Phoenix Rising: From Heartache to Heroism

Chapter 167 The Dark Web

After finally catching Hera and securing her back in the cage, Violeta emerged from her room to find Hattie still sitting on the sofa.

She frowned, sensing something was off.

Her eyes narrowed as she noticed the water cup on the coffee table in front of Hattie. Just before she had gone into her room, Hattie's cup had been empty.

Now it was filled with water. That's suspicious...

As Violeta puzzled over this, the servant who had delivered the water to the study approached her. The servant respectfully greeted, "Good evening, Miss Violeta."

Just as the servant was about to head downstairs, Violeta turned to her and asked, "Where did you just come from?"

"I just delivered water to the study, Miss Violeta," the servant replied.

Delivered water?

Delivered water...

In a flash, everything clicked in Violeta's mind. She bolted towards the study.

The servant stood there, bewildered as she watched Violeta rush away, as if something major had happened.

Violeta burst into the study, calling out, "Bro!"

But upon entering, she found not only Niall but also Hayden inside, seemingly in the middle of a conversation.

Both men turned towards the door, surprised by the sudden intrusion.

"Vio, what's wrong?" Niall asked.

Violeta's eyes darted to the glass water jug on a side table. She quickly stepped forward and picked it up, then looked seriously at Niall. "Bro, did you drink any water from this?"

"No, I haven't. Why?" Niall responded.

Hearing that Niall hadn't touched the water, Violeta sighed in relief.

She wasn't sure if Hattie had tampered with the jug, so she couldn't be certain the water was contaminated.

While she was fairly confident something was amiss, she couldn't risk making baseless accusations and being accused of targeting Hattie. After a moment's thought, Violeta said, "It's nothing. This water isn't clean. I'll dispose of it."

"It isn't clean?" Niall echoed, glancing at Hayden.

Violeta took the jug and left the study, heading straight to an outside sink where she poured the water out.

Phew, crisis averted.

Violeta peeked over the second-floor railing and noticed that Hattie wasn't in the living room anymore.Têxt © NôvelDrama.Org.

Hattie had only one chance to act, and Violeta had spoiled it. There wouldn't be another opportunity for Hattie to get close to Niall.

Just to be safe, Violeta decided to keep an eye on Niall's door tonight, in case Hattie tried something in the middle of the night.

...

With that plan in mind, Violeta rushed back to her room to take a shower.

She took less than half an hour.

When she came out, dressed in her robe, and returned to the study, she found that Niall wasn't there anymore.

The hallway was quiet and empty.

Violeta tiptoed to Niall's door and pressed her ear against it, listening carefully. If anyone saw her, they'd think she was eavesdropping. "Bro? Bro..."

No answer. Maybe Niall has gone to sleep?

She stepped back a bit.

Everything around her was silent. With nothing else to do, Violeta leaned against the wall and pulled out her phone. She logged onto the dark web, checking out the black market.

Her previous bounty challenge post had been pushed down.

Now, the top post, with the highest reward, was a dirt-digging investigative job.

The user's ID was 'Graplena', and their IP address was hidden.

Curious, Violeta clicked on it. The post offered a starting reward of 1,000 dollars, with a chance for more if useful information was found. Who would pay so much for digging up dirt?

An enemy?

A love rival?

Heh.

Intrigued, Violeta decided to say hi to the user, just to see what would happen.

Meanwhile, Zelena was at her computer, responding to inquiries from hackers.

She was ready to spend big this time.

She needed to completely take down Violeta and make Jasper abandon her. Without support, Violeta would be powerless at school. Zelena wanted to crush her completely.

Many hackers signed up, but Zelena wasn't going to waste money on amateurs. Only the best would do.

Suddenly, a message from an ID called 'Six' popped up.

Seeing the chat window, Zelena knew it was another potential applicant. She cut to the chase. If

you want the job, you need to pass a test.'

Six wrote back, 'What kind of test?'

UMS

Zelena replied, 'Since you're a hacker, you should be able to find my current IP address, right?'

When posting on the dark web, Zelena had paid to encrypt her address. If the hacker couldn't bre

that there was no point in working with them.

Zelena had long wanted a hacker ally to help her control online narratives effectively.

She had considered George before.