Rising From Betrayal Reborn As The Family Outcast novel Chapter 98

Chapter 98

Alicia wasn’t surprised that Jett asked so bluntly.

Jett had always been this straightforward-never one to beat around the bush.

He’d spent years as Nicole’s backup, always jumping to meet her every request.

He even followed her overseas to study music.

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But when it came to how much he actually liked Nicole, you couldn’t really tell if his feelings were all that deep.

Normally, if you liked someone, you’d want to have them all to yourself-especially since Nicole was still single.

Nicolas didn’t want to marry Nicole, so this was actually the perfect chance for Jett to go after her himself.

But instead, Jett acted all selfless and tried to set Nicole up with Nicolas.

This guy always did things his own way, making it impossible to guess what he was really thinking or planning.

Alicia glanced at Nicolas, who looked seriously pissed, and Nicole, who was forcing an awkward smile. “Whether they’re together or not, what does that have to do with me?” Alicia said.

She went on, blunt as ever, “I couldn’t care less about people I don’t like.”

Helping those two out? Yeah, Alicia wasn’t that generous.

Just because she didn’t want Nicolas didn’t mean she was about to play cheerleader for Nicole and wish them a happy ending.

Nicolas’s eyes

darkened at her words.

Nicole was barely holding onto her smile.

Alicia was still as annoyingly blunt as ever, never bothering to hide her likes or emotions.

‘How come she gets to be so unapologetically herself?’ Nicole thought, a mix of envy and frustration bubbling up inside her.

Everyone in the room froze for a moment.

They honestly didn’t expect Alicia to just straight-up say she didn’t like Nicolas and Nicole.

After all, this was a live stream.

Normally, even if celebs had serious drama off-camera, they’d still pretend to get along when the cameras were rolling.

But then again, that’s just Alicia-always real, never one to pretend.

And honestly, if Alicia actually acted friendly with Nicole-the imposter heiress who stole her spot-on a variety show, people would just think she was being totally fake and it’d be super awkward.

[Gotta admit, Alicia’s still as savage as ever.]

[Isn’t Alicia worried about getting flamed by Nicolas and Nicole’s fans?]

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Chapter 98

PWM.

[She’s been dragged by their fans plenty of times before. Why would she be scared now?]

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[Exactly! After the truth came out, isn’t it totally normal for her to hate them?]

[Honestly, I just love Alicia’s attitude. If she doesn’t like someone, she says it straight up. I can’t stand people who pretend to be nice just to keep up appearances.]

[Nicole’s got some serious nerve. She stole Alicia’s family, her identity, and her childhood bestie, and she still keeps flaunting herself right in front of Alicia.]

[If she didn’t have a thick skin, how else could she have managed to steal someone else’s life?]

[I checked out that X alt account. It was so cringe I wanted to die.]

[As long as Nicolas isn’t embarrassed, right? Those two have probably been hooking up behind the scenes for ages.]

[Yeah, I used to totally idolize Nicolas, but after all this came out, my rose-colored glasses shattered. What a scumbag.]

After all that drama blew up, people’s impression of Nicolas and Nicole tanked.

Nicolas was still doing alright though-he’s an A-lister, after all.

Plus, there’s no hard evidence he’s actually with Nicole, and he’s still got a ton of loyal fans, so the fallout’s pretty manageable.

But for Nicole, it was a whole different story. With the whole stepdaughter taking over and the real daughter getting kicked out, pretty much everyone sided with Alicia.

Especially after Alicia got totally roasted online for that whole identity theft scandal, Nicole just stood on the sidelines and kept up her whole heiress act like nothing happened.

Lately, it’s like Nicole’s got a permanent spot on the trending list-every time she pops up, she’s back on the hot search, and honestly, people are just getting tired of it.

Jett flashed Alicia a grin. “Come on, don’t be so hard on Nicole. She just has a thing for Nicolas-she can’t control her feelings.”

He continued, “Yeah, you used to be her sister, and Nicolas almost became her brother-in-law, but that never happened, right?

