Chapter 12
In her past life, Cassie had been deeply hurt by those photos and isolated herself at home. To help her keep up with school, Heston had to hire a tutor to teach Cassie,
Simon was a straight-A student, known for his academic excellence. With Julia secretly pulling strings, he used this opportunity to sneak into the Murphy family’s life and get close to Cassie.
Cassie took a sip of her milk, a cold smile forming in her mind-it seemed Julia, after her big setback, still hadn’t given up on her foolish plan. If all went as expected, Cassie’d soon see Simon at home.
Just then. Larry came back.
“Did you find anything? Who are those people?” Heston asked seriously.
Larry shook his head. “Ms. Cortez can’t remember when or where it happened, and everyone in the video was wearing masks. So far, we have no leads.”
“Who swapped Cassie’s birthday video last night? Did you figure that out?” Heston continued.
Larry shook his head again. “The hacker is highly skilled. They left no traces at all.
Cassie lowered her gaze, her long eyelashes casting a shadow, hiding the coldness in her eyes-the hacker was none other
than her.
She had always had a knack for computers. In her past life, Julia used Heston’s disapproval of her skills to keep her under, wraps. Later on, Simon even stole many of her projects for his scams.
Thinking back, Cassie couldn’t help but scold her past self for being so naive. It was crystal clear how awful Simon and Julia were, yet she hadn’t figured it out until it was too late..
“D**n it” Heston slammed his hand on the table.
“The hacker left a clue,’ Larry continued.
Heston’s brow furrowed. “A ransom?”
Larry shook his head and handed his phone to Heston Looking at the screenshot, Heston read aloud, “Those who do evil will perish.”
Julia’s face drained of color, causing everyone at the table to turn and look at her.
I don’t know… Julia stammered, shaking her head anxiously
Is this a warning aimed at me? Who’s really behind this? A wave of panic washed over Julia. Suddenly, an idea struck-her, and she glanced at Cassie. “Cassie, you….
Before she could finish, her words faltered. ‘Cassie’s computer skills are impressive and might hunt down the hacker. But… this hacker clearly knows about my schemes against Cassie. If she figured it out, I’d be done for!
“What’s up?” Cassie looked at Julia, her beautiful eyes bright and seemingly harmless..
Julia shook her head “N-Nothing
“When someone creates this many problems, it usually means they want money. Leaving just that one message seems off,” Larry said in a mechanical tone. “Ms. Cortez, it looks like the hacker is more interested in revenge. You should carefully think about who you might have offended.”
“I didn’t do anything Julia suddenly broke down in tears. Tve never hurt anyone! I have no idea why all this terrible stuff is coming at me. Larry, are you really going to suspect me just because of some random message from a hacker? I didn’t… I swear.
After her outburst, Julia dashed out. She knew Heston was super cautious. Lucas and Anne seemed nice enough, but she could not tell how they might react to this. She had to clear up any doubts the Murphy family might have about her.
Cassie was s
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stunned by Julia’s performance, nearly wanting to stand up and applaud her.
e Julia made it back to her room, she locked the door, insisting she just needed some time alone.
Outside, the adults were frantic, worried that Julia might hurt herself. Little did they know, inside her room, Julia was seething with rage and was determined to carry on with her plans before the shadowy figure behind it all exposed her.
Just as Cassie guessed, Julia called Simon, who had been a nervous wreck all night, hardly able to sleep. When he tried to reach her, she hadn’t answered. He was constantly refreshing news sites, terrified of seeing something that involved him.
Julia, why didn’t you pick up? What’s going on?” Simon asked, lowering his voice on the other end.
“You almost lost it last night. I thought it was best to let you cool off before we talked again, Julia replied, keeping her tone
collected.
“Okay.” Simon took a deep breath. Tm calm now. So how do we fix this? Do you know who that hacker is? If they want money, just pay them. We need to smooth this over. If we don’t, we’re both in big trouble.”
