Chapter 791

Standing nearby, Penelope caught the eye of the room and offered an elegant, subtle roll of her eyes before chiming in with a reminder. "TikTok, Twitter, Facebook..."

"Right. Exactly those," Derek agreed. "You'll need to use their official accounts to apologize on those platforms as well."

Penelope added, "Anne, dear, did I remember correctly that you can 'pin' posts to the top of the feed or something like that?"

Anneliese watched as Derek and Penelope spoke.

With every sentence they uttered, the color drained further from Pepper and Gianna's faces until they looked positively ashen.

Supplying a suppressed smile, Anneliese nodded. "That's right. You can set a specific duration for a pinned post."

Penelope closed the matter with finality. "Then, pin them all for three months. No deleting!"

Gianna felt this was taking things too far. "Dad..."

She had already apologized to Anneliese several times today. On top of that, Adrian was exiling her abroad for an indefinite amount of time. Even after all that, Anneliese wasn't letting her off the hook; she was forcing her into a three-month walk of shame.

If an apology letter stayed pinned to her profile for three months, Gianna didn't know how she'd ever show her face again.

However, just as Gianna's voice began to tremble in an attempt to beg Adrian for mercy, he silenced her with a sharp, stern look. "Do as you're told!"

Adrian knew perfectly well that Derek wasn't making a suggestion.

If Gianna and Pepper didn't follow the instructions for a formal apology, there would

be no moving forward, and this whole mess would only get uglier.

Gianna clenched her fists, biting her lip so hard it hurt.

vanity, she had spent years

She had always lived a high-profile life; fueled carefully curating her image on Twitter as a wealthy socialite and a top-tier genius. With Adrian's doting support, her feed was a constant stream of jewelry, luxury cars, and gala appearances where even A-list celebrities acted humble just to get a photo with her.

She had used the Malone family's resources to get into prestigious schools and top laboratories, making sure to "humbly" brag about it every step of the way.

Through these tactics, Gianna had amassed over twelve million followers-more than many actual movie stars. When she entered the challenge recently, she had hyped it up to her fans, and many had even shown up at the venue to cheer her on. Her fans had flooded the livestream, waiting for her to outshine everyone and take the crown.

Instead, she had crashed and burned so publicly that it was an absolute embarrassment.

Afterward, she faked a medical report and posted photos of herself hooked up to an IV, claiming she had been battling a high fever for days before the competition. It was the only reason the trolls had stopped mocking her, and her fan base had stayed intact. Content bétongs

If she posted a public apology now, Gianna could already envision the absolute earthquake it would cause among her followers.

She stood there, stiff and unwilling to yield, until Pepper nudged her from behind. "Gianna," her aunt whispered shakily, "don't make things harder for your father."

The reminder hit home.

Gianna lowered her head to hide the resentment and struggle in her eyes. She knew she couldn't defy Adrian right now, let alone provoke his temper further. If he truly washed his hands of her and cut ties, she would lose everything.

"Fine. I'll post it."

With trembling hands, Gianna pulled out her phone and drafted an apology, sending

it to her Facebook Status first.

She hit the button for posting.

Her eyes were red as she looked up. "It's on Facebook."

Pepper quickly followed suit.

Steven unlocked his phone, but instead of checking his own, he turned to Anneliese. "Anneliese, you probably don't have Gianna or my aunt on Facebook, do you? Let me read it for you."

Ignoring Gianna's look of pure disbelief, he began to read aloud in a flat, emotionless voice.

"I, Gianna Malone, due to my own

narrow-mindedness and jealousy toward Anneliese Claude,

maliciously spread rumors in WhatsApp groups to slander her. I spread falsehoods regarding her having a daughter out of wedlock, causing serious damage to her reputation and mental well-being, while also misleading the public.

"For this, I offer my most sincere and deepest apologies. I am sorry."

Steven read slowly, effectively dragging Gianna out for a second public execution.

Gianna's every breath felt like a sharp pain.

She stared at Steven, her eyes brimming with tears.

When he finished, he looked up and met her accusatory gaze with a simple, casual shrug. Then, he turned back to Anneliese. "Are you. satisfied, Anneliese? if any part of it. doesn't sit right with you, we can have Gianna edit it and try again."