Zoe Lancaster felt an icy chill seep into her bones. The overwhelming, suffocating wave of malice crashed down on her, as if those vicious online comments had materialized into actual daggers.
She squeezed her eyes shut, fighting the urge to storm right up to Stella Joyce and shove the fresh turd her dog, Cheater, had just dropped right into the woman’s mouth!
"It’s fine. Just ignore it," she said.
Summer Thorne was sick with worry. "Zoe, you should lay low for a couple of days! I’m worried it might not be safe for you!"
"I’ll be careful," Zoe replied, her voice hoarse.
Summer wanted to say more, but Zoe offered a few brief words of comfort and hung up. She stared blankly at the darkened screen of her phone, a little surprised that the situation had blown up like this. In the past, she might have brushed it off as an accident. But Stella had stopped pretending. Coupled with the obviously doctored video, Zoe was almost certain that Stella was the mastermind behind it all. By using gossip accounts to leak the footage, Stella could hide in the shadows, playing the victim while trying to completely destroy her.
At the same time, she was sure of one thing: Stella didn’t dare expose her actual face. After all, if Stella leaked it herself and the truth came out, she would face a massive lawsuit. However, the people in the comments—her coworkers who had seen her and were already suspicious—were ticking time bombs. There was no telling how things would escalate.
Nursing a burgeoning headache, Zoe buried her face in her arms. Unsurprisingly, her sudden appointment to the PR department had made her somewhat of a celebrity within the company. Many people resented her, and they were undoubtedly itching for an excuse to strike, eager to see her fall from grace. That was human nature. Even strangers would gladly kick someone when they were down, driven by the malicious urge of sheer jealousy.
After mulling it over, Zoe hesitated, wondering if she should ask Simon Hawthorne for help. Would he actually help her? Or rather, would he be willing to go after Stella for her sake? The obvious answer made a self-deprecating smirk tug at her lips. Making that call would just be setting herself up for humiliation.
In the end, Zoe chose to shoulder it alone. She didn’t step foot outside all day, relying entirely on food delivery since she had no groceries.
During that time, Crystal Hayes found out about the trending topics. Knowing the truth, she immediately realized Zoe was the person in the video and frantically called her.
"How are you holding up? Stella is a manipulative, two-faced bitch! Directing her fans and clueless netizens into cyberbullying a complete civilian like you—she’s so vicious! Is she trying to drive you to your death?"
"Isn’t that exactly what she wants?" Zoe said helplessly. "Borrowing someone else’s knife to do her dirty work is her best-case scenario."
She just couldn’t understand it. Simon had clearly taken Stella’s side that day. Zoe had even stepped back and let him give Alice’s Heart to Stella. What more was there for Stella to be dissatisfied with? Why was she so hell-bent on destroying her?
Crystal was panting heavily, absolutely furious. "Are you at home? Let me come over and keep you company. Stop looking at that cesspool on X; the comments are utterly disgusting!"
Stella’s fans were acting like they had rabies, rabidly attacking anyone and everyone. Plenty of brain-dead bystanders were adding fuel to the fire, turning the whole situation into a massive shitshow.
Zoe shook her head. "Your music academy is thirty kilometers away from my place. If you come over, you’ll have to catch the bus at five in the morning just to get to work. Taking a day off will cost you hundreds of dollars. Don’t go through all that trouble. I’m fine."
Crystal’s financial situation was tight, and she had debts to pay. Zoe couldn’t afford to drag her friend down.
Still worried, Crystal ignored Zoe’s refusal. "It’s fine! Waking up early is good for my health. I’ll head over right after work today. What do you want to eat? I’ll bring it."
Unable to talk her out of it, Zoe felt a long-lost warmth bloom in her chest. "Crab roe soup dumplings from The Spring Garden. And pork trotter noodles."
"Just sit tight and wait for me to feed you," Crystal comforted her.
