Chapter 129

"This morning, MZ Group would rather pay a fortune in penalties than keep working with them," one said. "Who on earth did the Shaw family piss off? First hackers, then the Lynns pulling out, and now even MZ Group is bailing on them."

The students in Zinnia’s class were all wealthy kids, with their fingers on the pulse of every shift in high society. There were many old-money families in Jinston, and every student admitted to Class 19 came from an influential background. The Shaw family had only been rich for a little over twenty years. Without the Lynn family’s backing, those students wouldn’t give the Shaws the time of day.

As Zinnia listened to their chatter, she recalled what Jackson had told her that morning: “Don’t worry, Zinnia. I won’t let them get away with hurting you.” A swirl of complicated emotions rose in her chest.

Ethan said, “What did the Shaws do to piss someone off lately? So much drama all at once. The Lynns are related to them by marriage, but they just pulled out all their investments. Something big must’ve happened between those two families. Maisie, do you know what’s going on? You live close to the Lynns. Have you heard any gossip?”

Maisie replied, “What else? The Shaws are up to no good. They deserve it.” She yawned sleepily. She’d gotten home late last night, and after washing up and rushing through her homework, it was nearly midnight.

Only a few families knew what had happened to the Shaw family. Maisie had heard about it from Raymond that morning. She learned that the other Lynns supported Jackson’s decision.

Maisie thought, ‘Thinking about what the Shaws did yesterday, it was just absurd. In all my years, I’ve never seen parents treat their daughter so harshly. The Shaws went too far this time; they couldn’t even tell right from wrong. Do they ever consider that if the Lynns hadn’t protected Zinnia, or if my family hadn’t walked in to help Zinnia, Zinnia would have been left all alone? Just thinking about that kind of situation is suffocating.’

Zinnia didn’t care much about what was happening to the Shaw family anymore. Since she had cut ties with the Shaws, their fate, good or bad, was none of her business. Now that someone was standing up for Zinnia, she wasn’t about to pretend she was some saint. Seeing those who bullied her get their comeuppance, Zinnia couldn’t say she was happy about it, but she certainly wasn’t upset either.

Zinnia thought, ‘If I hadn’t managed to come up with the money yesterday, I couldn’t even imagine how humiliating it would have been and how harshly they would have tried to shame me.’

Zinnia understood that Maelis was pushing her so hard just to make her break and beg, to force her to yield because she supposedly couldn’t pay. They wanted Zinnia to be as unsettled and miserable as they were, to suffer the same daily mental torment. But Zinnia was stubborn to the core; the more they pushed, the more she dug in her heels. She remembered what her master had always told her: “Never let anyone walk all over you. If someone has to be wronged, let it be them, not you."

Ethan knew the Lynns had their reasons, but the hacker thing was just puzzling. He finally asked, “Hey, what’s the deal with that hacker, anyway? What do you think, Brian?”

“No idea,” Brian replied coolly, his eyes drifting to Lydia behind him, who was reading a book.

Maisie shrugged and said, “Who knows? Probably just too many people out there who can’t stand the Shaws."

Just hearing about the Shaw family’s troubles gives Maisie a headache. She thought, Thank goodness we got Zinnia out of there; who knows how long she might have been stuck in that toxic mess otherwise!

Maisie turned to Zinnia and said, “Zinnia, did you have breakfast? I brought some, want a bite? You must have had a hard time staying with Yannis. Come on, why not come home with me? Look at your little face; you know you’ve gotten thinner.”

Even after just one night apart, Maisie couldn’t help but worry that Yannis hadn’t taken good care of Zinnia. She kept staring at Zinnia, convinced she looked a bit thinner.

Zinnia replied, “I’ve already eaten, and I haven’t lost weight. If anything, my cheeks are getting fuller.”