Chapter 427
He Really Is with Claire Bennett
Early that morning, Claire Bennett and Molly Lee had already come to the hotel to get busy with preparations.
Quite a few reporters were staking the place out, their eyes practically shining.
Unexpectedly, this new product launch was even livelier than the last one. While Claire was pleased, she also felt that maybe these reporters hadn't come for the new product at all.
Sure enough, she was right.
The moment the interview session at the launch began, she was immediately surrounded by a crowd of reporters, all talking over one another as they started firing questions at her.
"Claire Bennett, there are recent reports saying you were involved with a married man before. Is that true?"
"Are you still in contact with him now?"
"We've heard the two of you are planning to rekindle things. Are you dating right now?"
...
A barrage of questions rang out, most of them about Claire Bennett and Ian Walsh. No one cared about Maison Verne's jewelry launch this time. Claire had guessed right.
Looking at how things were going, if she didn't clear this up, by tomorrow the story about her and Ian Walsh would probably be everywhere.
Actually, Claire had made some preparations last night.
Faced with the reporters' questions, she didn't get overly nervous or flustered. After everyone had finished asking, Claire smiled and said, "As for what everyone's concerned about, I'll give you an answer."
The reporters all stared at Claire, tightening their grip on the equipment in their hands.
"I don't want to pursue where you heard these rumors, but what I can tell you is that Ian Walsh and I have had no relationship whatsoever from beginning to end. I hope everyone will report that truthfully."
Not all the reporters were ordinary reporters; some had been sent by Willow Lane to muddy the waters.
One of them, a man wearing glasses, narrowed his eyes the moment he heard Claire's words and aggressively pressed, "Claire Bennett, we've heard you interfered in Ian Walsh's relationship as the other woman, and that you even had an abortion for him. That should be true, right? If there was really nothing between you, how could rumors about the two of you getting back together possibly have spread?"
The reporters around them looked stunned when they heard that.
They hadn't expected there to be something like that too.
They had almost believed Claire just now, but after hearing that, they felt the man had a point.
Everyone's attention immediately shifted back to the matter between Claire Bennett and Ian Walsh.
Claire looked at the man who had spoken, her eyes slowly narrowing. In an offhand tone, she asked, "This reporter seems to know quite a lot. What other inside details do you know? I'd like to hear them."
That reporter's name was Cheng Bin, and he had been arranged by Willow Lane and Hazel Lewis to stir up trouble.
Now, hearing Claire say that, he showed no guilt at all. Instead, he looked smug as he said, "Of course I know. I made sure to thoroughly investigate your situation."
Cheng Bin let out a cold laugh and said, "Ian Walsh has a wife. Back when you were at Bennett Group, you shamelessly became the other woman to climb the ladder. After everything blew up, you ran off to Chicago. Did you think that because New York is far from here and the news was locked down, no one would ever find out?"
Claire's expression darkened. She knew this man had come prepared.
He definitely wasn't an ordinary reporter. Just as she was about to speak, a voice suddenly came from behind.
"That's right, I really am with Claire Bennett!"
At the sound of the voice, everyone turned around and immediately saw Ian Walsh standing there.
Ian Walsh walked over and said, "What that reporter just said was right. I really am with Claire Bennett. We missed each other before, and now we're rekindling our old relationship."
The moment those words fell, the whole place exploded.
That day, Willow Lane had said she would help him suppress the news, and for Claire Bennett's sake, Ian Walsh no longer cared about anything.
Originally, with Cheng Bin stirring things up, people were already suspicious about Claire's situation. Now that Ian Walsh had shown up and said all that, everyone became certain that Claire Bennett really did have an improper relationship with him.
Another reporter hiding off to the side had started a livestream from the very beginning.
Everything Claire had said and done from the start had been captured on camera. A lot of viewers had entered the livestream, and when they saw Ian Walsh appear and say those things, they all became furious and started flooding the screen with comments.
"This is seriously disgusting. So she's a mistress."
"She even seems to be the manager of this Maison Verne brand. Never thought she'd do something like this."
"I'm blacklisting this brand for life! I won't ever buy anything from this brand again."
The livestream was full of chatter, all kinds of contempt and insults aimed at Claire Bennett.
The launch site wasn't calm either. The moment the reporters saw Ian Walsh appear, they instantly got excited. Thinking they had big news to report, they all rushed over to surround Ian Walsh and started interviewing him.
Ian Walsh wasn't afraid either, and he began spouting nonsense without restraint.
"That's right, we've always been in contact. The one I really like is still Claire Bennett."
"I hope everyone can give us their blessing."
"No, I'm planning to get a divorce. Claire Bennett isn't the other woman, so don't curse her out."
Claire was left standing there, ignored. Molly Lee seized the chance to squeeze over and asked angrily and worriedly, "Manager Claire, what do we do now? With Ian Walsh saying all this, even if we jumped into the Yellow River, we still wouldn't be able to wash ourselves clean!"
Wasn't President Sterling Claire Bennett's husband?
Did he know about this? Where was President Sterling now?