"I can." Summer dropped her gaze and resumed typing on her phone. "Go out and tell them I'll give them two minutes for the interview. I'll only answer three questions.""Ms. Hartford!" Robin was getting more and more agitated.Summer had never seen Robin look so worried. She grinned. "Mr. Cohen, why do you think these reporters have suddenly shown up at the school gates?"Robin knitted his brows.Summer continued, "Someone had these reporters come here.""It was an oversight on my part," Robin replied in a grim tone."What does it have to do with you when it's someone else who's trying to pull these cheap tricks?" Summer glanced out of the window."Even if I've remained in the car today, these guys are still going to write and publish some crappy articles about me tomorrow. Since I can't avoid it anyway, isn't it better if I face them head-on? Don't you agree, Mr. Cohen?"Robin was in a state of shock.He did not expect that the quiet, reserved lady could already share such in
The reporters were struck speechless. On the other hand, the Hartford family's bodyguards were all bewildered by Summer's response.The reporter who was chosen first snapped out of his reverie. He quickly said, "Ms. Hartford, do you have anything to say about the videos of your cousin that are circulating on the Internet today?""No." Summer pointed at another reporter. "You'll ask the next question. Ask something related to me."The reporters were all left flabbergasted by her response, whereas the bodyguards had shocked expressions on their faces."Um…" Summer's calm composure was rather intimidating. The second reporter who was chosen was a little dazed. Fortunately, he had prepared his questions beforehand.He asked sharply, "Ms. Hartford, some people think it may be a bit insensitive of you to show up at your school when your cousin is having a hard time because of the scandal."Summer looked at the reporter, feeling both annoyed and exasperated. "I'm a student. It's only na
Summer smiled contemptuously.After seeing all those reporters at the front gate, the first thing that came to her mind was Annie's group. So, she used her phone to create something fun through coding right away. Then, she sent her creation, which was disguised as an email about a luxury brand's latest products, to those girls.The first person who clicked and opened the email was Becca.Summer did not try to go through Becca's stuff to dig up her secrets. She simply wanted to confirm that these girls were responsible for the reporters stopping her at school that day.After that, Summer copied several videos saved on Becca's phone and sent them to dozens of media agencies by using an anonymous email address.By the time she had finished doing all of that, the car was slowly entering the Hartford residence's garage."Thanks for your hard work, Mr. Cohen. I'll call Grandpa and tell him I won't be going over tonight. You can get some rest now."Summer got out of the car and waved a
Rose stood on the steps and gaped at the TV screen, on which the clip had been paused. Summer looked beautiful, poised, and commanding on screen, but it was such an unfamiliar sight to Rose.How could this be the same Summer she'd always manipulated and toyed with?After a brief moment of dazedness, anger and terror washed over her. She was in such a dire situation, yet Summer was stomping all over her suffering and putting on such a show before the reporters.No wonder she hadn't had the nerve to return to Hartford Manor last night—she didn't have the nerve to face Rose after the things she'd done!"Rewind the clip now. I want to see what happened earlier!" Henry urged after returning to his senses. Luke also snapped to his senses and grabbed the remote, rewinding the clip.Henry, Luke, and Kristen were thoroughly stunned after seeing how Summer had spoken to the reporters."Am I seeing things, Dad? Was that Summer who rebuked the reporters with the cameras rolling?" Luke aske
Just then, Anthony's room door was pushed open. He immediately locked his phone and turned to give Rose a displeased look. "Don't you know how to knock?""Summer must've discovered something!" Rose's mind was filled with thoughts of Summer acting so out of character that she didn't notice the scornful look on Anthony's face.Anthony tensed at her words. "What do you mean by that? Did she say anything to you?""Can't you tell she's like a different person? She seems to be avoiding us, too. Look at how she stopped her home tutoring without a word—she's not even returning to the manor now!" Rose growled."She's not returning tonight?" Anthony frowned. He'd learned about Summer's preferences from Rose and already had a plan. He wanted to orchestrate an encounter with Summer that night and use her likes and dislikes to slowly get to know her better. Yet now, she wasn't even returning home!"Our plan is ruined if she's really noticed anything!" Rose snarled."That might not necessari
The phone call went on for over half an hour. Summer exhaled deeply after hanging up before focusing on her laptop again. She still had to continue challenging the hackers.She'd spent the whole day in class. As soon as she logged on, everyone who was online grew excited. Comments started flying in the black chatbox."X is here! They're here!"Summer's username on the website was the alphabet "X"."Why are you only showing up now, X? We've waited the whole day and thought you weren't coming."Summer wrote, "I was in class during the day. I just got home."Everyone was stunned. X was a student? The legend who'd only taken one afternoon to get from the bottom of the ranking to the top four was a student?Summer ignored the rest of the comments and issued a challenge to the hacker ranked third on the website. He was the only one who'd been online before Summer had gone offline yesterday. Today, however, the top three were all online. It looked like they were waiting for her.He ac
