…
David jumped to his feet, his calm facade finally breaking.
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“You really think you can drive a wedge between me and Fiona after all these years with just a few words?” he snapped.
Xylia stayed cool. “Yeah, all those years together, and yet you wanted to make sure she could never perform again. That massive nail you used–pretty gutsy move.”
“I told you, it wasn’t me!” David insisted, his voice rising.
“The evidence is about to show it was you,” Xylia replied, steady as ever.
Unruffled, Xylia set her bag neatly onto herp.
“There’s no such thing as a wless scheme. I never even drove down that construction road, but somehow you swore you saw me m into Tessa. You really went out of your way to fake a story that ridiculous, which just shows how clueless–and conniving–you truly are. Tricks like yours always leave a trail. The cops are about to clear me any day now. And of course…”
Her smile grew, a cold edge slipping in as her clear eyes bore down on David, making her warning impossible to ignore.
David couldn’t help but feel exposed under her stare, a chill creeping up his spine at whatever she was about to say next. And there was nothing he could do to stop her.
He was powerless <i>to </i>silence Xylia’s words.
“We’re not really friends, so don’t bother apologizing. What I want is for you to own up and deal with thew for what you’ve done–and to join Tessa in reflecting on your mistakes.” Xylia’s tone was icy and relentless.
With those words, she picked up her bag, stood, and strode out the door.
David was left standing alone in the middle of the room, fists tightly clenched, fear etched in his eyes, his whole body trembling with every shaky breath.
Once Xylia reached the bottom of the stairs, she finally let out a heavy breath, like she was unloading all the stress she’d been carrying.
Joshua, who had been waiting for her, quickly walked over. “How’d it go?”
Xylia just nodded.
“I stuck to the script like you said. Judging by her reaction, I doubt it’ll take long before she goes running to
Tessa.”
Joshua stayed cool as ever. “I’ve got someone posted outside Tessa’s hospital room. The moment David makes a move, we’ll know exactly what’s going down between them.”
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Xylia found Joshua’s methodical approach genuinely reassuring; with him on the case, everything always felt under control.
She looked around for their teacher but didn’t see anyone–so she asked Joshua.
“Our teacher just got an urgent call and had to leave,” Joshua replied.
Xylia didn’t ask any more questions.
The two of them headed back together.
If David was bold enough to give false testimony with such conviction, he must’ve covered all his bases ahead of time.
Xylia knew there was no way he’d just spill without a push, so Joshua came up with a scheme to mess with his head. The goal: put so much pressure on David that he’d start to panic and hand over the evidence himself.
While Xylia and Joshua were having lunch, they got the tip from the hospital–David had gone to visit Tessa.
The two of them were having a private conversation in the hospital room.
Tessa’s VIP room was well soundproofed, so Joshua’s lookout outside the door couldn’t catch any of their conversation.
Xylia and Joshua hadn’t arrived at the hospital yet.
Then, out of nowhere, Cyrus sent Xylia a voice recording on her phone.
Right after, Cyrus sent over another message.
‘I was checking Tessa’s leg, and totally by ident, I hit the record button on my phone, Cyrus messaged.
Joshua pulled over, nced at Xylia’s phone, and just cracked up.
“Cyrus disappears off the face of the earth whenever he’s at the hospital. I honestly never thought to ask him for help, Joshua chuckled.
Xylia privately agreed–Cyrus really was like that.
Except for when he was treating her or objecting to her being with Joshua, Cyrus barely ever showed his face around the Sadler family.
Xylia sent Cyrus a quick thank–you emoji and opened the audio clip.
David’s nervous voice came through first.
“You said the car ident was foolproof…”
Then, right in the middle of his sentence, David’s voice abruptly stopped, as if someone had just walked in and he didn’t dare say another word.
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Tessa’s voice came through, calm and unfazed.
“It’s fine. Go ahead, keep talking.”
After a couple seconds, David finally spoke up. “Xylia tracked me down just now. She ims the cops are going to dig up proof I never saw her drive through there. If they realize I made it up, we’re both facing serious legal consequences.”
Tessa gave a dismissive littleugh.
“We wiped all the surveince from the other roads, remember? The police won’t find anything. You’re the only ‘eye–witness, so who else could clear her? Seriously, you let her freak you out with a couple lines? Wow, that’s just dumb.”
Tessa’s sarcasm waspletely unapologetic.
But that seemed to put David at ease, and his voice grew steadier.
“Either way, you said if things blow up and they catch me lying, you’d back me up.”
“Why would I bother lying to you?”
Then came the sound of the hospital room door opening and closing, followed by Tessa threatening Cyrus.
“You know what you should and shouldn’t say, right? If even a hint of this gets out, don’t bothering back to work here,” Tessa warned.
“Yeah,” Cyrus responded tly.
Then the recording just cut off.
Xylia and Joshua both shot each other a look–clearly stunned that Tessa actually had the nerve to threaten Cyrus.
“Tessa’s honestly on another level of stupid,” Joshua muttered.
Joshua couldn’t help but shake his head in disbelief.
Cyrus was right there in the hospital room when he caught all this on tape. It was supposed to be hush–hush, but Tessa just didn’t give a damn that someone else was listening. And then she went ahead and threatened someone you really don’t want to mess with.
He’d never seen anyone this dumb in his life.
Xylia put away her phone and picked up where Joshua left off.
“Tessa really cares about her legs. She spent big just to set me up this time, and maybe she actually got hurt. But dancing is everything to her, so she’s extra serious about her recovery, Cyrus is the one checking up on her, and there’s no way she’d risk her own recovery for anything else.”
That was why she didn’t kick Cyrus out.
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Xylia had Tessa all figured out–her little tricks weren’t hard to spot at all.
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Back when she had the Schultzs and Connor and Maddox to back her up, those schemes left Xyliapletely burned every time.
But now that nobody’s got her back, all Tessa’s screw–ups are right out in the open, and catching her is just too
easy.
“Let’s head to the police station,” Xylia said.
They nned to hand over both the recording and the footage from Xylia’s dashcam to the cops.
That morning had been so hectic, neither of them realized the dashcam had captured Xylia’s whole drive.
It was only when Joshua noticed the dashboard while driving that he remembered.
Once the police got the new evidence, they kicked off another round of investigation.
David was summoned to the station for questioning, while at the same time, officers went to Tessa’s hospital room to interview her.
It didn’t take long for it all to unravel–Tessa and David were exposed for scheming together to frame Xylia.
The police released an official announcement, finally clearing Xylia’s name.
At the same time, the Jupiton Police issued a major announcement about a high–profile criminal case.
The news revealed the truth behind Tessa’s hit–and–run.
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