Chapter 478
Olivia walked side by side with her classmate, hugging a stack of books, chatting with an easy smile.
“Olivia, is all that stuff about Charlotte online actually true?” her friend asked, eyes wide with curiosity. “Did she really try to seduce some guy, and when it didn’t work, almost kill him?”
Olivia arched an eyebrow, a sly little smirk on her lips. “Honestly, I was pretty young when it all happened, so I can’t say for sure. But the investigation back then ended up just like everyone says online. Whether it’s fact or rumor, I really have no idea.”
The girl gasped and covered her mouth. “No way. That means it’s true! Charlotte always looks so sweet and innocent. Who knew she was actually… wild?”
“So, the mental illness thing is real too?”
Olivia shrugged, shaking her head, but her words sounded suspiciously honest. “I don’t really know about that part. But she did spend three whole months in a psych hospital.”
“If she was in a psych ward, she must be unstable. I heard if you have a mental illness, you don’t go to jail for murder. Is that really true?”
Her friend was getting more and more worked up, words tumbling out, until she happened to glance up. She froze, locking eyes with someone standing nearby, someone whose gaze was so dark and cold it sent a chill straight through her.
Charlotte.
No one expected her to turn up here, not after everything that happened. The girl instantly went silent, panic flickering across her face. How could Charlotte even show her face at school right now?
“Olivia, I… I need to go,” she stammered, practically shrinking under Charlotte’s stare. In her rush to escape, her textbook slipped from her arms and landed right at Charlotte’s feet.
She bent to grab it, but Charlotte was quicker. She picked it up and held it out, fixing the girl with a calm, almost lazy look that somehow made it worse.
The girl’s face drained of color. She just stood there, frozen, jaw hanging open. All that earlier gossip and bravado-gone.
“Forgot your book?” Charlotte asked, her voice cool and even. She rolled the textbook into a tube and gently tapped it against the girl’s cheek. “Since you have a mouth, try using it for something better than spreading trash. Got it?”
“I get it. I’m sorry,” the girl whispered, head bowed, voice barely audible.
Charlotte paused for a moment,
then spoke again, her tone almost casual. “And by the way, it’s true.
Reople with pere
health issues
don’t always go to prison for
murder. So you might want to think twice before you mess with me.”
The meaning was sharp as a knife.
The girl could only nod, terrified, unable to get another word out. “Go.”
Charlotte tossed the textbook back, then turned her attention on Olivia, who had been quietly watching the whole time. Charlotte didn’t bother with small talk. “Olivia, did you have anything to do with those videos and photos?”
Of course Olivia did, but she wasn’t about to admit it.
“Charlotte, I honestly have no clue what you’re talking about,” Olivia replied, her lips forming a perfectly practiced frown, but her eyes gleamed with satisfaction. “It’s the internet you can trace the
address if you want. Then you’ll see it wasn’t me who posted them.”
Charlotte watched her for a beat, eyes narrowing a fraction. She already knew the truth. Maybe Olivia didn’t upload them herself, but that didn’t mean they didn’t come from her.
Suddenly, Olivia’s phone started blaring, the ringtone slicing right through the tension.
“Dad, I’m with Charlotte right now Olivia said sweetly into the phone, then held it out toward Charlotte. “He wants to talk to you.”
Charlotte stood still, her expression icy.
“Dad, go ahead,” Olivia said, putting the call on speaker.
Steven’s angry voice exploded from the phone, so loud it was almost painful. “Charlotte, look what you’ve done! You’ve completely embarrassed me. If this scandal drags down the company, I swear I’II—”
Charlotte cut him off with a low, dry laugh, her eyes black and glinting. “Steven, are you stupid? Or is your head just full of crap?”
There was a moment of stunned silence on the other end. Steven seemed to choke
on his own shock. “What did you just say?” His voice was raw, disbelief flooding every word.