“People online say the real other woman is the one who isn’t loved back, right?

“So Nicole’s not really the side chick in your story, is she?”

As soon as he said that, the live chat was flooded with [……]

[The more he tries to explain, the worse it gets.]

[What do you mean, the unloved one is the side chick? Is that really how Nicole sees it?]

[Jett’s Nicole’s friend, and he’s totally defending her. Bet he heard her say that before.]

[Man, my whole worldview just got wrecked by how shameless this is.]

[Honestly, Jett’s got a point. Alicia and Nicolas aren’t even close anymore, so if he gets together with Nicole, she’s not really a homewrecker, right?]

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[Seriously? Not a homewrecker? Then why did Alicia cut Nicolas off in the first place? Wasn’t it all because of Nicole?]

And just like that, the chat instantly blew up, roasting Nicole and Nicolas nonstop.

Nicolas and Nicole’s fans just stared at the screen, totally speechless.

Seriously, whose side is this guy even on? Does he even know how to talk?’ one of them grumbled.

On set. Nicole’s face went stiff the moment she heard Jett say that.

She always knew Jett never thinks before he speaks, but she didn’t expect him to be this dumb.

Even if he was trying to clear her name, he really shouldn’t have put it that way.

Seriously, the more he talked, the deeper the hole got.

Alicia shot Jett a look, one eyebrow raised. “Are you some kind of clown sent here just to entertain us?”

She added. “So by your logic, I’m the side chick just because I’m not the one he loves?”

He looked dead serious, like he genuinely believed every word coming out of his mouth.

Is this guy seriously not here just to throw Nicole under the bus today?’ Alicia thought.

Before Jett could say another word, Nicolas cut in. “Who says you’re not loved?”

He looked at Alicia, with all the affection in his eyes. “Ever since we were kids, you’ve been the only one I’ve ever liked.”

He’s never wavered on that.

“Me and Nicole? There’s nothing there. We’re clean,” he added.

‘Is Nicole crazy? Why would she bring Jett, that agent of chaos, along?’ Nicolas thought, frustration bubbling up inside him.

‘She’s totally shooting herself in the foot with this!’ he grumbled inwardly.

Jett was notorious in their circle for being a total nutcase-he’d managed to drag his own family and friends into messes more times than anyone could count.

The worst part was, he never even seemed to mean it, but chaos just followed him wherever he went.

Alicia wrinkled her nose at him, totally unimpressed. “Then do me a favor and stop liking me. I’m really not up for that kind of attention from you.

“Whether you two are clean or not, that’s none of my business.

“Don’t bother explaining. Me and everyone else only trust what we see with our own eyes.”

She was basically saying she didn’t believe for a second that they were innocent. In her eyes, the more they tried to explain. the guiltier they looked.

Nicole was really kicking herself for bringing Jett along-he was the kind of guy who never failed to turn things into a disaster.

And with Nicolas straight-up cutting ties with her in front of everyone, then turning around and declaring his feelings for Alicia, Nicole just wanted the ground to swallow her up.

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Chapter 98

She couldn’t hold back her tears anymore. “I didn’t! I never wanted to steal anything from you…”

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Before she could finish, Alicia cut her off, clearly annoyed. “Can you stop with the waterworks already?”

She glanced at Caleb and Nicolas. “Well? Aren’t you two going to go comfort your precious sister and your darling little

crush?”

She added, “If she keeps crying like this, are we even going to be able to finish filming?”

Seeing Nicole start crying, everyone in the room and all the viewers online were just done with it.

‘Here we go again-the classic white lotus routine, they all thought.

These days, with the internet, everyone’s seen this kind of act a million times.

No one likes it when someone turns on the tears or starts milking the sympathy card just to get attention.

Only Caleb and Nicolas would actually buy into that act. Guess they just haven’t binged enough overbearing CEO mini- dramas.

So people started spamming their X accounts, recommending all sorts of boss romance shorts for them to check out.

Those shows are packed with white lotus types-they could easily spot a few Nicole wannabes in there.

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