?Chapter 346:


    “I was bullied today…” Mnie’s voice wavered like a candle in the wind, her eyes glistening with feigned tears.


    Hurst’s expression turned cold as iron. Someone daredy a hand on his daughter? Whoever it was had just signed their own trouble.


    “Who?” His voice was sharp and loaded.


    “A new transfer student… Ethan Watson,” she replied, her voice barely a whisper.


    Right on cue, one of her cronies jumped in. “That’s right, Mr. Cooper! That kid harassed Mnie first—then flipped the script and tattled to the teacher! Please, you must stand up for her!”


    “Exactly! Mnie was kind, ready to let things slide, but then Ethan’s sister stormed the school and raised a ruckus! She wouldn’t back off!”


    Hurst’s gaze sharpened, his eyes narrowing like storm clouds gathering before a downpour. Someone had the gall to bully his daughter—and worse, make her bite her tongue in silence? That was unheard of.


    When had Mnie ever endured such disgrace?


    His blood boiled.


    Yes, he was well aware that Mnie carried a me in her—spirited, impulsive, often too quick to spark. He’d lectured her more than once about the virtues of humility and restraint.


    But that didn’t mean he would stand by while someone else trampled on her dignity. If she had truly been wronged, he wouldn’t just sit on his hands.


    “Let’s go,” he said, his voice like flint. “Take me to Ms. Harvey.”


    He intended to see for himself who in Wront had the spine to go toe-to-toe with the Cooper family.


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    Down the corridor, Marisa Payne leanedzily against the window frame, a lollipop tucked between her lips, hands buried in her pockets like she hadn’t a care in the world.


    As Mnie spun her tale like a master weaver twisting lies intoce before Hurst’s eyes, Marisa gave a wry smirk. “Tsk,” she muttered. “This is about to get good.”


    Meanwhile, in the teacher’s office, the tension clung to the air like fog. The crowd continued flinging usations at Maia, their voices sharp, their fingers pointed like daggers.


    With a loud bang, the door suddenly swung open, and amanding male voice filled the room, making the air tense.


    “Who dares to bully my daughter?”


    The room snapped into silence like a me snuffed out. Whispers died on the students’ lips, smug parents stiffened mid-sneer, and Loraine, the indifferent homeroom teacher, snapped her gaze toward the doorway.


    Framed in the entrance stood a tall, middle-aged man in a charcoal-gray suit, hismanding presence pressing down on the room. The sharp angles of his face and the authority in his furrowed brows made it impossible to look away.


    It was Hurst, Mnie’s father — an elite member of the Cooper family and one of the most formidable figures in both Wront’s political and business scenes.


    “Mr. Cooper is here!”


    “This is about to get interesting. Let’s see how that woman talks her way out of this.”


    “She probably has no clue what kind of trouble she’s in now!” Several parents scrambled forward, faces stretched into eager smiles, desperate to curry favor. They jabbed their fingers toward the woman seated with her back to the door and cried, “Mr. Cooper! It’s her!”


    “Mr. Cooper, her brother caused chaos on his very first day here, and now she’s insisting our kids apologize to him. You have to set things straight for us!”


    Ethan, standing behind Maia, shrank back at the sight of Hurst nked by a squad of bodyguards. Without thinking, he edged closer to Maia, his hand clenching the armrest of her chair.


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