Chapter 335 Uncovering the Truth
Chapter 335 Uncovering the Truth
Room service dinner?
Saul had planned to have dinner at the Martinez family home. Instead, he'd gotten no food and left seething with rage. Now back at the hotel, his stomach growled as he reached for his phone to order takeout.
He hadn't expected the hotel to be so thoughtful, offering dinner via room service,though he was pretty sure they hadn't offered it the night before.
Saul didn’t think twice. He walked over and opened the door.
The second it swung wide, he came face to face with Zander in a black jacket, his expression was blank as he stood in the hallway.
Saul's eyes went wide. "Zander? What are you—"
The words died in his throat as a sharp crackling sound cut through the air.
Zander's dark eyes stayed unreadable as he pressed a homemade stun baton to Saul's midsection without hesitation.
The jolt ripped through Saul's body, shot to his skull, and dropped him instantly.
His vision went black. His body convulsed as he hit the floor, foam nearly bubbling at his lips.
The hallway was empty. Once Saul was out cold, Amelia and the others stepped out from their hiding spot nearby.
Tobias grabbed Saul by the arm and dragged him into the room. Once they had him inside, Tobias couldn't resist giving him a solid kick.
"I've been wanting to do that since we were at the house. You insult our Amelia? You've got some nerve!"
After Jenny married Robert, she'd drifted away from her birth family. Saul rarely visited the Martinez Mansion. The five Martinez sons had no real affection for their uncle.
Rachel was the exception,ever since learning Saul was a tenured professor at Aurora College, she'd spent years sucking up to him. They were relatively close.
Amelia shut the door, sealing them off from the outside world. Everyone relaxed slightly.
Her gaze landed on a DSLR camera tossed carelessly on the sofa.
They exchanged glances. Coming here had been the right call.
Amelia picked up the camera and powered it on, scrolling through the photo gallery.
Sure enough, it was filled with shots of her and Trevor outside the restaurant.
Clearly taken by Saul two days ago. The three photos from the article were right there among them.
"Jesus," Tobias muttered, fury rising in his voice. "So Saul took those candid shots of Amelia and Professor Lewis? And back at the house he acted so self-righteous, like he had nothing to do with any of this?"
Some people were thick-skinned enough to shrug off anything. Saul's nerves were apparently made of steel.
Zander crouched down and fished Saul's phone from the pocket of his bathrobe.
The screen lit up, prompting for a password or fingerprint. Zander simply pressed Saul's hand to the sensor. A chime sounded. Unlocked.
He scrolled through Saul's WhatsApp messages. Ten seconds later, he looked up. "Found it."
Zander handed the phone to the group. They saw that Saul had the contact saved as "River City Daily Fox."
They didn't bother with the older messages, but Saul's first conversation with this Fox person this year had happened just days ago.
Two days ago at noon, Saul had placed a video call to Fox through Messenger. The call lasted five minutes.
No one knew what they'd discussed, but an hour later, Saul sent three photos via Messenger,the exact three from the article. Fox quickly replied with "Got it."
That evening, Saul sent several more images, including the forum screenshots supposedly from students accusing Trevor, and the alleged private chat logs of Trevor insulting students.
In other words, every piece of so-called evidence in that article had been fed to Fox by Saul through Messenger.
The photos were from stalking. The screenshots were obviously fabricated.
Everyone turned to look at Saul's unconscious form on the floor, contempt written across their faces.
But they weren't done yet.
They scrolled to the most recent messages. Fox had sent a note yesterday morning:
[Mr. Jenkins, the task you gave me is complete. Once this article dropped, Trevor's reputation was destroyed. Even if he tries to defend himself, no one will believe him.]
[I'd say he'll not only get fired from Aurora College, but probably kicked out of the National Academy of Sciences too. Either way, he won't be in your way anymore.]
[Also, I hired a whole army of trolls online like you asked, to smear Trevor and steer the narrative. About that $300,000 fee we discussed…]
Three hundred thousand dollars?
Saul had really opened his wallet to destroy Trevor.
Saul's reply followed: [Money's transferred. This stays between us. No one can know about this!]
Fox responded: [Don't worry, Mr. Jenkins. I told the paper it was an anonymous tip. No one will find out.]
Afraid someone might find out?
Well, the five of them knew now.
And before long, everyone would know.
"So this whole thing was orchestrated by Saul from the beginning, just to frame Professor Lewis and destroy her reputation." Dorian turned to Amelia, anger flashing in her eyes. "Amelia, what do we do now? Post the evidence right away?"
Surprisingly, Amelia was quiet for a moment, then shook her head. "Not yet."
Dorian blinked. "What?"
"Two problems," Amelia said.
"First, even if we post these photos and chat logs on Instagram, people will question whether they're real.
"They'll say the camera isn't Saul's, the messages are fake, that we're smearing Saul to clear Professor Lewis's name.
"So if we're going to release the photos and chat logs, we need audio of Saul admitting what he did. Either we don't release evidence at all, or we release something airtight.
"Second, the most serious accusation Professor Lewis is facing right now isn't about supposedly seducing me or abusing students at school. It's the anonymous post claiming she sexually harassed a student and attempted rape.
"Something just occurred to me,Dorian mentioned that only people with Aurora College system accounts can post on the campus forum.
"That includes faculty, not just students."
"Like Saul—" Amelia looked up, her tone measured and cold. "After reading these messages, I'm almost certain that anonymous post was made using Saul's own account."