Chapter 21
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Hearing the softness and urgency in Zander’s voice, Jaycle felt the tension in her chest melt away. She let out a light laugh before responding, “It’s fine. I’m not that fragile. It’s just a rumor; I can handle it myself.”
“Okay.”
Seeing that she was in good spirits, Zander finally relaxed. He didn’t want to hang up, but he wasn’t sure what else to say. The silence stretched between them.
After a long moment of quiet, Jaycie, even from the other end of the phone, could almost hear his shallow breaths. Finally, she broke the stillness. “Zander, thank you.”
Though she wasn’t going to let those unfounded rumors get to her, she was grateful for his concern.
Still, she didn’t elaborate and quickly hung up. Meanwhile, Zander held the phone in his hand, feeling like time had flown by too
quickly.
If only they could stay in that moment forever, just like that–on opposite ends of the phone, in the silence of the moment,
listening to her soft breathing. That would be enough.
When Marshall and Andrea first heard about Jaycie being cyberbullied, they were furious, and they almost went directly to
confront Cole and Eileen, as well as their whole group of cronies.
“That scumbag and that vile woman… They have no idea who they’re messing with. How dare they smear my daughter’s name!
They must be idiots to provoke the Stantons!”
Andrea rolled her eyes at Marshall’s words. “Idiots? To me, they’re dead meat!”
It took Jaycie a while to calm down her parents, but seeing their furious faces, she couldn’t help but feel a mix of amusement and
disbelief.
“Okay, Mom, Dad, don’t worry. I won’t just let them get away with it. If they want to spread lies, they’d better be ready for the
consequences.”
In Rochernia, at the Wises‘ mansion, Cole’s face was dark with anger as he looked down at Eileen, who was sobbing
uncontrollably, her tears soaking her face. All he felt now was disgust.
“I told you not to pull these little schemes. I was planning on keeping you around because you still had some use, but you’ve really gone too far. You reached out to Wayne and his group to slander Jaycie? Seems I’ve been too lenient with you.”
