Chapter 7
I had always found it odd. I had no real grudges against Sisca, so why was she determined to ruin me? But eventually, I
realized that someone clearly didn’t want me to return home.
Logan stood there, watching me with a smirk. Seeing my frozen expression, he let out a laugh, “What’s wrong? Did something surprise you? Do I have something on my face?”
Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I
reached out to shake his hand, keeping my voice steady. “I look forward to learning from you.”
Logan grinned, his eyes glinting with amusement. “I heard that our dear Ran is quite the computer whiz. Rumor has it you‘ ve competed and won in tons of
contests. So, why didn’t you join the latest cybersecurity competition?”
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I narrowed my eyes, my tone teasing. “You seem to know quite a bit about me, especially for a brother I’m just meeting.”
“Enough, you two,” Dad interrupted, his voice firm but affectionate. “Your sister just got back to the family. It was only a competition, after all. And as for those rumors of plagiarism, I don‘ t believe a word of it!”
Dad’s final say ended the conversation, but the tension between Logan and me lingered.
The next morning, the police showed up at our door, asking me to come in for questioning. Logan was still around and looked at me with feigned concern, a crooked smile on his face.
“Ran, did you get yourself in some kind of trouble?” He raised an eyebrow, clearly entertained. “Need any help?”
I ignored him.
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At the police station, I found myself face- to–face once more with Sisca, Ben and Nathan. All three looked drained after spending the night in custody. Ben, naturally, was as brash as ever.
“Ran, tell them the truth!” he demanded, his tone both pleading and frustrated.
“Just let them know Sisca took your code. She wouldn’t have a clue how to write any of it herself!”
I waved my hands dismissively, refusing to engage. “I don’t know what code you‘ re even talking about. I just copied a bunch of scripts myself!”
Nathan looked at me, his face a mix of guilt. and regret. “Ran, we were wrong. We never realized that Sisca would go this far. You have every right to be angry and maybe she deserves a little payback… but if you don’t step in, she’ll end up in jail. Her life will be ruined.”
I snorted, hardly believing my ears. Once, I’d thought of Nathan as kind and
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compassionate, but now? His plea was pure shamelessness.
“The cybersecurity contest? I pulled out long before it started. I have no idea what code Sisca used in her entry,” I said coldly.
Sisca, her patience gone, slapped me across the face. “You‘ re just a broke student! Admit it, or when my boyfriend arrives, you’ll regret it!”
Ben and Nathan stood in stunned silence.
“Boyfriend?” Ben muttered. “Since when did you have a boyfriend?”
I looked at the officer nearby, rubbing my cheek dramatically. “Sir, I’d like to note that she hit me. You all saw it.”
A female officer stepped forward, grabbing Sisca by the arm. “Settle down, miss. I’d suggest you not raise your hand in a police station again.”
Despite the scene, the officers still led me into another room for questioning. This time, it was an older officer who seemed
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less amused by the whole affair. He gestured to a deformed laptop encased in a sealed bag on the table in front of us.
“Ms. Randall, is this your computer?”
“Yes.”
Seeing that my response was so matter–of- fact, he tried a different angle. “We found a spy camera function embedded in your computer, set up by Sisca to monitor your activities. Did you know that?”
I nodded slowly. “I didn’t know until recently. All I knew was that every time I tried to work on my competition code, it ended up stolen.”
The officer’s eyes narrowed. “Go on.”
“At first, I thought Ben and Nathan were somehow copying my work, so I told them. off and tried to be more careful. But even then, my code kept getting leaked. Eventually, I had no choice but to withdraw from the competition.”
Chapter 7
I paused, eyeing the smashed laptop on the table. “I was so furious, I couldn’t stand. to look at it anymore, so I destroyed the laptop.”
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