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Chapter 20.Choice

last update Last Updated: 2025-12-02 23:34:58

Elara didn’t realize she’d stopped breathing until her vision tightened at the edges. Her mother’s name on the screen felt heavier than anything Jessa had thrown at her. This wasn’t a rumor anymore. This wasn’t gossip in a hallway.

Someone had dragged Lydia Hayes into the spotlight.

Again.

The tablet shook slightly in Adrian’s hand. Not from fear. From anger he was too controlled to show on his face. Ethan stood beside him, shoulders locked, reading the headline twice as if the words might rearrange themselves.

Elara swallowed. “Why her? Why now?”

“Because they want to hit you where it hurts the most,” Adrian said. His voice was quiet, but it wasn’t calm. It was the kind of tone people use when they’re trying not to break something. “They want you unstable. They want you questioning everything.”

Ethan stepped closer. “This wasn’t posted by a tabloid. It came from a political commentary blog. Someone fed them the story.”

“Fed them?” Elara repeated. “Like… handed it over?”

“Yes,” Ethan
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