Kitty hadn’t been back to Norport in a long time, and it had been a while since she’d seen Phoebe Faulkner.
Now that they were finally together again, they were inseparable and had an endless supply of things to say.
They talked from dawn till dusk and from dusk back to dawn, only falling asleep after sporting dark circles under their eyes.
「The next day.」 They were sleeping in a daze when they were jolted awake by a commotion outside the door.
“Phoebe Faulkner!
Phoebe Faulkner, get out here!
Was it you who pushed Dawn O’Connell down the stairs?
How could you be so vicious?
Are you even human?
And after Dawn O’Connell considered you her best friend!
Do you have any idea that because of this, the Lynch Family is calling off the marriage with our Faulkner Family?
Do you know how much our family’s stock will plummet when the Lynch Family holds a press conference to announce the cancellation?
It’s bad enough you can’t bring any benefit to the Faulkner Family, but you can’t even hold on to your own engagement!
Are you deliberately trying to see the Faulkner Family ruined?”
“Phoebe Faulkner, Phoebe Faulkner, I know you’re in there!
You have the guts to do it but not the guts to come out and face it?
Phoebe Faulkner, get out here!
Phoebe Faulkner—!”
The machine-gun-like tirade made both Phoebe and Kitty open their eyes.
The voice drew closer, raged at the door for a good while, and, after getting no response, faded into the distance, the stream of curses finally disappearing.
“What’s going on?” Kitty narrowed her eyes.
Phoebe sat up as well, grabbing the nearby laptop.
She went online to search for what was happening and immediately saw the top headline: the Lynch Family’s press conference and everything they had said.
“Fuck!
Phoebe, what the hell is this?
What is this nonsense they’re spouting?
They’re saying you’re spoiled and arrogant, with a violent temper, and that you resort to violence over the slightest disagreement?
And what is this bullshit?
What’s all this about you cheating, being promiscuous, having a chaotic private life, and being entangled with several men at once?
And that you sank so low as to be kept by an old man older than your own father?
And what’s this about you flying into a rage out of shame when you were exposed and pushing this Dawn O’Connell person down the stairs?
Isn’t Dawn O’Connell the friend from college you told me about?
And here, it even says there was an eyewitness who saw you do it!
I… what a load of fucking bullshit!”
Kitty’s furious rant reached Phoebe’s ears.
She was stunned.
‘I can’t believe the Lynch Family actually held a press conference to call off our engagement.’ She had only told Howard Lynch about it yesterday and hadn’t had a chance to announce it publicly.
‘I never thought Howard Lynch would beat me to the punch and even turn the tables by slandering me!’
“Phoebe, what really happened?” Kitty asked, calming down after her fit of rage.
Phoebe was silent, staring at the words on the screen—at the false reports and the countless insulting, humiliating posts on the comment boards.
She was so angry her eyes turned red, a rage pent up inside her with nowhere to go.
‘I truly never imagined Howard Lynch could be this shameless.’
After a moment, she finally took a deep breath.
Meanwhile, Kitty, already under a pseudonym, had started a flame war with the paid trolls in the comments section.
She had initially tried to clarify the facts, but after just a few comments, she was ganged up on by a swarm of keyboard warriors hiding behind their own anonymous accounts.
It devolved into her trading insults with the monsters who were wishing death upon entire families.
“Kitty, stop fighting them.
It’s useless.” Phoebe reached out and covered Kitty’s phone with her hand.
“Phoebe…”
“The truth will speak for itself, and it can’t be silenced forever.” Phoebe turned to Kitty, a brilliant smile on her face.
“I’ll be waiting.
Waiting for the day they’re forced to eat their words and get exactly what they deserve.”