Chapter 5

“Mom, I’m safe now. Don’t worry.”

A familiar voice came through the line. The tone was deliberately light, but I could hear the faint tremor underneath.

If everyone had said the same thing, it would have only sounded more like a carefully coordinated lie.

The police officer in the hospital room clearly noticed it too and was about to step forward to ask questions when the calls abruptly ended. It was as though the signal had been cut.

The parents exchanged nervous glances. The fear they had been holding back erupted. Some of them could not help but cry out.

It was not long before the police brought news.

The moment they landed in Tanond, the so-called local guides tricked them into a telecom fraud operation.

The boys could barely keep in touch, but most of the girls suffered inhuman abuse.

Those who resisted fiercely did not even manage to send a single message of reassurance to their families.

This rare case of high school students encountering danger abroad quickly caused a media frenzy.

However, since the incident occurred overseas, there was nothing the police could do.

Only some resourceful parents managed to reach certain families there, rescuing a few of the students.

I opened the news feed. Sure enough, Natalie’s name was on the list.

The Dunn family was immensely powerful in the country. It was no shock that they managed to get her out.

Natalie’s eyes were vacant when she faced the cameras. She answered the reporters’ questions mechanically.

However, when the last question came, she suddenly shivered and her eyes flashed with venom.

“You want to know why we went to Tanond?”

Her voice was sharp and terrifying.

“It was Zoey! She forced us to go see the strip show! We were all tricked by her!”

…

I stared at the scrolling news on the screen. My fingers clenched the phone so hard my knuckles turned white.

I was not surprised that Natalie tried to pin the blame on me.

A selfish person like her would always try to scrub herself clean and dump the dirt on someone else.

She was afraid that the parents who had lost their kids would tear her apart, so she shoved me forward as the scapegoat.

I took a deep breath, running my fingers over the photos in the police report.

Fortunately, I had already filed a detailed statement at the station, documenting the entire Tanond trip.

With that, no matter how she tried to shift the blame, it would not stick.

Just as I felt a flicker of relief, a thunderous roar exploded outside the door.

“Zoey Stone! You murderer, come out!”

“Give me back my child’s life!”

A shiver ran down my spine. I did not even have time to properly put on my slippers before I bolted outside.

I saw a dark mass of people outside my courtyard. Natalie’s mother stood at the front with a megaphone. Her eyes were bloodshot and, behind her, other parents clutched pictures of their children.

Even further away, reporters had their long lenses and cameras aimed at me. The camera flashes stabbed sharply against the gloomy sky.

The sheer spectacle of this made cold sweat run down the back of my neck.

I tried to turn back inside, but a rough hand grabbed my wrist. Someone — one of the parents had already forced their way through the gate of the courtyard and was trying to drag me out.

“Where do you think you’re going? Trying to hide after doing something wrong?”

The man’s voice was icy cold and his knuckles were digging into my skin.

Pain shot through me as I slammed my fists against his hand.

“Let go! Who do you think you are?!”

The response was even more brutal.

He let go suddenly, and I was flung onto the concrete. My forearm scraped harshly across the rough surface, tearing open a gash instantly. Flesh curled back and blood gushed out in a torrent, quickly creating a dark red stain on the ground.

“Zoey Stone, you little troublemaker!”