She scrolled down. The inte was in an absolute frenzy, withments flooding in from everywhere.


    "Wait, Miranda is Hayden''s wife and Shanley''s mother?"


    "I knew it! With a face like Shanley''s, his mother had to be someone extraordinary."


    "Okay, so we know who Miranda''s husband is, but who is Shanley''s mysterious fiancée?"


    Juniper raised an eyebrow, calmly exited the news app, and dialed Dana''s number. "Dana, did Shanley drink the soup?"


    “He did, he did!” Dana answered cheerfully. "As soon as he knew you were the one who made it, Mr. Schwartz drank the entire pot."


    The entire pot? She''d added so many herbs; the broth was so bitter it was nearly unptable.


    "Got it," Juniper said with a slight smile. "Thanks, Dana."


    ---


    After her sses ended, Juniper was walking toward the campus exit when her phone rang. It was her sister.


    "I heard Shanley almost killed you?" The simple words wereced with Ebony Fox''s palpable rage. "Does he have a death wish?"


    "Where are you?" Juniper frowned, chewing on her lip.


    "At the entrance to Era University," Ebony Fox said, her knuckles cracking. "And what a coincidence, I just ran into Shanley."


    "...I''m on my way."


    Juniper was silent for three seconds before she started walking faster, then broke into a run. She finally spotted Ebony Fox at the gate, her face a cold mask, and standing next to her, looking incredibly awkward with his head slightly bowed, was the man himself. Phew. Good, Shanley was still alive.


    "I missed you," Juniper said, blinking as she took her sister''s hand, a cating smile on her face.


    "Hmph." Ebony Fox nced at her fawning younger sister. “Afraid I''d kill him?”


    Juniper pressed her lips together but didn''t answer. Her three brothers wouldn''t dare, but Ebony Fox, who handled guns for a living, just might actually kill Shanley.


    "I heard everything," Ebony Fox said, pinching Juniper''s cheek as her lips curved into a slight smile. "Your man shot him?"


    "Yes," Juniper nodded. She hadn''t expected the ''pity ploy'' to have such asting, protective effect. Shanley had probably calcted this oue from the beginning, hadn''t he?


    "Good job," Ebony Fox said, her eyes filled with praise and a surprising gentleness. "If it weren''t for you, I''d have put a few more holes in him myself.”


    "Thank you, Ebony Fox," Shanley said, his voice calm and steady.


    Ebony Fox turned her back, not wanting to engage with him. She already disliked him, and now she despised him even more. She really wanted to crack opent her sister''s head and see what kind of drug Shanley had given her to make her love him this much.


    "Let''s get in the car," Shanley said, not at all awkward. "Juniper hasn''t made our rtionship official yet so it''s probably not a good idea for me to linger at the school gate.


    Recently, his parents, Miranda and Hayden, had announced their marriage, but


    somehow, he, the son, was the one topping the trending charts.


    Juniper gave him a deep look. Why did that sound like aint?


    "Get in," Ebony Fox said, pleased to hear that. Not official meant he was still on probation.


    "Okay." Juniper followed her sister into the car. Shanley wisely took the passenger seat, watching Juniper in the rearview mirror.


    "My training here in this country is


    over. I have to go back to the


    Huntsman Institute," Ebony Fox said,


    looking at Juniper with a sad


    expression. I''lle back to see


    you in a while."


    "Why do you have to go back?" Juniper frowned, her voice turning cold. "Did you


    sign your life away to them?"