SWNOVELS Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Just shy of midnight, Fiona finished her bath and sat by the floor-to-ceiling window, drying her hair. She texted Sean, I’m home,] followed by an emoji to say good night. Then she noticed she missed calls from Evelina a few minutes ago. Fiona called her back right away
Once Evelina picked up, Fiona asked with concern, “Ms. Harris, you’re not well. Why are you up so late? Is it because of what happened today?”
Evelina sounded weary. “Fiona, we can’t let Blueden Girls’ School’s name get dragged through the mud.”“
“You called so much ’cause you don’t want tonight’s drama getting out? It’s kinda late to stop the news now,” Fiona said with a serious look. “The first day I walked into Blueden, my teacher dissed my clothes and me, saying I wasn’t fit to be a rich guy’s wife. Not one person in the top class, Class 1, stood
up
for me. That acting principal tonight, pushing me to marry rich like that’s some golden ticket, tried to play the same old game. She clearly hasn’t learned her lesson. The reporters already got it twisted, thinking Blueden is cooking up trophy wives instead of smart girls. The school’s rep was tarnished a long time ago.
“You always wanted to straighten out Blueden, right? This is a great opportunity, With the right way, we could totally rebuild the school’s image. Can’t start new without chucking the old. If you can’t bear it, or just don’t have the energy, just let Sean handle it.” Fiona’s voice held confidence. “If you want me to take charge of Blueden, then it has to be by my rules.”
Evelina let out a sigh. “And if Sean handles it, what about Alexa? Are you really going to kick her out?”
Fiona laughed lightly, “If I kicked her out, Grandma would never let me hear the end of it. Just teaching her a lesson. I’ll buzz Scan later”
Alexa’s life would be over if she got booted now. Fiona knew that. Plus, Macy would throw a fit, and Bridget had been Alexa’s grandma for a long stack of years, so she wouldn’t let it go that far either.
After hanging up with Evelina, Fiona dialed Sean to fill him in. “Cora’s her kid, and Ms. Harris has been retired for years. Plus, her health isn’t great. You could help sort things out, which would make my eventual takeover of Blueden Girls’ School a whole lot smoother. Let’s leave Alexa in school for now. If her life goes south, Dexter will be all over me, and that guy’s a total pain.”
Sean said, “Okay. I’ll drop by the hospital tomorrow to check on Alexa.”
As she glanced at the bright lights outside, Fiona’s voice buzzed with excitement. “You know those people from Alexa’s room that night?”
Sean let out a chuckle, sounding super chill. “What’s on your mind?”
Fiona replied, “I’m kinda strapped for cash. Thought I could make a buck or two.”
“I’ll shoot you their info before they get out of the station,” Sean promised. After a beat, Sean asked, “Did Mr. Quinn give you a ride home?”
“Yeah,” Fiona said, pausing a tick. She decided not to mention that Sebastian was her next-door neighbor, to avoid any misunderstanding with Sean.
The next day, the scandal from Valmead Hotel the night before was all over the place. Headlines screamed about students from Blueden Girls School trying to hitch themselves to wealthy folks. Blurry pics of Clare and Paul popped up online-enough to show what went down but not too graphic. People were hunting for the HD versions, making snide remarks about Clare’s looks and cracking jokes about Paul’s taste.
Then some official news outlets dropped videos of interviews with students from Blueden Girls’ School. In the videos, these Blueden students were pixelated, but what they said hit like a ton of bricks. The school was reportedly setting up pretty girls at dinner parties. Even the teachers were in on it. pushing students to go on these dates for a quick buck. The whole situation Fiona walked into on her first day, including Lillian’s comments, got splashed all over the net, backing up the idea that Blueden’s endgame was getting its girls hitched to rich familles
The Internet blew up with the news.
It didn’t take long for word to get out that the scandalous hotel room was booked by the school for Ale always flashing her bling online, showing off her trophies from different contests. Al Blueden, the wi
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Chapter 28
driven rich girl around. With over seven million followers on Twitter and her own PR agent to handle her gigs, she was gearing up to jump into the
rtainment scene after graduating mid-year from Blueden. This mess had everyone in the comments going nuts.
[Do you think this rich and beautiful woman got her hands dirty in this drama?]
For sure! Those rich guys aren’t blind. They want someone rich and hot. Of course, their original goal was her. Think she’s teaming up with the headmistress?]
[Chill, it ain’t that simple. I’m from this school. Word is, at the party last night, Alexa “by accident” spilled her drink on the new girl who was stealing the show and handed her the room key to go change. That new girl was stunning and a killer dancer.] Then the netizen posted some photos of Fiona.
[Alexa didn’t do it on purpose. You te just jealous of her.]
[No matter what, I will support Alexal]
[Those who speak ill of Alexa will be punished by heaven and end up being single all their lives!]
Alexa’s fanbase came out swinging, defending her against all the haters online. Because she was such a hit, in just a few hours, the chatter about Alexa’s drama blew past the gossip about girls from Blueden trying to snag rich spouses.
Fiona loved the chaos. She set up a burner account and spilled the tea that Diana missed the opening ceremony ’cause she was allergic to some coffee Alexa gave her. Fiona bumped the post to the top with some slick moves, and soon enough, trolls were dragging Alexa left and right. Fiona was living for
the comments.
Then someone dropped a video of Fiona’s dance moves online. Tens of thousands of shares and comments piled up quickly. “The gorgeous new girl from Blueden” became the trending topic.
Wowza, this girl is like ten times hotter than their so-called school belle. I’m in love. Any secret pics of her?]
Does Blueden take guys? I’ll mop floors, and scrub toilets, no grub or bed needed.]
I replayed that dance video like 20 times. I was so on fire, and when my guy got home, we went to bed immediately. I love her! Who’s down for a heist to
snatch this chick?]
Fiona couldn’t get enough of the quirky and hilarious peeps online, scrolling through comments until she dozed off at noon.
In Summerlyn Garden, Sebastian was sitting behind his desk, working through a pile of documents. Evan stood nearby, waiting for instructions.
The phone cut through the silence of the study. Sebastian glanced at the caller ID and picked it up nonchalantly.
Luther’s voice buzzed with excitement on the other end. “Sebastian, my goddess-no, no, I mean Fions. She’s blowing up on Twitter! Everyone’s talking about teaming up to steal her away. She’s-”
The idea of a mob conspiring to “steal” Fiona didn’t sit right with Sebastian. Without another word, he hung up on Luther.
Evan had already pulled up Twitter. Catching Sebastian’s look, he passed over his phone without a word.
Sebastian skimmed the comments on Fiona’s dance video, his expression ice-cold. “You’ve got two hours,” he commanded. “Get rid of the trending topics and all the buzz about her videos and photos. I don’t want a trace of them online. And track down whoever posted that stuff and make them delete it.”
Evan winced. “Mr. Quinn, we’re talking tens of thousands of shares here.” Deleting trending topics was one thing, but scouring for user IDs to wipe videos and photos? That was a nightmare lask, expensive and, frankly, overkill.
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“Do you have a problem with that?” Evan shook his head. “I’m on it.” This wasn’t just the boss speaking-this was a jealous and loaded dude.
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Sebastian hit play on the dance video, fixating on the woman moving with allure. His eyes darkened with a possessive need he hadn’t acknowledged before. That dance, he decided, was his. She was dancing for him, and him alone. No one else had the right to watch her like this.