Chapter 101
I Choose Loyalty
There's a saying that a person with knowledge or wealth commands more respect. And perhaps it's true.
The neighbors and journalists who had crowded like hungry wolves earlier now stood silent, like schoolchildren caught red-handed. They retreated, but not entirely out of shame or conscience. They retreated because the calculation had changed. What they had done had crossed the line from reporting to deliberately spreading structured hoaxes and slander—and that could, and would, be prosecuted under the law.
That was what Mr. Lee had prepared for, with cold precision.
While I was still standing on the porch, feeling the post-adrenaline tremors, a few people from the crowd approached hesitantly. Not journalists, but neighbors. Their faces, which had earlier been twisted with scorn, were now flushed with shame and fear.
"Alayna… we… we didn't know," one of the mothers stammered, her voice shaking.
