Chapter 717: Dramatic Conflict Maxed Out

Chapter 717: Chapter 713: Dramatic Conflict Maxed Out

Tanya Hughes was left speechless, but deep down, she still strongly resisted the idea.

Claiming she was adopted and claiming she was abducted were both lies, but they were worlds apart in nature and severity.

Mason Hughes could see her hesitation. She was clearly worried that the public outcry over an abduction story would be too great and things would get out of hand.

After all, Lily Sterling wasn’t an ordinary person. The whole country would be paying attention to any news about her.

“Relax. No need to be so tense.” Mason Hughes offered a placid smile, turning to Leopold Hughes, who had been silent, focused only on eating. “Mr. Hughes, this all happened many years ago, didn’t it?”

Gnawing on a pork rib, Leopold Hughes nodded. “Twenty years ago.”

Mason Hughes smiled. “It happened so long ago, there won’t be any trace left. You can say whatever you want, can’t you? Who’s going to have any proof?”

“Young lady, why turn down good money?” he asked, looking at Tanya Hughes with a tempting offer. “If you say Lily Sterling was abducted, I’ll add another two dollars to your payment.”

Tanya Hughes’s expression faltered. She was clearly tempted.

Leopold Hughes was even more eager, nodding immediately. “You’re right. Who’s going to find proof? It’s been twenty years.”

Tanya Hughes held up her phone, displaying her payment QR code and motioning for the reporter to transfer the money right then.

Without missing a beat, Mason Hughes transferred the two dollars.

With the recorder running again, Mason Hughes asked the same question.

This time, Leopold Hughes replied, “The girls had just been born, and my wife was still recovering in the hospital. Then one day, one of the babies was just… gone. A lot of kids were being abducted in Veridia back then—people were even stealing newborns. We searched for over a month but heard nothing. In the end, we had to give up.”

“I thought I’d never see that daughter of mine again. Then one day, I was scrolling on my phone and suddenly, there she was. She looked identical to her sister. I knew right then she had to be my daughter.”

This was clearly the answer the reporter was looking for, packed with drama.

“So, Mr. Hughes, since you’ve arrived in Lorcain, besides seeing Lily Sterling at the event yesterday, have you met with her again? Has she tried to contact you at all?”

“Don’t even get me started on that!” As soon as the topic came up, a fire lit inside Leopold Hughes. He slammed his hand on the table and launched into a tirade about his meeting with Lily Sterling at Goldman Golding earlier that day. Growing more emotional, his story became a jumble of exaggerations and outright lies, painting Lily Sterling as a cold, heartless person who refused to acknowledge her own flesh and blood.

“So you were there too? Is that really what happened?” Mason Hughes turned and asked Tanya Hughes.

Tanya Hughes took a deep breath and nodded. “My dad might have gotten a little emotional and exaggerated a bit, but that’s basically what happened. She wouldn’t acknowledge us and said some very cruel things to hurt us.”

This piece of information was also sensational. As a reporter, Mason Hughes was extremely satisfied.

Lily Sterling’s public image had always been pristine, and she was rumored to be just as gentle and sweet in her private life. To think she could be so cold and ruthless toward her own biological father and twin sister.

The drama was instantly ratcheted up to the max.

“Do you have a recording of the conversation?” Mason Hughes asked hopefully.

The father and daughter exchanged a look, then both shook their heads.

“That’s a shame. With a recording, this story would be worth another three dollars. As it is, it’s only worth a dollar fifty.”

“That’s half the price?” Leopold Hughes winced. “Damn, we didn’t even think to do that. We would’ve recorded it if we’d known.”

Mason Hughes reminded them with a smile, “If you get another chance to see her, you can be prepared. Voice recorders are very convenient.”

Leopold Hughes nodded eagerly, but Tanya Hughes, her face impassive, simply held up her phone with the payment code again, prompting him for the money.

Mason Hughes paid with a smile, his eyes fixed on Tanya Hughes. ‘This girl is pretty interesting,’ he thought.

After that, Mason Hughes pried more information out of Leopold Hughes. The most impactful detail was that the father and daughter had been staying at the train station since arriving in Lorcain to find their family. The image of them as the disadvantaged party instantly became vivid and concrete.

There were other details, too: Lily Sterling’s biological mother was in poor health, her younger brother had a congenital heart defect, and so on.

All told, between the base payment and the bonuses, Tanya Hughes had received a total of twenty dollars. For her family, this was a massive sum of money.

Having eaten and drunk his fill, a still-unsatisfied Leopold Hughes looked at Mason Hughes and asked, “Hughie, is there anything else you want to know?”

‘What I just said was a mix of truth and lies anyway,’ he thought. ‘I can just make up whatever I want from now on.’

As a veteran paparazzo, how could Mason Hughes not see through this little ploy? He sneered inwardly at Leopold Hughes’s insatiable greed but maintained a polite expression. “That’s enough for now. If I need anything else, I’ll be in touch.”

“Of course, of course.”

Mason Hughes paid the bill and left early, claiming he had urgent business to attend to. He hadn’t touched a single bite of the food on the table.

Tanya Hughes hadn’t eaten either, her nerves stretched taut the entire time. It wasn’t until he was gone that she felt the pangs of hunger.

“Hurry, eat something. You’re a good daughter, so clever today! We made twenty dollars just like that!” Leopold Hughes was ecstatic, picking up his chopsticks and heaping food into his daughter’s bowl.

“You think that’s a lot?” Tanya Hughes asked, looking at her father.

“How is that not a lot? He was only going to give us five dollars at first!”

Seeing her father’s unsophisticated delight, Tanya Hughes sighed in exasperation.

‘Twenty dollars,’ she thought. ‘In the past, that would have been a lot for their family. But compared to Lily Sterling’s income?’

“Daughter, where did you learn all this? Just now… you just drove the price up like that? And he actually agreed.”

Even thinking about it now sent a jolt of residual fear through Tanya Hughes. “I watch dramas, read novels… there are tons of scenes like this. He approached us, which means he needs something from us. So of course we have to raise the price. We can’t just take whatever he says. But I didn’t dare ask for too much, since this was my first time. I didn’t know where the line was.”

Tanya Hughes was starting to feel full after half a bowl of rice and a few Peking duck wraps. Mostly, though, she was just unsettled, filled with a persistent sense of unease.

‘It’s probably because I lied,’ she thought.

“Dad, let’s find a cheap hotel nearby. We can get some proper rest and take a shower.”

“Let’s do it! We have money now, we can afford a hotel!” Leopold Hughes declared with a newfound swagger.

Tanya Hughes didn’t splurge. She compared her options and found a hotel with a group-buy discount. For her, as long as it had heating and a shower, it was good enough.

Meanwhile, after securing his firsthand interview, Mason Hughes rushed back to the company.

「Stellarwind Media」

The moment he pushed open the office door, he was met with a cacophony of noise. The office wasn’t particularly spacious, yet it was crammed with nearly a hundred desks, people packed shoulder-to-shoulder.

“Mason, where have you been? You weren’t answering your phone! You missed the morning meeting, and the boss was furious. You should get to his office, quick.”

A colleague who saw him arrive came over to give him a friendly warning.

But Mason Hughes was all smiles. He couldn’t help but gloat inwardly, already picturing his boss’s expression changing from furious to ecstatic.