Chapter 342
Back when she’d asked Carlisle to hack into that photographer’s electronics–or when Carlisle had taken the initiative to dig up dirt on Flynn Sinclair for her–Niamh had always reacted the same way. The moment Carlisle called her “Rina,” she’d ignore him completely.
But this time, Niamh didn’t bother with the name issue.
“You were the one who got my name off the trending topics, weren’t you?”
“I used some rather unorthodox methods, but no one can trace it back to us.”
Carlisle’s voice was brimming with confidence over the phone.
Niamh couldn’t help but smile.
On the surface, Carlisle was the Quinn family’s driver and assistant, but beneath that, he was also their bodyguard–and a world–class hacker, with skills that could get just about anything done.
“Thank you. You really saved me this time.”.
“I should be the one apologizing to you!”
Carlisle’s tone shifted, becoming sincerely apologetic.
“I’m in Coralis, so I don’t keep as close an eye on Aldonia’s social media. If I’d spotted the trending tags earlier, I could’ve shut down the backlash before it got out of control.”
“It’s not your fault. No need to apologize.”
Niamh shrugged, even though Carlisle couldn’t see her.
She’d trended more times than she could count–good, bad, true, false. At this point, she was used to it. If she let a bunch of online trolls knock her down, wouldn’t she be giving her enemies exactly what they wanted?
Niamh refused to let that happen.
Whoever was behind all this clearly wanted her reputation destroyed and her company in ruins. Well, she’d just have to rise from the ashes, then.
“By the way, those two don’t know anything about this, right?”
Carlisle understood immediately who “those two” referred to.
20.27 ?
Ever since she’d become “Niamh,” she no longer called them “Mom” and “Dad.”
“Don’t worry. I haven’t told anyone. I took down the trending posts on my own, under the radar.”
“You’re amazing–no wonder you’re the world’s top hacker.”
For a moment, Carlisle was struck silent on the other end of the line.
Niamh couldn’t see his face, but she could picture his embarrassment at her praise. “Oh, and Rina… Even if you hadn’t called, I was planning to reach out to you.”
Niamh’s smile faded.
She had a gut feeling that whatever Carlisle was about to say, it wouldn’t be good.
“The old man, he…”
As soon as those words reached her ears, Niamh’s eyes shot open. Her expression hardened, and hatred flashed across her face.
“He had Mr. Quinn take in a girl as his foster daughter.”
The Thomas Group.
Prescott had been in the middle of updating Jonathan on the FZZL project’s latest developments when Jonathan abruptly interrupted him.
“Who took down the trending posts?
The question came out of nowhere.
Prescott froze, blinking in confusion. “I’m sorry?”
Jonathan looked up, his gaze cold and impatient. He clearly didn’t intend to repeat
himself.
Trending posts…
The last time he checked, the trending topics were all full of vitriol directed at Niamh. But now…
He hadn’t even bothered checking the news today.
Prescott wiped the sweat from his brow. “Mr. Thomas, give me five minutes.”
He hurried out of the office.
Chapter 344
Five minutes later, he returned, looking flustered. “I’m sorry, Mr. Thomas… I couldn’t find out who removed the trending topics. None of the major platforms know, either. It’s as if the entire internet caught a virus overnight.”
Jonathan was silent for a moment, then chuckled.
“The whole internet, infected all at once, huh…”
And yet, the only posts that vanished were all about Niamh.
He twirled the stainless steel pen in his hand, deep in thought. He’d planned to wait and see if Niamh would come crawling back to him once she hit rock bottom…
The pen slipped from his fingers and clattered onto the desk. Jonathan’s brow furrowed in annoyance.
At that moment, his phone rang. It was a call.
