Chapter 0192


    Abby


    “Excuse me, I don’t mean to interrupt,” I say, offering ‘Alex’ a tense smile as I walk up to her and Anton.


    “I just need to speak with Anton for a moment.”


    “Um, sure,” Alex says, scribbling something else on her notepad. “Take your time.”


    Throwing her another grin, I snatch Anton by the arm and signal for Karl to follow. I lead them to a


    secluded corner of the kitchen, away from the prying ears of the mysterious ‘journalist’. My heart


    pounds in my chest.


    “Is everything okay, Abby?” Anton asks, looking a little pale. “I hope I did not say the wrong things—”


    “No, Anton, you were great,” I whisper, ncing over my shoulder at Alex, who is staring at the


    dishwasher and scribbling furiously on her notepad. “It’s the ‘journalist’. She’s a fake.”


    “A fake?” Anton asks.


    Karl takes out his phone and scrolls through it rapidly. “Hang on. Let me check something real quick.”


    He takes the slip of paper from my hand where he had scribbled Alex’s number earlier. His eyes dart


    between his phone screen and the paper for a few moments, his face slowly losing even more of its


    color.


    “Oh, god. This isn’t good.”


    “What? What’s not good?” Anton’s eyes are practically saucers now.


    Karl looks mortified. “The number I gave you, Abby, isn’t the real Alex’s number. It’s a fake.”


    “What? How can that be?” I can feel the tension knotting up in my stomach, making me feel almost


    sick.


    “I’m so stupid. I must have clicked the wrong link,” Karl confesses, showing us his phone screen where


    a website that looks eerily simr to a locally renowned journalism site is disyed. “I found the


    number here. It looks like the real site, doesn’t it?”


    I squint at the screen. “Yeah, it does. But if there’s a real Alex out there, then who the hell is she?”


    Karl sighs deeply, running his fingers through his hair. “From the looks of it, this site is for a tabloid that


    poses as a legitimate news source. They’ve duped us. They’re going to write something terrible, I just


    know it.”


    “Merde!” Anton mutters under his breath, visibly anxious. “What do we do now?”


    Karl looks at me, concern etching lines into his face. “I’m so sorry, Abby. I didn’t mean for this to


    happen.”


    I take a deep breath, releasing it slowly as I look into Karl’s apologetic eyes.”It’s not your fault, Karl. It


    was an honest mistake. Anyone could’ve been tricked by that fake site.”


    He nods, still not relieved. “What’s the n, then? If we kick her out now, it’ll be even worse for us.


    She’ll just write that you kick out journalists who don’t ask the kind of questions you ‘like.’”


    I lean against the wall, tapping my fingers on my arm as I think. “Yeah, I know. And in the court of


    public opinion, perception is reality.”


    Anton chimes in, “So we are stuck between a rock and a hard ce? Is that it?”


    I motion to Daisy, Chloe, Karl, John, Ethan, and Anton to follow me to a secluded corner of the bustling


    restaurant, far enough away from prying eyes and eavesdropping ears. The tension is thick, no doubt


    because everyone has picked up on Alex’s strange ‘journalism’ habits. Co?tent of Dr?м??ovеls.cоm


    Property of N?)(velDr(a)ma.Org.


    Chloe raises an eyebrow. “What do you mean ‘not legit’?”