Chapter 11
Valerie lost it. She shrieked at the top of her lungs, “Turn it off! Shut it down right now!”
Before anyone could move, the big screen lit up again. This time, the footage was older.
Valerie looked even younger, and the young woman being bullied was someone else in a high school
uniform.
Even more bullying scenes popped up on the big screen, with several videos playing at once. Over Valerie’s screams, a dozen other voices cried out in pain.
Valerie lunged for the control console, but a stocky man working in security stepped in front of her and slapped her so hard she hit the grass.
His voice shook as he pointed at her. “You did this! You hounded my daughter until she jumped! You destroyed my family and ran us out of town!”
The crew, who had been quietly minding their tasks, rushed forward one after another, shouting accusations and hitting her.
Every single one of them was either a victim or the parent of one. More than one life had been lost because of Valerie’s bullying.
Whenever someone tried to go public or call the police, the story would get buried within hours.
She only moved on to her next target when the victim died or begged her until she was satisfied.
Of all her victims, Maya endured the longest. For that, she became Valerie’s most loathed prey. The more
Maya resisted, the more Valerie hungered to break her spirit.
Back then, Maya had tried to expose Valerie. She filed police reports, but none of them held. So, she
started gathering evidence.
She found other victims and earned their trust. She asked for the files, which they were too afraid to share, and promised to shoulder the burden with them.
Even after Valerie moved overseas, Maya kept building the case.
The night Maya overheard Cole’s plan to humiliate her at the wedding, she had already planned to use this stage to present every case of Valerie’s bullying before an audience too large to silence, as the truth played out live.
If there were enough voices, the Cross family wouldn’t be able to cover it up.
Silence fell over the lawn except for the victims’ families shouting and the heavy thud of fists.
Valerie cried, “Help me! Cole, help me!”
Cole and Carter clenched their fists, their shoulders trembling. Their eyes were bloodshot with rage.
The woman they had protected since childhood, and the one they believed to be kind and timid, had done
all of this.
They had plotted against Maya because Valerie asked them to. They called it justice, but it was nothing more than collusion.
They finally shouldered through the crowd. Valerie saw them and thrashed toward them. “Cole, Carter, get
me out of here!”
What she met instead were two pairs of bloodshot eyes-cold and furious.
Cole grabbed a fistful of her collar and hauled her upright. His voice trembled, unable to hide his rage and grief. “Valerie! You lied to me the whole time! You kept pushing me to go after Maya!”
Memories crashed into him all at once. He realized that he had deceived Maya for all these years.
He couldn’t shake the image of her devastated face in the hospital-the disbelief in her eyes slowly
collapsing into numb disappointment.
His whole body trembled as panic clawed its way up his throat.
Carter stood beside Cole, looking as though he could kill Valerie with his eyes.
“I…” Valerie’s gaze skittered. “I didn’t… Those videos are fake. Maya set me up. She did this-”
“Stop lying!” Cole roared and shoved her back.
She scratched at his sleeve. “She started it! I only fought back! Cole, you have to believe me…”
Carter kicked her in the chest. She collapsed backward, sprawling onto the ground.
The crowd surged again, and the melee swallowed her up.
“Police! Don’t move!”
Officers stormed the lawn, pulled Valerie out from the pile, and started separating people. They took her
and the victims in for statements.
Before they left, they walked away with hard drives and signed releases.
Across the city, Maya was already at the airport. She closed the livestream and skimmed the headlines.
The internet had detonated. Valerie’s bullying was pinned to the top of every feed, and the Hale brothers
were being dragged for enabling it.
A cool, faint smile tugged at Maya’s lips. She pulled her phone out of her bag and turned it on. Then, she sent Cole and Carter one last message.
After that, she snapped the SIM card in half and dropped the phone into a trash can by the gate.
She didn’t look back as she walked onto her flight.
