Chapter 17
Sienna’s fever had finally broken. She was still pretty wiped out, but she was stressed about falling behind on her research, so she dragged herself back to the lab.
She was looking pale as hell, organizing data files when Ryan appeared in the doorway like some
kind of stalker.
His eyes were bloodshot from what looked like several all–nighters, and his voice sounded totally
wrecked.
“Sienna, please just talk to me… Remember when we were kids? You were scared of the dark, so I’d sneak into your room every night to tell you stories. In high school you had that blood sugar thing, so I always kept granola bars in my backpack. You wanted to go to Harvard, so I busted my ass to get perfect grades just so we could be together…”
Sienna looked up at him with this bitter smile.
“And then what? Then you gave my umbrella to Nina. Gave her the snacks you used to save for me. Gave her my Harvard spot. And when we both got hurt, you literally ran to her instead of me.”
Her voice was scary calm, but every word hit him like a slap.
“I know I screwed up…” His voice cracked as he stepped toward her, like he was gonna try to hug
her or something.
“I found out Nina hacked your applications. I had her expelled – she can’t hurt you anymore. Just give me another chance. We can fix this…”
“No, we can’t.” Sienna closed her file folder with finality. “Ryan, some things can’t be fixed. You broke us, and there’s no going back.”
“Why are you being like this?” Ryan grabbed her wrist, his eyes wild. “Is it because of him?”
“Let go of her.”
Daniel appeared in the doorway, his voice cold as ice. “Ryan, you need to leave. Stop harassing my
student.”
Ryan was clearly intimidated by Daniel’s warning look, but he kept staring at Sienna desperately.
Daniei stepped forward and pried Ryan’s fingers off her wrist, positioning himself between them.
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From Best Friends to Betrayal ! Chose Myself
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Chapter 17
“Should I call campus security?”
Ryan looked at them standing together – Daniel protective, Sienna letting him protect her – and finally stumbled away, defeated.
Daniel looked down at Sienna with concern. “You okay? Maybe you should head home and rest?”
Sienna nodded and leaned on his arm to stand up, the past few days of being sick plus that confrontation leaving her totally drained.
That’s when Daniel’s phone buzzed with a Twitter notification. His expression went dark as he read it, then handed the phone to Sienna.
The internet was absolutely losing its shit.
Before getting expelled from Harvard, Nina had posted some vicious lies about Sienna that were going viral on TikTok and Twitter. People who didn’t know the real story were eating it up, saying Sienna had “bought her way into college” and “slept with professors for grades.”
The comments were brutal:
[No wonder she got into such a good school abroad – she’s literally fucking her professor! Disgusting!]
[Another rich girl who thinks she can buy her way through life. Hope they kick her out!]
[This is why international students get a bad rep. She’s taking spots from kids who actually deserve it!]
Sienna scrolled through the hate comments with this weird calm, but Daniel looked absolutely murderous.
Daniel immediately called his lawyer and posted a statement on his official university Twitter: “Ms. Hart’s academic achievements speak for themselves. Any claims about our professional relationship are completely false and legally actionable.”
Sienna wasn’t fucking around either. She posted receipts on her Instagram story – screenshots of Nina hacking her CommonApp, Venmo records of Nina paying people to spread rumors, and all those creepy posts where Nina had tried to skinwalk her entire life.
“I was supposed to attend Harvard. Nina Park illegally accessed my college applications and sabotaged my future, forcing me to study abroad.”
Then she dropped her published research papers and recommendation letters as proof.
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From Rest rein
Chapter 17
The evidence was overwhelming. Twitter did a complete 180, with blue checkmarks apologizing to Sienna and turning their rage on Nina instead.
[Holy shit Nina was the psycho this whole time??]
[This is literally criminal! Hope she gets prosecuted for identity theft!]
[Poor Sienna… imagine having your stalker ruin your life like this]
Meanwhile, Ryan saw the drama exploding on his timeline while sitting in his rental car outside Sienna’s dorm like the pathetic stalker he’d become.
Seeing Nina still trying to destroy Sienna even after getting kicked out of Harvard made him punch the steering wheel in pure rage.
But watching Daniel protect Sienna so expertly, seeing how safe and supported she looked beside him, filled Ryan with jealousy that was literally eating him alive.
“Book me a flight back to Boston,” he told his assistant over the phone, his eyes burning with obsessive fury. “If Nina wants to keep playing games, I’ll remind her what happens when you fuck with my family.”
Chapter 18
Chapter 18