Hanging up the phone, Zoe finally breathed a sigh of relief. She still didn’t dare open X. Having handled so many PR crises and seen countless malicious comments, it wasn’t until she was the target that she truly understood—no matter how strong someone’s heart was, they couldn’t withstand this kind of torment.
She went back to sleep for a while. By the time Zoe woke up, it was pitch dark outside.
Cheater had been making a fuss for quite some time, barking at her incessantly. Zoe immediately knew her dog needed to use the bathroom. Normally, she would take Cheater for a walk around the block right after getting off work. But since she hadn’t taken him out all day, he refused to go inside the house.
Zoe checked the time; it was past nine o’clock. Helpless, she got up. "Make it quick. Let’s go."
She clipped on his leash and made sure to put on a cap and a face mask. The weather in Kingsford was freezing. At this hour, hardly anyone was out strolling, save for pet owners who had no choice but to walk their dogs.
As Cheater sniffed around the bushes, Zoe stood nearby, looking at her phone. Tomorrow was Old Mr. Quincy’s eightieth birthday. She had received an invitation, and her father had also notified her that she absolutely had to attend the evening banquet. She could only hope nothing went wrong tomorrow.
"WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!"
Having finished his business, Cheater trotted back, his tail wagging. Zoe immediately bagged the mess, and once done, she hurried back toward her apartment building with him.
Perhaps it was her imagination, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her. Her sixth sense had always been sharp since childhood, and right now, it was covering her in goosebumps. She scooped Cheater up into her arms and broke into a run, digging out her keycard to swipe herself into the building as fast as she could.
But the moment her fingers grazed the door handle, a dark shadow lunged from behind.
A hand clamped onto her hair and yanked viciously! The blinding pain forced her to drop Cheater. The attacker possessed immense strength, instantly throwing an arm around her neck and dragging her toward the dense pine grove. Panicked, Cheater began to bark furiously, chasing after the man and snapping at his legs.
"WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!"
Zoe’s windpipe was crushed in his chokehold. Her face flushed crimson, but she couldn’t utter a single sound, nor could she find the leverage to fight back. From behind her, the man snarled, "You bitch! You hit my Stella! I’ll fucking kill you!"
Just then, Cheater sank his teeth deeply into the man’s leg. Howling in pain, the man violently kicked the dog away. "Fuck off, you stupid mutt!"
Seeing Cheater’s tiny body sent flying, tears of distress sprang to Zoe’s eyes.
She was swiftly dragged deep into the grove. Devoid of light or any signs of life, the area was desolate. Suddenly, she was hurled hard against a tree trunk. The impact was so severe it felt as though the rough bark had shredded the skin off her back.
"Are you Stella’s dog?" she gasped, catching her breath. She never expected Stella’s rabid fans to be insane enough to track her down and ambush her at her own home. "Like idol, like fan. You’re both utterly repulsive!"
She raised her voice on purpose, hoping to attract the attention of anyone passing by outside.
Her words completely enraged the man. He grabbed her hair, violently tossing her aside, and kicked her hard in the arm. "I am Stella’s dog! Nobody gets to bully her! If she’s unhappy, I’ll kill you just to make her smile!"
Terror gripped Zoe’s heart. Her arm throbbed in agonizing pain, but she ignored it, scrambling to her feet in a desperate bid to escape. She screamed at the top of her lungs, "Help! Murder!"
The man lunged after her. Suddenly, Cheater darted out from the shadows, baring his teeth. He tackled the man with surprising ferocity, sinking his jaws into the man’s exposed wrist to stop him from pursuing Zoe. Bloody puncture wounds instantly tore open on the man’s flesh.
The man broke into a cold sweat from the pain. Just as he reached for a knife to stab the dog to death, a blade flew out from the darkness, burying itself deep into his knife-wielding hand. He let out a bloodcurdling scream and collapsed to the ground.
Stumbling forward, Zoe crashed into a solid, muscular chest. She shuddered violently and opened her mouth to scream.
But the man pulled her into a tight embrace. "Don’t be afraid. It’s me."