Gianna couldn''t believe it. Anneliese had already left with Jessica, yet it was her group that was told to stay behind for questioning. It feltpletely unfair.


    The two friends behind her turned pale, and both looked at Gianna.


    "Gianna, I still need to rush home. If I''m not back by 10 p.m., my parents are definitely going to punish me."


    The other friend looked irritated and angry. "Yeah, Gianna, we all—"


    "Shut up!" Gianna snapped before she could say anything more. She shot her a warning look, then forced her expression to soften. "We just need to exin what happened more clearly."


    Her eyes reddened as she looked at Steven. "Steven, can you stay here with us?" Steven replied, "I still have things to handle. Cooperate."


    After saying that, he turned around and walked away without hesitation.


    Gianna stared at his back. The anger and frustration built up in her chest until she felt like she might explode.


    Steven was not stupid. Gianna had liked Zane for many years. Earlier that night in the private room, before Anneliese and the others arrived, Gianna had suddenly left with her three friends. Then this mess had happened. Later, Zane had also been called away by a family matter.


    As for Anahi and the other two, their fathers were all executives in Adrian''s logistics group. To put it inly, they all depended on the Malone family to survive.


    So whatever Gianna said was what went. Before this, he had only thought his younger sister was spoiled and a bit willful. He never expected that she could go so far as to set someone up like this.


    What shocked him even more was that she dared to use the family''s name to pull strings at the police station. She hadpletely crossed the line.


    Let her stay here and deal with this on her own. She needs to face it and think it through.


    In the back seat of the


    Anneliese held an ice pack and gently pressed it ainst


    Jessica''s face. Jonathan sat in the front passenger seat with his head lowered as he looked at his phone.


    The buzzing vibration did not stop. Jonathan nced at it and turned his head.


    "Zane keeps calling. Do you want to answer it?"


    He tilted the vibrating phone toward Jessica. Her eyes fell on the screen.


    The faint light from the phone lit up the bruise at the corner of her lips. She tugged her lips lightly.


    "Where is he?"


    After everything that had happened, Zane still had not shown up. Jessica felt it was painfully ironic.


    "He''s probably already on the ne. His grandmother fell, and he rushed back," Anneliese exined.


    She found the timing suspicious. Nothing had been confirmed, so she did not want to jump to conclusions. Jessica had already been through enough. She did not want to add to i.  sw?ovels


    Even so, Jessica had clearly thought of it herself. Her eyes stung as she turned her head away and spoke.


    "Mr. Shayman is Mr. Fullbuster''s friend. You can decide what to do My matters have nothing to do with him anymore Please don''t tell him, too much Thank you.


    When Jonathan heard her say that everything between her and Zane was over, he raised his brows slightly.


    It seemed that after everything she suffered that night, all of Jessica''s pain and anger had turned toward Zane.


    He did not say anything to defend Zane. Zane had handled today''s incident poorly.


    For example, when they ran into Adrian and his group at the restaurant earlier, Gianna had insisted on eating together. Zane had agreed to it back then.


    Jonathan turned back around and casually swiped to hang up Zane''s call. He then opened his WhatsApp chat with him.


    On the screen was the message he had sent earlier when he found out Jessica was in trouble and had rushed out of the restaurant.


    ''You''d bettere back.''


    The reply below it read, ''My grandma fell. I have to go back. I''m boarding now.''


    Another line followed, ''Find Jessica and let her call me.''


    Looking at the messages, Jonathan felt helpless.


    Zane''s call came in again. Jonathan felt annoyed and swiped to answer it.


    "Jonathan, did you find Jessica?"


    "Yeah, we found her."


    In the back seat, Jessica leaned against Anneliese''s shoulder. When she heard that, her body stiffened.


    Anneliese held her cold hands and gave them a gentle squeeze.


    She trusted Jonathan. Since he had promised Jessica not to tell Zane about her situation, he would keep his word.


    On the other end of the phone, when Zane heard that she had been found, his posture, immediately rxed as he leaned back into the wide first-ss seat. He tugged at his tie and said, "knew it She''s fine Sh? never just takes a loss quietly. What''s wrong with her phone? I couldn''t get through at all. Hand the


    phone to her. I want to talk to her."