Terrence frowned slightly. "What's wrong with you?""I didn't manage to track X's IP address. I only know the general region she's in!" Fred was starting to doubt his capabilities."Where is she?" Terrence and Saul asked simultaneously."Shorewall City!"The three exchanged looks. Then, Terrence chuckled. "What a small world, huh? Looks like we all share the same hometown!"Saul and Fred looked at him wordlessly. The three of them were from affluent families and had delicate statuses in their respective families. That was why they'd been sent abroad since childhood. It was hard to believe Terrence had talked about them sharing the same hometown as X when they didn't even return to Shorewall City annually."Saul and I are bound for a trip back soon, so we might have the chance to run into this adorable run-of-the-mill computer genius." Terrence seemed particularly interested in X.Saul's smile slowly faded upon hearing Terrence's words, though. It was evident he didn't want t
There it was—Rose's twisted logic. Based on her words, Summer was an idiot for not believing her and was rubbing salt into her wounds."No one said anything to me," Summer said."Why did you say that you don't know how to face me now, then?" Rose was baffled. She couldn't help wondering what the hell was going through Summer's mind. The current situation was already keeping her on the edge of her seat—Summer wasn't making it any better."I know you're a victim, Rose." Summer stretched her neck emotionlessly. "But I can't forget the things I saw that day. When I see you, I'm reminded of those disgusting… I can't get over them, so…"Rose felt like she'd been struck by lightning. Did Summer mean that she found her dirty?"Give me some time to forget the things I saw. We can go back to being like we've always been once I'm ready," Summer said.Rose wanted to get on her nerves, didn't she? Nothing she said could hurt her now, though. On the contrary, Summer had plenty of dirt on Rose.
A moment later, the greenhouse was tidied up.Marge, having been shoved down by Joe, looked as humiliated as could be. "Joe, why are you even arguing with her? Let's go home!""Shut up!" Joe glared at her viciously.At that moment, Shane arrived with a large whiteboard.The moment Joe saw it, he rushed over and grabbed a marker. Then, he wrote down a difficult problem that he had seen on his phone, one that he couldn't solve himself. "Solve it!"Summer glanced at him and politely said to Shane, "Could you please help me hang this up? Thank you."Shane smiled respectfully before he had some others hang it up.Summer slowly walked to the whiteboard.The problem was definitely difficult. She had never encountered it before, so she stood in front and thought for a long time.Joe looked more and more pleased with himself as she constantly told those around him, "I said it. She cheated. There's no way she was capable of scoring so high."Kristen looked at Summer with some worry as
"Did you hear that? Class 3 of Saintwood Academy, Sum…" Joe never expected the name to come out from the teacher's mouth would be Summer's. He had been ready to mock Summer. But the words were caught in his throat as he started. Then, he turned off the speaker and hurriedly asked again, "What did you say her name was again?"The teacher repeated, "Summer Hartford! The principal just told me she's actually an heiress. You should know her, right?"Joe looked at Summer in disbelief. Before the teacher could continue rambling, Joe hung up the phone. "You must have cheated!" Joe suddenly broke the silence in the crowd with his shout.Summer's lips curled up into a smirk of disdain. "You're welcome to report me.""Summer, did you already know?" Kristen finally snapped out of her shock. She was so happy that she lost her composure for a moment."The principal called me on the way here. I was planning on telling everyone when we got home, but I never expected someone to be so willing
"Saintwood Academy?" The crowd erupted in shock.After all, while Saintwood Academy was a prestigious private school, its academics had always been mediocre."Yes." The girl nodded."Can you shut up? You think you know everything? You're so annoying!" Joe grabbed a fork and threw it at the girl.Summer happened to be beside her and immediately pulled the girl toward her. The fork shattered a plate and sent the shards flying everywhere."Oh, my God!"The table erupted into chaos."What the hell are you doing?" The girl's mother immediately stood up.Marge frowned. "Why are you shouting at my son? She wasn't even hurt.""Mrs. Dunn, you spoil your son too much. He just threw a fork at someone in front of all of us. Is this how you raised him?" the lady shouted furiously."Is that any of your business?" Marge shielded Joe.At that moment, Lanie suddenly asked Summer, "Summer, you're from Saintwood Academy, too, right? Do you know anyone at your school that could possibly be the
