Bones Learn To Listen When Silence Speaks by Ryn Miles 322

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But Kyler completely ignored Cassian’s icy attitude and refused to let Tessa off. 

“And you still haven’t come forward and apologized for faking your way into school with Ms. Corin’s identity. With someone like you. Ms. Rowe, who in their right mind would put money into your projects?” Kyler pressed on. 

“I sure wouldn’t. I’m worried you’ll just take the cash and disappear, driving investors to jump off buildings one after another. And they’d be mocked for being better off than those left behind because once they were dead, their debts were wiped clean.” 

Tessa looked absolutely grim. 

Every single person at this dinner was a heavy hitter in business. 

Kyler was airing out all her dirty laundry right in front of these people, basically cutting off every escape route she had. 

Tessa didn’t even dare to look at the investors‘ faces. 

Even with Cassian by her side, she lost her nerve. She shot up from her seat, voice trembling. “I–I need to step out for a bit.” 

Even seeing Tessa like that, Kyler wasn’t about to let her off the hook. 

“Ms. Rowe, what’s this? Are you going to hide in your shell again?” Kyler sneered. 

Tessa didn’t dare say a word. She left immediately. 

With all that commotion, Breon could only give an awkward chuckle. “Mr. Kyler sure has some fire in him.” 

Cassian lowered his eyes and got up as well. “I’ll take my leave too.” 

It looked like he was worried that Tessa might be feeling down and couldn’t wait to go after her to keep her company. 

Breon was honestly glad to see him go, skipping all the polite nonsense. “See you around, Mr. Locke.” 

Once they were gone, the vibe in the private room relaxed again. 

Someone couldn’t help but ask Kyler what was going on. 

Kyler didn’t hold back. He laid it all out without sugarcoating. 

He explained how Tessa stole Aurelia’s thesis and used Aurelia’s identity to get herself into a top business school overseas, and how Tessa managed to earn her degree using all sorts of shady tricks. 

Every time Kyler dropped another bombshell, the crowd couldn’t help but flinch. 

He wrapped it up with a blunt warning, “When you’re investing, keep your eyes wide open. Don’t let yourself get burned.” 

That night, Aurelia was chatting with Mia about the whole thing. 

Mia burst out laughing. “Kyler really went for the jugular. Honesily, the real nightmare for celebrities isn’t the haters, but those toxic solo stans. When they turn on you, they go absolutely savage.” 

Aurelia agreed, “Yeah, I could tell.” 

“I just want to finish filming these last scenes and rush back to Ashmont to catch all the drama live. Having you give me the daily updates just isn’t cutting it,” Mia grumbled, clearly wishing she was in the middle of the action. 

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But what Mia cared about most was whether Tessa could actually turn things around. 

“If Cassian manages to pull her out of this mess, I swear I’ll stop calling him names,” Mia vowed, sounding dead serious. 

Aurelia was curious. “Then what would you call him?” 

“If he’s that good at saving people, I’ll just call him Superman,” Mia quipped. 

Aurelia was speechless. 

Tessa went home from Breon’s dinner looking upset and defeated, her face clouded over. 

However, that wasn’t even the worst of it. 

Something even more terrible was waiting for her. 

Alina wasn’t already tucked in for her beauty sleep like she usually was. Instead, she was sitting in the living room, looking seriously pissed off. 

As soon as Tessa walked in, Alina said, “We have a problem.” 

Tessa’s stomach dropped. 

She was already wound so tight she couldn’t take even the slightest hit. The moment Alina said there was a problem, Tessa’s mind buzzed with panic. 

Things were way too messy for Alina to keep quiet any longer. 

Alina said, “The degree swap has been exposed. The person who handled it back then just got taken away by the investigators.” 

Tessa crashed down onto the couch, feeling like ice was crawling over her skin. 

“What are we supposed to do now?” she asked, her whole body shaking with fear. 

“I’m working on contacting someone who might be able to bail us out, but we need to cover all our bases,” Alina replied. 

Alina had only come to this decision after coming to terms with how bad things had gotten. 

She told Tessa, “You need to go to Aurelia and beg her to let this go. Meanwhile, I’ll see if I can pull some strings and smooth things over, and keep it from blowing up any further.” 

“That’s not going to work.” Tessa totally lost it, her nerves shot. “Aurelia would never agree to that.” 

“We still have to try,” Alina insisted, knowing full well how tough this was going to be. 

But if they didn’t beg Aurelia, Tessa’s fake degree would be out in the open for everyone to see. 

When that happened, Tessa would be totally disgraced. 

Her whole career would crash and burn. 

Once her last remaining image as someone with a prestigious degree collapsed, there’d be no way to turn things around. 

And Alina would inevitably be dragged into the mess as well. 

She could end up facing real consequences, maybe even jail time. 

13:23 Wed, Jan 28 

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Alina took Tessa’s hand and told her clearly, “Tessa, we’ve hit a dead end. We have no other choice.” 

Tessa’s face turned rigid, inch by inch, until all that was left was a ghostly pallor. 

The next day, around noon, Aurelia got a call from Stephen, asking her to come by Ashmont University. There’d been an update on the degree fraud situation.. 

But as soon as she reached the university entrance, Tessa suddenly appeared, blocking her path. 

Tessa was a whole different person today. 

No flawless makeup, no fancy clothes, none of her usual glam. 

The arrogance and pride she used to flaunt were totally gone. 

She just looked pale and completely beaten down. 

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Her eyes were red and watery, tears threatening to spill. She looked so miserable that one couldn’t help but feel bad for her. 

Unfortunately, Aurelia wasn’t having any of it. 

She didn’t even look Tessa’s way. She just brushed past Tessa and headed into Ashmont University. 

“Aurelia,” Tessa called out, her voice thick with emotion as she forced herself to speak through the humiliation. “I’m sorry for stealing your thesis, and I’m sorry for faking my degree. Can you… just let me off for that?” 

Tessa was visibly trembling as she said that. 

Her pride and dignity were being cut to ribbons, over and over. 

But she was out of options. All she could do was swallow her pride and beg Aurelia for mercy. 

She would only have the tiniest shot at catching a break if Aurelia, the very person she’d hurt, decided to let it slide. 

Even though she knew that was basically a pipe dream, if she didn’t swallow her pride and beg Aurelia for mercy, she’d have no way out. 

Alina might actually end up in jail, and Daniel’s career would be dead in the water. 

As for herself, she would have no hope of ever making a comeback. 

Hence, there was nothing else she could do. 

Aurelia was genuinely surprised that Tessa would beg her for mercy. 

Back when everything first blew up, Tessa never backed down. 

Even when Kyler put her on the spot, she stood her ground. 

But now, she was swallowing her pride and begging Aurelia for a break. Aurelia guessed Tessa must’ve been really desperate. 

‘But what about Cassian?‘ Aurelia thought. ‘Where’s her big backer now? Why isn’t he coming to her rescue this time? Wasn’t this supposed to be true love? Did reality finally get to him, too?” 

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