The Return of the Cannon Fodder Trillion Heiress-Chapter 1056 Cutting Off Ties 3

"What she needed then was comfort. Companionship. Someone to sit with her when she was afraid. But she didn’t feel any of that from you. So tell me, was it wrong for her to feel that you didn’t care as much as you claim you do?"

Hera continued without pause. "Friendship isn’t a transaction. Minerva has the right to decide who she keeps close and who she walks away from. And let’s be clear, she never asked you to rescue her, never demanded grand gestures, never required anything outrageous."

Her eyes narrowed just a fraction. "All she needed was understanding when she was at her most vulnerable. And yet, even that was absent."

A faint, almost lazy smile touched Hera’s lips. "So tell me, Miss Quinn, what kind of ’best friend’ withholds comfort from someone who nearly died, and still has the audacity to call herself one?"

If Alice believed emotional manipulation only worked in one direction, she was gravely mistaken. Hera was more than capable of turning the blade back on her.

Then Hera continued, her tone calm but cutting. "Besides, if all you wanted was to reconcile with Alice, why wait this long to contact her? And why the livestream? Was it to humiliate her in front of the entire nation, to make her look ungrateful so no one would want to be her friend... just so she’d crawl back to you with her tail between her legs, and in the future, only listen to you?"

Hera’s last words hit like a bombshell. Alice froze, stunned, not expecting Hera to know so quickly about the livestream. But of course, Hera knew, because she had a consortium, an army of employees, and talented individuals working for her and could easily feed her such information.

She had been aware of Alice’s sneaky actions for some time now, patiently waiting for the right moment to intervene and wipe that smug look off Alice’s face, the look she thought she was hiding so well.

Alice nearly went frantic as Hera tore her scheme apart right in front of Rafael and Zhane. For a moment, she was paralyzed, unsure of what to do, until all she could think of was to play dumb. "I..." she started, her voice trembling, but before she could finish, Hera cut her off.

"Don’t even try to say you aren’t livestreaming right now with that slanderous headline, trying to grab attention off Logan’s current popularity while making us look bad!" Hera’s voice cut through the tension like a blade.

Thanks to Cindy and Betty, who had quickly sent her screenshots and video clips, she knew exactly what Alice was up to. While the PR department had already started damage control, Hera didn’t rush to stop the livestream.

She understood that social media was a double-edged sword, and if Alice wanted to dig her own grave, Hera would let her. Let the netizens flood the livestream, let Alice embarrass herself in real time.

Hera watched patiently, knowing that the deeper Alice dug, the harder she would fall, and the more satisfying the faceslap later. After all, with so many loyal staff keeping tabs on every move she makes, it was impossible for Hera not to know of Alice’s latest attempt to tarnish her reputation, but she chose to wait, to let Alice’s hubris do the work for her.

Now that Hera had openly exposed Alice’s hypocrisy in front of the nation while Alice tried to emotionally manipulate Minerva, right in front of her brother, Hera wanted to see how Alice would react. Where would she run? What would she do next? If Alice thought that having a new backer meant she could act without consequence, she was sorely mistaken.

Hera didn’t press aggressively; she remained cautious about Alice’s new ally, sensing he could be dangerous. But at the same time, what she said was factual and reasonable, so no one could fault her for it.

Meanwhile, she had already sent Gerald and Sasha to dig into the man’s background. Hera knew that only by understanding this potential enemy could she anticipate what might come and defend against it, especially since Alice was likely to make a move against her in the future.

"You’re slandering me..." Alice persisted, still trying to shift the blame onto Hera. But Hera didn’t give her the chance. Her piercing gaze swept toward the stunned assistant manager beside them, and the moment she caught her subtle signal, she sprang to her feet, fully understanding her meaning.

"Miss, please stop causing trouble for our VVIP guest," the assistant manager scolded sharply. "We cleared the entire Golden Dragon Pavilion to provide them peace of mind and minimize drama, yet you linger here, provoking chaos. Or are you a spy sent by a competitor to sabotage our VVIP client? Such insolence!" She signaled the guards, who moved immediately to drag Alice and her backer out of the restaurant without ceremony.

"No! You’ve got it all wrong!" Alice’s eyes widened in panic, stunned at how quickly she’d been misjudged.

"I got it wrong?!" the assistant manager snapped. "If we miss this VVIP guest, it could cost us dozens of millions in annual profits. Did you even realize that? If that happened, who would we go to with our grievances? Would you like us to take this to court and have you compensate us for our losses?"

Alice’s eyes nearly popped out of her head, and her mouth gaped so wide it could fit a duck egg. She had never expected Hera, or her entourage, to be treated with such deference in this prestigious restaurant.

"Are... you talking about them?" Alice asked again, disbelief lacing her voice. Everyone knew Hera had struck it rich after years of hardship, but Alice had assumed her wealth only reached a few dozen million at most. She never imagined it could be hundreds of millions, let alone billions or trillions, and part of her arrogance had blinded her to the fact that she had never truly taken Hera seriously.

"Of course I’m talking about... Young— I mean, Miss Hera Ave... Miss Hera Ainsley!" the assistant manager stammered, nearly tripping over her words. "She’s a VVIP member of our establishment! Everyone knows this is a members-only establishment, and we have membership tiers, starting from bronze, silver, gold, platinum, and our secret hidden tier. Miss Ainsley... she’s in that hidden tier!"

Her voice carried a mix of pride and awe, as if she were boasting about herself as much as about Hera. And really, who could blame her? Though she worked for Hera and knew her background from working closely with Gerald, she was also a devoted fan. The young Miss Avery had impressed her so much that her admiration nearly overpowered her professional composure.

But in her excitement, especially with Alice right there, she nearly let her words slip more than once, almost revealing Hera’s identity on the livestream, even letting slip "Young Miss" before quickly correcting herself.

"Impossible!" Alice blurted out before her mind could catch up. Her first instinct was to reject the assistant manager’s claim; she simply couldn’t believe Hera was that impressive. After all, not long ago, Hera had barely been able to afford a proper Chanel bag, working countless part-time jobs as a waitress or even a delivery girl. Alice refused to accept that Hera could now be above her in any way.

Besides, Alice conveniently reminded herself, her new backer had just spent a hundred thousand dollars for the two of them, and he was only a Gold member at this establishment. Yet she also conveniently forgot that Hera had long treated the cast of their upcoming zombie apocalypse movie to the same restaurant, spending hundreds of thousands without hesitation, and even used to swipe a black card as if it were nothing.

And besides, Hera’s black card wasn’t a typical credit card; it was a debit card loaded with her own fortune. Unlike ordinary black cards, it wasn’t limited by credit; it was a direct reflection of her nearly bottomless wealth.

Her consortium alone had trillions of unallocated funds, money flowing freely without the need to wait for monthly income. In short, Hera didn’t just have wealth; she owned a scale of riches so vast that most people couldn’t even comprehend it.

But if Alice ever found out, she’d probably turn green with envy. And this was exactly why so many vultures were circling Hera’s family; their wealth was so staggering that even a single fraction of it could send other companies soaring straight onto the Forbes list of the world’s richest.

"Why is it so impossible?" Hera asked, a smirk playing on her lips as she watched Alice’s carefully crafted innocent façade begin to crack. "Is it because you never believed I could be rich? Because I used to deliver food or wipe tables as a waitress?" Hera hit the nail squarely on the head, unbothered by her own words, even knowing Alice was livestreaming. In fact, she wanted everyone to hear it.