No longer a pushover (Noelle and Cedric)

After hanging up, Cedric immediately called Alfred and asked, "Is Donovan really the guy who agreed to the Cantrells' matrilocal arrangement?"

"Honestly? I have no clue," Alfred admitted. "The Cantrells have been keeping this under wraps. They said they wouldn't announce anything until they'd finished evaluating him and my cousin had bonded with her fiancé."

After explaining, Alfred hesitated. "Where did you even hear it was Donovan? That sounds way too far-fetched."

Cedric quickly filled him in on Noelle's press conference and everything that had gone down. Alfred fell silent for a moment before blurting out, "Wait-Magnus knew? What the hell? I didn't even know!"

Cedric said, "I'm wondering the same thing. I'll ask him later."

Alfred let out a sigh. Even he had not expected such coincidences. He replied, "Alright, I'll check with my uncle and see what's really going on with the Cantrells."

Cedric ended the call and immediately dialed Magnus. When he did not receive an answer, he sent a message asking how Magnus had found out about Donovan's engagement to the Cantrells' daughter, Mia Cantrell.

Meanwhile, Magnus and Noelle had just arrived at her campus. Since he did not want to risk exposing his brother's identity, Magnus ignored the call.

The moment Noelle stepped into the training base with Magnus, the entire team froze. Then, as if on cue, they exploded into excited screams.

No one had ever expected to see their idol casually show up at school like this. After all, Magnus was one of the youngest esports legends in the scene and had a massive fanbase.

Noelle grinned at the team. "He's your training partner today. Don't waste the opportunity."

Before Magnus could even check Cedric's message, Noelle shoved him into a chair, forcing him into unpaid labor as their training partner. As he played against the team, he made a mental note-Cedric owed him for this.

Meanwhile, Noelle returned to the office and turned to Grace. "Order coffee for everyone. It's on me."

Grace perked up. "How did your press conference go? I didn't see it trending." Noelle said flatly, "It didn't. It never even started."

Seeing Grace's concerned expression, Noelle quickly added, "Don't worry about me. Just make sure they're actually training and not just fangirling over Magnus."

Once Grace left, Noelle's expression darkened slightly. She remembered that when Lucas had been in trouble, Donovan had not reacted this urgently.

Yet, with Blake, it was different-he was going all out. Clearly, Donovan had invested a lot of money into Blake.

Just then, her phone rang. She glanced at the screen. The caller information showed it was Blake.

Without hesitation, she declined the call. A few seconds later, the office landline rang.

Curious, she picked up. "Hello? Who's this?"

"Noelle," Blake's voice came through, calm but unreadable. "I heard you planned

to hold a press conference today to expose everything, right?"

Noelle frowned slightly, thinking it was odd that he did not sound angry. She kept her tone neutral "That's right. Didn't expect it to get shut down, but I'll just go live instead. Donovan can't stop me."

Blake let out a low chuckle. "Noelle, Donovan's planning to send Frank to Carl for treatment. If that happens he won't be able to testify about the will. Are you really willing to just watch everything fall into Xenia's hands?"

Of course not.

"Let's make a deal," Blake added smoothly.

Noelle raised an eyebrow. "A deal? You can't be serious. What could we possibly

have to talk about?"

She was already considering hanging up.noveldrama

Blake insisted. "It's necessary. Now that you know about Donovan's engagement

to the Cantrells, you should realize something.

"If you can't even take down the

Merlocks, what makes you think you

can go up against the Cantrells? Even if you try live streaming, they have enough influence to shutt down. Hell, even the platformyou're using has Cantrell family shares."

Noelle let out a cold laugh. "You're still lying. We both know that's not the real reason you came to me."

She knew Blake too well. Then, the other end of the line went silent for a long moment.

Finally, Blake sighed, sounding almost resigned. "Donovan's planning to hand my entertainment company over to Xenia. He's trying to turn her into an A-list celebrity.

"I won't let that bitch win. That company is my blood, sweat, and tears. What right does he have to just give it away?"

Noelle snorted. Her voice was laced with mockery as she replied, "Oh, so now she's coming for your company? Well, well... Looks like karma finally caught up with you."