Lucas stood by Olivia’s side. “Miss Sutton’s assistant has already released some behind-the- scenes clips from her rehearsals.


    “Everyone is free to check for themselves. The rk family and the Wright family won’t let baseless rumors slide. Get ready to receive awyer’s letter.”


    But even with his tough attitude, the swarm of reporters wasn’t backing down.


    The first reporter to step forward questioned directly, “But someone posted a video online showing her dancing ‘Chasing the Wind‘ before did.”


    Olivia felt her heart clench.


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    But then she remembered the news she got before the performance. The girl was still lying in the hospital, waiting for surgery. She then felt rxed.


    Olivia said, “It took me a lot of time and effort to perfect ‘Chasing the Wind.‘ It wasn’t just a sudden burst of inspiration. It was a long process of refinement.


    ‘I admit I didn’t keep itpletely under wraps, so it’s possible someone saw an unfinished version and might have tried to imitate it.”


    She was certain that the girl had only justpleted the final version, and this was her first time performing it in public.


    Olivia figured the most likely exnation was that someone had seen an iplete version before, but at best, it was just a half–finished piece.


    She was confident there was no way it could outshine tonight’s debut.


    Now that her perfect ending had been ruined, she was really upset.


    She made up her mind that once this was over, she’d definitely sue whoever was making up these giarism rumors.


    The reporter gave a meaningful smile. “But Miss Sutton, what she performed wasn’t some unfinished version. It was identical to tonight’s dance.”


    “No way!” Olivia blurted out, immediately refuting him.


    She didn’t even pause to wonder how people outside the theater had managed to see her performance so quickly, let alone use her of giarism.


    But then Lucas suddenly realized something.


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    He snapped his gaze down to Thomas, who was standing beside the theater’s official photographer in the audience.


    Thomas’s face was dark, his voice edged with fury. “Weren’t we supposed to just get some official footage? Why the hell is this a live stream?”


    Normally, audience members weren’t allowed to record anything during a theater performance, so nobody’s got their phones out while the show was on.


    Even if someone in the crowd had doubts, there was no way they could’ve called her out for giarism right away.


    The only way that could’ve happened was if they saw news or videos from outside after the show ended.


    Thomas had just wanted to keep a lid on things and stop any surprises from leaking out, but now he realized the whole performance had been live–streamed.


    With so many people watching from outside, no wonder folks reacted so fast.


    Thomas didn’t believe Olivia had giarized anything. But art was always a gray area. When people started talking, even the strongest reputation could get torn to shreds.


    He wondered if someone was deliberately trying to mess with Olivia, maybe by putting out a copycat version online just to spark controversy.


    “Turn off the live stream,” Thomas ordered.


    He frowned as he watched Olivia being bombarded by the aggressive reporters.


    The photographer, after being yelled at, looked confused. “I was told to do a live stream.”


    He hesitated, unsure what to do about this wealthy but seemingly unstable audience member’s demand.


    Technically, the show was over, so he could shut down the stream. But with all this chaos, and without any word from his superiors, he wasn’t sure if he should.


    After all, the higher–ups had made it clear that he had to follow their orders tonight.


    It was not like Thomas was the one signing his paychecks.


    Seeing the photographer still hadn’t moved, with the camera now trained on Olivia and Lucas as they struggled to handle the reporters, Thomas’s expression grew tense,


    “Shut it down, or the rk family will pull all their investments tomorrow,” he said coldly.


    5:27 pm ￡


    “The rk family? You mean the rk family backing Miss Sutton?” Just as the photographer was still hesitating, another voice cut through the tension.


    “You can’t turn it off.” It was Naomi, still in her dance outfit, walking in gracefully.


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    Naomi said calmly, “Olivia is the lead dancer of our troupe. With a scandal this big, if we don’t clear things up right away, it’ll affect the whole troupe.


    “Mr. rk, you seem so sure of Olivia, so what are you afraid of? There are cameras everywhere already, one more official live stream won’t make a difference.”


    Seeing Naomi’s familiar face, something shed through Thomas’s mind.


    But with everything happening so fast, he didn’t have time to untangle those messy and figure it out.


    The photographer didn’t recognize Thomas, but he definitely knew Naomi.


    She was the troupe’s new darling, the one everyone was backing after Olivia.


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    He grabbed his gear, put some distance between himself and Thomas, and kept the live stream rolling.


    Thomas clenched his jaw, barely holding back his anger. “Aren’t you worried the rk family will pull their funding?”


    Naomi just smiled, her expression both seductive and smug. She waved her hand dismissively. “Go ahead. Our troupe doesn’t rely on the rk family to survive.”


    She had the Torres family and Turner Group backing her now.


    She was walking around with her head held high, more confident than anyone else.


    Thomas’s chest heaved with frustration, but he had no choice but to drop the threat.


    He thought, ‘In a way, she’s right. Handling it right here on the live stream will be more convincing


    ‘If we wait untilter, maybe people will juste up with all sorts of conspiracy theories.


    But deep down, he couldn’t shake this nagging feeling that something was off


    It was the same feeling he’d had at that birthday party when everything got crashed.


    He shot onest look at Naomi before turning and walking toward Olivia, who was still surrounded by reporters.


    5:27 pm


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    Meanwhile, the live stream chat was going wild.


    A person wrote: [Whoa, was that Mr. rk trying to shut down the stream? Isn’t he Olivia’s brother?]


    Another person wrote: [Talk about power tripping. Just because you invested doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want.]


    A third personmented: [He is definitely feeling guilty. Why else would he be so desperate to kill the stream?]


    Someone else wrote: [I came after seeing the trending page. Did Olivia really giarize? Isn’t she the most promising dancer? Why would she do this?]


    A person wrote: [I don’t know what is going on, but I’ve heard all about Olivia’s amazing achievements, Isn’t this just a big misunderstanding?]


    Another person wrote: [Misunderstanding? Please. People on the forums have already dug up all the timelines andpared every move. It’s identical.]


    A third wrote: [Or maybe someone’s just jealous of Olivia and faked the whole thing to set her up.]


    Someone else wrote: [I’m done. You can’t convince people who refuse to change their mind.]


    At the start of the stream, thements had been all praise.


    A person wrote: [Olivia is so gorgeous. I love you!]


    Another wrote: [She’s got a wealthy family, talent, beauty, kindness, literally everything. Is there anything God forgot when he made her?]


    Someone else wrote: [This is like the difference between a masterpiece and us.]


    A personmented: [Today’s dance was amazing! Absolutely incredible.]


    Another wrote: [Olivia helped choreograph the whole thing? I always knew she could dance, but I never realized she was such a boss at choreography!!


    A third wrote: [So hyped! Everyone from the dance department from our college is watching the stream today. There are tons of top dancers at the venue.]


    <i>4/5 </i>


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    Someone else wrote: [I had no idea there’d be a live stream. Is Olivia giving us a special treat? She’s honestly way too awesome!]


    Thanks to the rk family’s promo, Olivia’s solo debut was super hyped. As soon as the stream started, tens of thousands of viewers poured in.


    Before thest piece, “Chasing the Wind,” the chat was basically wall–to–wall praise.


    But the mood did aplete 180 in just one performance.


    As soon as people saw that familiar name and those signature moves, the chat froze for a few seconds.


    When Olivia swore she was the real creator, the chat instantly exploded with outrage.


    5:27 pm S <fn6e40> Discover more novels at fin?novel</fn6e40>