeffrey struck right at his core. “Stephen, do you dare?”

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