Chapter 78 Fallout

Chapter 78 Fallout
Bianca's POV

I KNEW something was wrong the moment my phone refused to stop vibrating.

I had barely settled into one of the private study lounges inside the business building when another notification lit up my screen. At first, I dismissed it as another message from one of my classmates asking about an upcoming presentation. Lately, however, the messages had become increasingly unusual.

They weren't asking for help. They were asking questions.

I frowned and opened the first notification.

Is it true?

The second arrived almost immediately.

What happened between you and Lila?

Then another.

People are saying someone recorded the two of you behind the administration building.

For the first time in weeks, an unfamiliar feeling settled in the pit of my stomach.

Unease.

I immediately closed the messages and opened the student forum instead.

A new anonymous thread had climbed to the top of the page.

Who has been leaking information about Natasha Hamilton?

My pulse slowed. Someone had posted blurred photographs. They weren't perfectly clear, but they were clear enough.

One image showed Lila handing me a folded sheet of paper behind the administration building.

Another showed us standing together near the stone gazebo.

A third captured the exact moment I slipped the paper into my handbag.

None of the photographs revealed what was written on the paper. They didn't have to. The implication alone was enough.

My jaw tightened. Someone had been watching us. Someone had been patient enough to collect evidence instead of relying on rumors.

I enlarged one of the photographs and studied it carefully.

The angle. The distance. The quality.

Whoever had taken them had known exactly where to hide. This wasn't luck. It had been planned.

I locked my phone and forced myself to think.

Who knew? Who had suspected?

Then a name surfaced almost immediately.

Carlos Santiago.

The realization made perfect sense.

He had been strangely distant from Natasha for weeks, yet he had never stopped paying attention to the people around her.

Looking back, I remembered several occasions when he had appeared unexpectedly near the administration building or lingered outside the residence halls longer than necessary.

He hadn't been avoiding Natasha. He had been watching everyone else.

I let out a slow breath. "So," I murmured to myself, "you've been playing detective."

I almost smiled. The smile disappeared the moment my phone rang.

Lila.

I stared at her name until the ringing stopped. A second later, another call came through. I declined it.

Almost immediately, a message appeared.

Lila: Bianca, please answer me.

Another one followed.

Lila: Someone knows.

Then another.

Lila: They're saying someone took pictures.

I read each message without responding. A few moments later, three dots appeared again.

Lila: What do we do?

I leaned back in my chair and silently deleted the conversation. Then I blocked her number. It was the simplest decision I had made all day.

Lila had become a liability.

Keeping contact with her now would only create a trail that investigators could follow. She had served her purpose, and sentiment had never been one of my weaknesses.

My phone remained silent for less than a minute before another notification appeared. This time, it came from social media.

Students were already sharing screenshots of the anonymous forum. Some defended Natasha. Others questioned why someone had been spying on her in the first place.

What surprised me wasn't the discussion itself. It was the direction it had taken.

Normally, Natasha became the center of every conversation.

Today... People were talking about me.

I opened one of the comments.

"If Bianca really had someone reporting on another student, that's disturbing."

Another appeared beneath it.

"Maybe Natasha wasn't lying after all."

I continued scrolling.

"Imagine pretending to care about Vanguard while secretly manipulating people."

"Poor Lila. She looks terrified in those pictures."

That one irritated me. Poor Lila? She had chosen to meet me. She had chosen to keep talking. No one had forced her.

Yet somehow, public sympathy had shifted toward her.

Interesting. Very interesting.

People loved victims.

They were considerably less fond of manipulators.

Another message popped onto my screen. This one came from a student council representative.

Could you come by this afternoon? We'd like to discuss a concern that has recently come to our attention.

I stared at the message for several seconds before locking my phone again. That had never happened before.

Not once.

Usually, people sought my approval. Today... They wanted explanations.

I rose from my chair and walked toward the lounge windows overlooking the central courtyard.

Students crossed the campus below in small groups, their conversations blending into a constant murmur. Normally, no one paid much attention to me when I walked across campus. My reputation had always spoken for itself.

This afternoon felt different.

A group of second-year engineering students glanced in my direction. The moment our eyes met, they lowered their voices.

Another pair of students looked over their shoulders before whispering to each other.

I couldn't hear what they were saying. But I didn't need to. I already knew.

The narrative had shifted. Not completely. Not yet. But enough that I could feel it. Control had always depended on staying one step ahead.

For months, I had known where Natasha would be before she arrived.

I had known who she met. What she researched. What she feared.

Now, for the first time since this entire game had begun... I didn't know what everyone else knew. That uncertainty irritated me far more than the whispers themselves.

My phone vibrated one last time. Blocked messages still appeared in a separate folder.

Against my better judgment, I opened it. There were six new messages from Lila.

Please don't leave me alone.

They're asking me questions.

I don't know what to say.

Bianca, please.

You said we'd get through this together.

The final message arrived while I was reading.

Please... answer me.

I stared at the words for a long moment before closing the folder without replying. There was nothing left to discuss.

In chess, sacrificing a pawn to protect the queen wasn't cruelty. It was strategy. Lila had become expendable the moment someone discovered her role.

And I had no intention of falling with her.

As I slipped my phone into my bag and stepped into the hallway, another wave of hushed voices followed me.

This time, I caught fragments of the conversation.

"…that's her."

"I heard she manipulated Lila..."

"I never thought she'd go that far."

I kept walking without acknowledging them. My posture remained straight. My expression remained composed.

But beneath that carefully maintained exterior, I could feel something shifting.

For months, Natasha Hamilton had been the subject of every whispered conversation at Vanguard.

Now, students weren't whispering about her.

They were whispering about me.