181 The Ticket to the Abyss


    Aubrey’s POV


    My words made my father freeze, while Aurelia and Bailey both showed clear panic.


    Finished


    Right after, my father frantically tried to reach me through the mind–link, but Ipletely ignored him. I was done listening to his self–righteous speeches. “Family scandals shouldn’t be aired in public,” “Take a step back and everything will be fine“-those were nothing more than high–sounding excuses they used to get what they wanted.


    But for me, taking a step back only made the anger boil hotter.


    I turned and said directly to Professor Rowan, “Professor Rowan, I’ll be blunt. I suspect Bailey stole my research project. I insist on sitting in today because I want to see for myself whether I’m wrong… or whether someone is truly this shameless.”


    “I didn’t!”


    Bailey’s voice wavered, her eyes flickering with guilt. My father’s expression darkened as he snapped, “Aubrey! What nonsense are you talking about? Go back now!”


    Aurelia quickly added, “Aubrey, I know you and Bailey have had some disagreementstely, but this is about Bailey’s entire future! How could you nder her like this?”


    Professor Rowan looked utterly confused now, and because our voices were carrying, a small crowd of werewolves began to gather to watch themotion–some were students from the academy, others were teachers.


    “I’m making this up?”


    A sh of hatred lit my eyes.


    “If I back down this time, some people will think I’m easy to push around, and they’ll keep stepping on me again and again! Dad, Bailey stole my practical exam project for this year’s test, Tomorrow is the deadline. Without it, I can’t skip a grade and start graduate school this year!”


    I refused to believe my father would openly say I should sacrifice myself for Bailey. After all, for an omega like me, skipping grades to qualify for graduate school was far harder than her finding a mentor.


    Aurelia, seeing my father remain silent, grew anxious and blurted out, “If you can’t make it this year, you can just take it next year! You’re smart—what’s one year? Why do you have to ruin Bailey? Or is it that you couldn’t hand in a good project yourself, so you want to steal hers? How could you be so cruel?”


    Now cornered, Bailey chimed in, “You can’t do this to me! I spent years working on this project. You know I’m slow, and this was the first time I finally caught a spark of inspiration. Whether or not I find a mentor depends on this! You can’t destroy me just to get ahead yourself!”


    I almostughed out loud.


    “Oh, so if I can’t make it this year, I should just wait until next year?”


    Originally, I had no intention of making a scene at school. That research project had other significance to me, and all I’d wanted was to pressure Bailey into backing down quietly. But Bailey refused to take the easy way out–and worse, she called Aurelia over and tried to use my father to suppress me. Now there would be no peaceful ending to this,


    08:03 Mon, 1 Sept <b>TT</b><b>. </b>


    Chapter 181 The Ticket to the Abyss


    “Aubrey, can’t we talk about this at home?”


    439%


    Finished


    Seeing my cold smile, my father seemed to realize this was going badly and blurted out the words.


    I gave a short, sharpugh. “Why would I go home? So you can force me to back down? Dad, you’d better understand something–since just now, I’ve given Bailey countless chances. If I take actionter, it’ll be because she brought it on herself. I’m only protecting my own interests.”


    Then I turned to Professor Rowan, raising my voice. “Professor Rowan, I’m sorry you’ve had to witness this, but I’d like you to serve as a witness today. If it turns out Bailey stole my work, I demand that the school expel her immediately.”


    Bailey needed to understand–what she’d stolen wasn’t an opportunity.


    It was a ticket straight into the abyss.


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