Chapter 30
Autumn had originally planned to confirm her thesis direction with Ivy before continuing, but since Ivy hadn't replied, and based on her own judgment, the new research focus seemed solid. Autumn had already begun working on the next section. Her phone kept chiming with notifications. Autumn had no choice but to pick it up.
Britney was having one of her meltdowns: “I’m ordering you to do something right now. Say ‘I was wrong, your highness’ in a voice message. No typing. Send ten in a row. Make me happy first, then we’ll talk.” Britney loved testing obedience. She was extremely manipulative. If Autumn did what she asked, it wouldn't stop there—Britney would only escalate, becoming more aggressive and controlling.
Autumn scrolled up and saw the video Britney had sent. The background was a place Autumn knew all too well—the home she had lived in for three years. She also recognized the people in the video. Maybe it was the events of last night. Seeing Damien’s complete indifference again seemed to raise her threshold for pain. She felt almost nothing about Damien’s actions anymore.
Autumn was certain she was close to moving on. Her recovery was happening faster than she had expected. She knew that facing Damien in the future would still stir emotions—but they wouldn't all be pain or bitterness. Some would be normal, human feelings: anger, disgust. The former meant there was still love. The latter meant he had become just another person to her. No more illusions. No more filters.
So, after watching the video, her heart remained calm. She closed it quickly. But Autumn remembered—she had blocked Britney. She checked her phone and quickly realized this had been a hacker's work. The intruder had been sloppy, as they had left traces. If Autumn had done it, there would have been no evidence at all.
Thinking for a moment, she typed a line of code. The screen flickered black, then streams of glowing green characters began cascading across it.
Back at the bar, Britney was still riding high on her satisfaction from taunting Autumn when her phone suddenly froze. No matter how she tapped, it wouldn't respond. “Serena, something’s wrong with my phone.” Just as she handed it over, the screen turned blue. Britney stared at it, stunned. “What the hell is this?”
Serona’s face changed. She grabbed the phone and rebooted it immediately—but it was too late. Britney looked confused. “What happened?” Serena double-checked, “Your phone’s bricked. All your data has been stolen.” She hesitated. “You don’t have anything private on there, right?”
Britney felt the world collapse. “Of course, I do! I even took nudes! Not to mention all those chat logs…” With Britney’s status, even celebrities and wealthy elites tried to get close to her. She knew plenty of scandalous gossip from the entertainment industry. Most of it was real—and deeply unsavory. She even had original footage and firsthand material saved. Some of it was downright disgusting. Just one leaked photo or video could send social media into a frenzy.
Britney was genuinely panicking. But after a few seconds, her expression shifted to a furious, icy calm. “Call the cops!” Serena shook her head. “The damage to your phone… The encryption level was extremely high. Whoever did this wiped everything clean after the job.”
Seeing that she wasn’t joking, Britney’s face turned dangerously dark. If Serena hadn’t been her friend, she would’ve said what she was really thinking—could this hacker be open to taking on a student? Because Serena would kill to learn from someone that skilled. She had never seen anything like it.
Serena asked, “Could it have been Autumn?” She’d just seen Britney’s contact name for her. Then the phone got hacked right after Britney sent the video. It was easy to connect the dots.