Chapter 19
Julia stood on the staircase, staring in shock at the paused TV screen, where the calm, confident, and beautiful Ca**ic looking back at her felt like a stranger-how could it be the same girl she had always played with?
After a moment of confusion, anger and fear surged through Julia, I’m stuck in this mess, and she is out there flaunting n pain in front of reporters? No wonder she didn’t come back tonight. How could she face me after doing something so heartless?
Hurry up! Rewind it! I want to see what happened before. Fleston snapped back to reality and urged Lucas, who grabbed the remote and rewound the TV show.
After watching Cassie point at the reporters and deliver the killer responses, the three were stunned completely.
“Dad, am I seeing things? Was that my daughter confronting the media just now?” Lucas asked, bewildered.
“Of course. Who else could be so gorgeous? Heston’s voice burst with pride..
Even Anne, who typically didn’t react much to Cassie’s antics, found herself smiling slightly at Cassie on the screen.
Their reactions only fueled Julia’s anger. She gritted her teeth, turned on her heel, and headed upstairs.
Since Juha’s earlier video had sparked a huge discussion online, Cassie’s interview shot straight to the top of trending topics on major sites.
During the interview, Cassie didn’t say much. And with so many media outlets there-more than just haters-most of the footage shared online was the full interview, aside from a few out-of-context quotes.
As soon as the interview video dropped, conversations about re-traumatizing victims heated up online. As people naturally leaned toward defending the underdog, the tide turned in Cassie’s favor,
I never noticed before, but this girl is really impressive.]
[She looks so fresh today, Miss, can we tone down the crazy outfits?]
[The second reporter’s question was hilarious! Ms. Murphy knows how to throw shade.]
[Let’s respect victims’ privacy. No more victim-blaming starts with me.]
Simon also caught Cassie’s interview online. From the brief meeting yesterday, he could see how much she had transformed from the timid girl Julia described. She looked elegant and stunning, just like he imagined a high-society heiress would. Seeing her in the interview only impressed him more.
He realized that the Cassie Julia had talked up had been overly yllified. The real Cassie embodied the perfect wife he had always dreamed of. In stark contrast, Julia, showing her true colors these past few days, appeared increasingly unlikable.
Yesterday, Simon’s desire to win Cassie had been sparked by experiencing real luxury, and today, getting to know the true. Cassie solidified that resolve further.
Just then, the door swung open. Simon switched off his phone quickly and shot an annoyed glance at Julia. “Could you ar Jeast knock first?”
“Maybe Cassie sensed something, Julia said, her mind racing with thoughts about Cassie’s strange behavior, unaware of Simon’s irritation.
Simon tensed up. “What do you mean by that? Did she say anything to you?”
“Can’t you see she’s totally different now? It feels like she’s trying to avoid us. First, she went to school instead of coming home without telling me, and now she’s not even coming back to the estate, Julia said in a low voice.
“She’s not coming back tonight?” Simon frowned. He had heard Julia talk about Cassie’s interests and had hoped to run into
her tonight, maybe get closer to her. Now it looked like that plan was falling apart.
“If she figures this out, our whole plan is toast,” Julia said through clenched teeth..
“Not likely Simon’s mood shifting to something darker.
Julia turned to him, frowning. “Any good idea?”
“It’s preny simple. We just need to make it happen in advance, Simon said, word by word,
Julia blinked, surprised. “You wanna sleep with Cassie? The thought made her uncomfortable because she had feelings for
Simon
This is the quickest way to win Cassie over, Summon continued, pulling Julia into his embrace and whispering softly in her car. “You know I can’t stand her, but for our future, and to help your parents get revenge faster, I can make that sacrifice.”
Juha’s expression eased a bit. After all this plan had been hers from the beginning, and she had prepared herself for the possibility that Simon might get close to Cassie. Still, hearing Simon bring it up so suddenly felt unsettling
“Okay, it’s better to wrap things up quickly. Everything lately has been super weird. We really need to get this sorted out fast,”
Julia said
Then she leaned against Simon’s chest while wrapping her arms around his waist. “Simon, I was a bit too anxious the other day. Please don’t hold it against me. I promise I’ll give you my full support.”
Simon suppressed his disgust and stroked Julia’s hair gently. “How could I possibly hold that against you, silly? Let’s leave the past behind. Now, we need to focus on making it a reality”Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.
That’s easy. I’ll handle it, Julia smirked. Since they lived under the same roof, creating opportunities for Simon wouldn’t be too difficult. But now that Cassie was back in town, she needed a plan to lure her back to the estate.
Heston called Cassie immediately after watching the interview. He started off by scolding her for not thinking about her safety. getting out of the car in a crowded place, and doing the interview without checking in with an adult. But then, he couldn’t help but shower her with compliments.
Cassie sat in front of her computer, listening to Heston’s cheerful voice on the other end. A mix of emotions swirled in her heart. It felt like ages since she heard Heston sound this happy-so long that she could hardly remember.
The call lasted over half an hour before it finally wrapped up. Cassie let out a long sigh and turned her attention back to the screen. She still had to finish her challenge for the hacker leaderboard from yesterday.
Just as she logged on under her alias, Xylo, the dark website’s chat buzzed with excitement.
[Xylo is here!]
[Why did you show up so late? We thought you weren’t coming! We’ve been waiting all day, boohoo.]
Xylo Had classes during the day. Just got home.]
Everyone was shocked. “What? The legendary hacker Xylo, who had just clawed their way from the bottom of the leaderboard to the top four in a single afternoon, is a student?”
Cassie ignored the flood of question marks and challenged the lacker ranked third without a second thought.
Yesterday, only the third-ranked hacker was online before Ca**ic logged off, but today all three top ones were there. It seemed they had all been waiting for her.
Once she initiated the challenge, the other party quickly acceptel.
In the world of hacker rankings, challenges got much tougher once one made it into the top five-it turned into a fierce showdown
This battle continued until midnight. Ultimately, with Xylo’s successful intrusion, Ca*ic rocketed up to third place in the world
The chat exploded. The hacker ranked third, Mike Miller, had won many international hacker competitions, making him one of the best in the game
Xylo, who are you really?!
Xylo [Just a regular computer w**z.]
The chat was flooded with questions again.
Kylo I need to prepare for some exams over the next few days, so I won’t be online. Don’t wait for me. Once exams are over. I’ll challenge those in first and second place.
Meanwhile, across the ocean, Mike, just defeated, stared at the cheerful whack-a-mole game on his computer, utterly puzzled. His round face showed disbelief as he glanced at the two handsome guys across the table
One was Eric Anderson, who had a cute, doll-like face that looked innocent, while the other was Zayn Williams, with charming eyes and a playful, flirtatious vibe.
Eric. Zayn. I lost Mike could hardly believe it.
“Yeah, you lost, Eric nodded, feeling sorry for him.
Zayn, toying with a decorative ring on his finger, smiled, “This is interesting. It’s been a while since I’ve met someone like that. That little whack-a-mole seems cute. Xylo must be an adorable girl. If so, she doesn’t even need to challenge me-I’d just let her win
After that, he sighed. “I don’t want that cute little girl to cry because she lost to me.”
Zayn and Eric were currently ranked first and second. They had just watched Mike get schooled by Xylo in real-time.
Eric shot Zayn a look of exasperation. “Don’t act like she’s certain to lose. She’s pretty skillful.”
Just then, Mike cradled his head and let out a scream.