Chapter 18
Cameron didn’t break his word–he grabbed the cue stick just as he’d promised.
Since billiards was a four–player game. Eliana opted to sit this one out, lounging on the sidelines and watching them play.
“Alright, today’s game needs stakes, Thomas announced with a sly grin. “Eliana, why don’t you pick the penalty?”
Eliana, perched on the sofa, was scrolling through her phone, ready to log into Isonstead University’s forum. She paused and smirked. “How about this–losers treat everyone to dinner?”
“That’s way too basic.” Thomas shot back, shaking his head. “Come on, Eliana, you can do better
Eliana tilted her head, curious. “What’s the usual punishment for you guys!”
Landon grinned mischievously. “Oh, we usually go big–like making the loser eat ten lemons in a row.”
Eliana’s brows shot up, and she couldn’t help but think, That’s a recipe for wrecking your teeth.
“Well then,” she said after a moment, her eyes gleaming with mischief, Tosers will still treat everyone to dinner, but here’s the twist- Whatever the winners serve them, they’ve got to eat it with a smile.”
“Damn, Eliana, that’s brutal,” Landon exclaimed, clearly impressed.
The group erupted into laughter. Alright, that’s the rule. Let’s get started! Thomas declared.
As the game kicked off, Eliana returned to her phone, logging into the school forum. She already had a hunch about what she’d find there, and she wasn’t wrong
The first two pages were flooded with posts about her: photos of her entering the campus gates with Cameron in the morning, snapshots of her having lunch with the boys, and, of course, pictures from the freshman party. The cherry on top? A thread about Willow’s wardrobe malfunction during the assembly.
Intrigued, Eliana clicked on the post about Willow. Someone had snapped photos of the embarrassing incident and uploaded them. She could almost hear Willow’s furious screams just imagining her reaction.
“Serves her right, Eliana thought smugly. In the past, she’d endured plenty of humiliation–this time, it was Willow’s turn.
After satisfying her curiosity, Eliana exited the forum and switched to the dark web. She posted a challenge with a 100,000 bounty: breach her firewall and access her confidential files by the 20th of next month.
The dark web’s hacker leaderboard caught her attention, and her target was third on the list–a hacker known as “Red Riding Hood”
In the past, Red Riding Hood had collaborated with Willow to destroy her career, leaking her private data online.
Although these events were four years away, Eliana was already planning ahead. As she skimmed the list of challengers, she spotted the name she was looking for–Red Riding Hood.
Leaning back into the sofa, she smirked. Gotcha. She knew her firewall wouldn’t go down so easily.
Before her time travel, Eliana had suffered greatly due to her lack of technical expertise. That humiliation drove her to master cybersecurity, and ironically, it was Willow’s fans who’d helped her improve.
Their relentless cyberbullying gave her the perfect practice ground. She started small, tracing IPs, and eventually became skilled enough to hack into their devices and confront them face–to–face.
Those self–righteous trolls would cry innocence every time she reported them, which only fueled her resolve. Not this time, she vowed.
Meanwhile, on the other side of campus, Willow was fuming. After her embarrassing moment at the freshman party, she unleashed her anger on her maid.
This dress was ruined! Why the hell didn’t you check it beforehand? Are you trying to ruin my life? she screamed, her face red w
fury.
The maid, looking genuinely puzzled, replied, “Miss Garcia, I have no idea how this happened. These clothes came straight from the
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boutique, and I checked them thoroughly. The sales assistant did too. I don’t know how it could have ripped.”
Willow didn’t believe her and glared at her. She checked her phone and saw the photos from the assembly posted online. Seeing them made her even more furious
She then recalled something odd from when she was investigating Eliana. for–evidence that the threads had been cut with a blade.
Willow knew it had to be Eliana..
mining the dress closely, she found what she was looking
Willow clenched her fists in rage, wishing she could find Eliana and tear her apart.
But something didn’t add up. In her previous life, Eliana hadn’t been this clever. ‘Could it be that, like me, Eliana has changed in this lifetime?‘ Willow wondered.
Regardless, Willow was determined not to let Eliana overshadow her this time.
To her, Eliana, the fake heiress to the Garcia family, had stolen everything from her. After Willow returned home, Eliana pretended to be kind, but Willow believed it was just a facade to make herself look better.
Willow had grown up away from wealth, and when she returned to the Garcia family, she knew nothing. If not for Eliana helping her Adjust, Willow would have made countless embarrassing mistakes.
Yet, Willow saw Eliana’s kindness as a way to flaunt her superiority.
Jealousy twisted Willow’s perception. She thought no matter how hard she tried, she could never surpass Eliana.
Both Willow and Eliana liked Roman, but he only had eyes for Eliana.
“Why? Eliana is just a fake heiress! Willow exclaimed inwardly.
After that, Willow’s hatred for Eliana burned even hotter. She swore she’d get her revenge, and fate seemed to smile on her, handing her another shot
Willow wasn’t about to waste this chance–no way in hell. She was going to make Eliana pay, and
pay hard.
To Willow, Eliana was nothing more than a lowly servant, someone born to grovel. She deserved to stay in the dirt where she belonged. and Willow was determined to grind her underfoot until she begged for mercy.
What Willow didn’t realize, though, was that in Eliana’s previous life, she’d actually succeeded in destroying her. She had manipulated Eliana’s kindness and used it to bring her to ruin.
But this time, Eliana wasn’t about to fall for that same trap again. The wheel of fate was turning, but this time, the game wasn’t rigged. Who’d come out on top was anyone’s guess.
clear.
Three hours later, the pool game was over, and the winners were cl
Landon and Cameron had wiped the floor with Thomas and Adam.
Landon let out a booming laugh, smirking as he turned to Thomas “Tommy, you’re so screwed tonight. Remember last time, when y
you made me eat ten freaking lemons? Yeah, payback’s a bitch, Tonight, we’re going for barbecue, and I’m making you down the whole damn sauce!”
Thomas groaned, throwing his hands up. “Damn it, man! Don’t go overboard!”
Landon shrugged with a sly grin. “Overboard? Nah. You’re lucky I’m being generous. You made me eat so many lemons I couldn’t taste anything but sour for three days straight. Everything I ate tasted like I was sucking on a lemon. You earned this.”
Adam, sensing the brewing storm, quickly raised his hands in mock surrender. “Hey, hey, Landon, let’s not drag me into this. It was Tommy who set you up last time, not me! I had nothing to do with it, man. And for the record, I’m not touching that sauce, so don’t even try!”
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