After finishing his explanation, Colby pulled Sean forward. “Mr. Shepherd, we’re here to turn ourselves in.”

Isaiah rubbed his temples. “Are you two the ones who stirred up all that trouble online?”

“Yes, but not exactly,” Colby replied, glancing at Zoey and Josie. He added, “It all started yesterday when I found out someone had installed screen–monitoring software on Josie’s computer.”

“Come inside and explain,” Isaiah said, ushering them into his office. “Delilah, are you coming in, or…”

“I have a class to teach, so I’ll be going,” Delilah replied. She had only come to support Josie in case David caused any trouble. Now that he was gone, there was no need for her to stay.

“This is a minor issue. I trust my students can handle it themselves, and I hope you’ll believe their side of the story,” she added.

Isaiah rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. This involved both David and Delilah, and it happened right after Leo had just passed away. It was turning out to be quite a mess.

Half an hour later, after they’d explained everything to Isaiah and handed over all the evidence, the group finally left his office.

Josie walked up to Sean and Colby. “Sean, Colby, thank you guys so much. Seriously, I can’t thank you enough. If it weren’t for you, who knows how much longer this mess would’ve dragged on.”

If too much time passed, everyone would probably forget about the plagiarism incident. Even if rumors started spreading again, most people would just assume she was the one who copied Natalie’s paper. After all, Natalie always had a way of convincing people.

But now, things had totally changed. With the hired trolls exposed, it was obvious that Natalie was the one who gained from both the plagiarism and the smear campaign. If she wanted to clear her name, she had no choice but to let the whole thing get investigated.

No matter what tricks Natalie had up her sleeve, they had solid proof, including the hired trolls, the screen–monitoring software, and Josie’s original thesis. Even if they couldn’t pin it directly on Natalie, at least Josie would be completely out of the mess. No one would be able to use these scandals to mess with her ever again. It was like cutting off all her worries for good.

“I didn’t do it just for you,” Sean said, his face unreadable as he looked at her. He added, “I just don’t want any stains on my team’s reputation. Since these things blew up online, we had to get to the bottom of it.”

Josie nodded, taking his words at face value. “I get it. I won’t drag the team down, and I definitely won’t embarrass the professor or anyone else.”

Colby added with a wave of his hand, “Then you really don’t need to thank me. Honestly, I was just helping Sean out. Plus, Zoey asked me to check into it yesterday. It was nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Zoey was stunned for a second. Before she could say anything, Claire had already dragged the two of them away.

Claire said, “Alright, let’s not worry about it anymore. Mr. Shepherd is pretty fair, and with all the evidence we have, I’m sure this will get cleared up soon. And seriously, enough with all the thank–yous. We’re a team now. Whatever happens, we face it together. Josie, you’re free now, right? Want to come back to the lab with me?”

Zoey waved them off. “I’ll skip for now, I’ve got a class coming up. I’ll drop by later this afternoon.”

After waving goodbye, Sean headed off to the lab with Josie and Claire. Colby turned around and jogged after Zoey.

Not far away, Aiden had already traced the troll posts back to their source and rounded up the culprits. He was leading them toward the Department of Student Affairs. As he was about to enter the building, he glanced back.

On one side, Colby and Zoey were chatting and laughing as they made their way to the classroom building. On the other side, Josie followed Sean and Claire toward the lab building.

Seeing Zoey’s bright smile, Aiden’s brow furrowed slightly. He thought, ‘What a two–faced flirt. She confesses to me one day, then turns around and cozies up to some other guy next. Shameless. Women who can’t stay loyal make me sick. Good thing I never said yes to her.’

He glanced over at Sean and Josie heading toward the lab and thought, “They’re no better. One’s someone I already beat, and the other’s just a country bumpkin who only made it onto the team because of Sean.”