Simon regretted his choices deeply. He’d planned to climb the social ladder with Julia’s help. Instead, he hadn’t even made it past the starting line before being targeted.NôvelDrama.Org copyrighted © content.
“Smooth this over?” Julia scoffed. “Simon, we’ve come too far to go back now?
“What do you mean?” Simon felt a shiver run down his spine.
“We’re sticking to the plan. I’ve already told Heston that I’m choosing my own tutor, so you need to go to the Murphy residence like we discussed, Julia said with confidence,
The first plan already failed. What am I supposed to do now?” Simon asked, gritting his teeth.
Julia smiled coldly. “Making her fall for you. I told you, Cassie is a total fool. Once she’s h**ked, she’ll do whatever you want, and then you’ll have control over Heston too.
“Simon, you’re good-looking and smart-way better than those rich kids. Just because you don’t have their money doesn’t mean they can walk all over you.
“Cassie is your ticket to move up in the world, and right now, you don’t have any other options. I trust you know what to do,” Simon fell silent on the other end, replaying all the humiliations he’d faced growing up in those elite schools.
He had met Cassie before. She seemed like a nobody, even less impressive than Julia, lacking any high-society charm. He didn’t even like her.
But he knew Julia was right-Cassie was easy to manipulate, plus she held a good chunk of Murphy Group shares, which could definitely help him break into the upper echelon.
“This is the la
time, Simon finally agreed. He couldn’t stand the idea of being stomped on by those rich kids who were far less capable than him. He didn’t want to spend his life like his parents, clinging to a crumbling little company. He had to rise above
While Cassie was enjoying playing cat and mouse with Julia, in a towering skyscraper, Marcus sat back on a sleek black leather couch, his legs crossed lazily. “A personal vendetta?”
Yes Idear this is aimed at the Murphy family, but at Julia replied Joe Clark, the tall man who had dropped Cassie off before
Marcus’s expression remained cool. After a moment, he asked, “Is this woman close to Cassie?”
Yes Joe answered
Marcus raised an eyebrow, then murmured to himself. “Looks like Cassie might be in for a rough time.”
Joe dit dare breathe a word. He couldn’t understand why his boss suddenly seemed so interested in Cassie. With Marcus unpredictable mood swings, Joe couldn’t tell if this was a good sign or a bad one.
Marcus appeared to ponder for a moment. “Is Cassie still at the Murphy family’s estate?”
“Yes” Joe replied quickly.
“Have someone send over a chestnut cake, Marcus said, looking up at Joe. “Make it discreet.”
“Huh? Joe
confused. He’d handled all sorts of dangerous tasks for Marcus, but sending a chestnut cake was a first. Was there a bomb hidden inside or something?
“You seem to have a problem with that Marcus shot him a cold look.
“No, not at all” Joe responded quickly. “I’ll make sure it gets done immediately. Ms. Murphy will taste the best chestnut cake available
After that Joe reminded him respectfully. “Mr. Anderson, you have an international video conference in ten minutes, Everything is ready for you.”
“Okay, Marcus nodded, standing up casually and walking toward his desk.
Just as he sat down, the computer screen went black. Suddenly, a whack-a-mole animation made entirely of code popped up. As a hammer hit one of the moles, the screen exploded with fireworks, revealing three huge golden characters: [No Tracking Allowed]
“What’s going on?” Joe was taken aback.
Moments later, the tech department staff rushed in, looking frantic. “We were tracing the hacker who breached the Murphy family last night, but we didn’t expect them to set up an anti-intrusion system. We weren’t on guard…”
As the tech guy spoke, his face turned pale. He screamed in his heart, I’m doomed!”
Marcus remained silent, his sharp eyes fixed on the screen.
The air in the CEO’s office was heavy with tension. Everyone was staring at Marcus nervously, bracing for the storm to break
Then, out of nowhere, Marcus’s lips curled up.
Wait, he smiled? Everyone was stunned as if they’d just been seeing things.
“Hey, have you ever played whack-a-mole?” That sweet, innocent voice of a little girl rang in Marcus’ memory. He thought back to that year