But Lanie didn't dare to openly defy Kristen, either, so she simply smiled and changed the subject.As they chatted, a wealthy lady suddenly frowned and said, "By the way, have your kids played that new game lately?" "Are you talking about that bloody one? I think it's called After School?" Lanie looked disgusted."Yes!"Lanie patted her chest. "My daughter plays it all the time! It scares me to death just watching her! I have no idea which company published it, but I really want to have a word with the publisher. Why would they make something so terrifying?"Kristen lowered her gaze and said calmly, "Hartford Group published it.""What? Your company made it?" Lanie was stunned.Kristen nodded. "Yes. I only heard my husband mention it in passing, but I never expected it to be so popular. I didn't know your children would be playing it, too.""Why would your company make such a terrifying game?""I remember Hartford Group has never been particularly strong in the area. How did
Marge's smile froze on her face.Then, she sneered. "What kind of joke is this? There are only two women in the top ten of our region, and both of them are on the tail end. I know them, and they already evaluated their scores and didn't do well. They even cried about it. It's not them, so who could it be if not my son?""There's no need to rush. The official results will be out soon, and we'll all see for ourselves," Gloria said with a smile. But Marge remained arrogant as she glanced at Summer.At that moment, Summer was replying to some messages from her company's tech team.Marge laughed when she saw that. "Summer, you seem so relaxed. You're even playing with your phone.""Mrs. Dunn, I know where I stand, so you don't need to worry about me." Summer glanced at her.Marge rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, "With scores like that, of course you know where you stand."In the past, Marge actually liked Luke. Before she got married, she had believed she and Luke cou
"Oh." Terrence let out a chuckle.He had been struggling to find a way to get close to Summer. He was even rejected when he sent his résumé to her company. Now, fate had intervened, bringing his beloved right into his house."Tell the staff to prepare a bath for me," Terrence said after he caught a whiff of the stench of alcohol on him. Then, he rushed to his room.Shane stood in place, showing some clear dislike for Terrence."A perfectly good illegitimate child should just stay outside. Why is he back here trying to make the lady of the house uncomfortable?" he muttered. After that, he instructed the staff to make sure that Terrence was kept away from the greenhouse where the gathering was being held.The inside of the glass greenhouse was elegantly decorated.Those inside had been chatting with each other, but they stopped when they saw Kristen. One after another, they rose from their seats. "Oh, my! The superstar finally has time to come and have afternoon tea with us."Kris
The manor was quite grand. It was almost on par with the one owned by the Hartford family."Kristen, you're finally here!" By the entrance was a tall, slender woman in her 40s or 50s. She looked the image of someone who was very socially adept."I'm so sorry, Mrs. Dincht. I've been so busy helping my daughter with the SATs. I was preparing for my comeback afterward. That's why I've had to turn down quite a few of your gatherings," Kristen said calmly."Your daughter's education is the most important!" Mrs. Dincht, Gloria Nial, laughed as she looked over.Her gaze landed on Summer. "Summer?""Hello, Mrs. Dincht," Summer said loudly.Gloria looked even more delighted. "Why didn't you tell me you were bringing your daughter? Come on. Let me take a good look at you, Summer. After what happened at your birthday party last time, I didn't get the chance to take a proper look at you."Summer obediently walked over.Gloria studied Summer carefully before she looked at Kristen. "Such a p
Robin walked in and paused when he saw the three of them together."What is it?" Henry asked."News just came in. Rosanna and Aspen have been released," Robin said.The atmosphere in the room seemed to freeze."If they're out, then so be it. No need to make a fuss about it." Henry waved it off before he redirected his focus to the exams."Summer's SAT results are more important right now," Kristen said.Robin nodded. "Understood.""Mr. Cohen, who got released?" Summer walked down at that moment."Rosanna and Aspen," Robin answered.Summer frowned. "Why were they only locked up for a few days?""I heard they spent a lot of money to bail themselves out," Robin replied.Summer nodded. "That's good. Wouldn't want Ms. Rosanna to miss out on my exam results."Robin was speechless."Summer, you're up?" Henry immediately waved her over.Summer ran over with a smile. "Good morning, Grandpa. Why are you clutching the edge of the table like that?"Henry quickly released his hands a
Luke, ever the intellectual, looked shocked. "Dad, when did you believe in all this?""I'd rather be safe than sorry!" Henry then looked at Summer's arm with a heartbroken expression. "You must have been terrified.""I wasn't." Summer spent a long time comforting Henry.It was deep in the night when everyone returned to their rooms.Summer was feeling incredibly inspired after she spent the past few days on set, so she stayed up late working on her script. She only stopped when she started to feel hungry and quietly made her way downstairs.When she reached the kitchen, she found some bread to nibble on."Why are you eating bread here alone? Are you hungry?" Summer looked up to see Luke standing by the door."Yes." She nodded.Luke smiled and walked in. "Go sit in the dining room. I'll make you some chicken noodle soup.""You know how to make that?" Summer looked surprised."Back when your mom was an actress, her meal schedule was all over the place. It ended up causing stoma