Chapter 102 Screw Up
The pressure in his head was driving him insane.
With things blown up this big, trying to sweep it under the rug was damn near impossible.
A thought suddenly flashed through Dominic’s mind. Almost without thinking, he muttered, “Hacking…”
Everyone snapped their eyes to him.
“If Tilda knew her way around hacking—if she had some kind of app on her phone—then using the campus Wi-Fi, she could’ve copied every single video before they were deleted.”
Dominic wasn’t just throwing words around. He’d studied hacking himself—ranked 11th on the dark web board and rumored to be the apprentice of the infamous Queen.
Other than this explanation, Dominic couldn’t think of any possibility.
“Tilda… a hacker?”
Russell was stunned.
Just how many masks is this girl hiding behind?
“It’s very possible,” Dominic went on, his voice sharp, eyes narrowing with a cold glint. “I’ve seen her talent and obsession with coding firsthand. If she’s capable of beating my records so easily, then her being a top-tier hacker wouldn’t surprise me at all.”
Who would’ve thought…
Tilda has been hiding this card all along.
It wasn’t just Russell who had underestimated her.
Even Dominic had.
Who would’ve thought a so-called “ordinary college girl” could have that kind of power?
But if she did have it, then suddenly it made sense—her close ties with Andy, the renowned lawyer.
It all lined up.
“I’m sorry, Dad, Dominic… it’s my fault. I got careless and never checked Fiona’s phone…”
Howard’s gut twisted with regret.
The way things had blown up, the way it had gotten so tangled—that was on him.
He’d gone soft. Let guilt get in the way.
He wanted to slam his own head against the wall.
“It’s not on you, Howard,” Dominic said flatly. “If Tilda’s really working at that level, you never would’ve caught her by scrolling through her phone. She’d have hidden it six layers deep.”
Dominic leaned forward. “What I need to know is—how much time did you actually have to clean things up?”
“Barely any. Dad walked out of the dining hall, and I jumped in with campus security right after. The first order of business was wiping the surveillance.
“I checked my watch—under five minutes, tops. I’m sure of it.”
Five minutes…
That wasn’t enough time.
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
Hacking into a student’s phone and ripping the videos—
And on top of that, breaking into campus surveillance?
With all the chaos flying around, five minutes was nothing. Hell, it was probably less.
Pulling off both hacks at once? Even I—Mr. 11th place on the dark web boards—couldn’t have done it.
But Tilda had. She’d actually pulled it off.
What else is she keeping under wraps? What the hell else had she buried so deep even I couldn’t sniff it out?
Looking at her, you’d never guess… She blends in like any other college kid. But underneath? She’s something else entirely.
“Dom…”
Rose’s voice cut through the silence.
He forced himself to pull back from his shock over Tilda and turned to face her. “Sorry, Rose. We screwed this up badly. I’ll make it right and cover the loss.”
“You really dropped the ball this time. Forget going toe-to-toe with Andy—evidence like this means even if Tilda had hired someone else, any halfway decent lawyer would’ve had you dead to rights.”
She let out a quiet sigh. “But… you and I go back a long way. So I’ll let it slide this time, and I’ll help you figure out how to cut your losses.”
“Thank you, Rose,”
When Wade and Kyla got the news, they dropped everything at Orica University and rushed back home.
The only one waiting in the living room was Howard.
“Where’s Dad?” they asked in unison.
“He’s in the study with Dominic. They’re handling company business and trying to figure out how the hell to manage this mess,” Howard muttered, rubbing at his scalp until his hair stood on end. His eyes were bloodshot.
He’d never hated his own uselessness more than he did right now.
At a moment like this, he couldn’t do a damn thing to help.
“Howard, Wade—how did it get this far? We had Rose on our side. We were supposed to have the upper hand in this trial!”
Kyla’s voice cracked; her eyes were already brimming with tears.
Howard opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
His chest clenched so tight it hurt.
This was on him. All of it.
Wade saw the guilt written all over his face and put a hand on Kyla’s shoulder. “Enough. Stop blaming him. None of us wanted this. All we can do now is trust Mom and Dad to figure it out.”
“B-But, Wade…” Kyla sobbed, grabbing onto him.
“This is my fault,” she cried. “It’s all because of me. If I’d never been part of this family, none of this would’ve happened. Tilda wouldn’t have… wouldn’t have…
“I hate myself for it! I shouldn’t even be alive!”