The Transactional Marriage That Imploded novel Chapter 167

Bianca's laptop was compromised, and she had nothing else to do. She doom-scrolled through some industry forums on her phone until exhaustion finally pulled her under.

Once she was fast asleep, Mabel took Bianca's phone and slipped into the bathroom to make a call.

It rang for a long time before the person on the other end answered, groggy from being woken up.

"This is Bianca's grandmother," Mabel said softly. "I need your help finding Cynthia Quinn's exact location."

"What are you planning to do?" the person asked, surprised.

Mabel hid nothing, laying bare both her terminal illness and her final plan.

The line went dead silent for a long time. Finally, the person agreed.

"Thank you," Mabel said, a relieved smile touching her lips. "This is the very last thing I can do for my Bunny before I die."

Mabel deleted the call history, placed the phone back, and took one last look at the sleeping Bianca.

"Bunny, you have to live well on your own from now on. I can't stay with you anymore."

Mathis stayed awake until three in the morning, waiting for Bianca to call and beg for his help.

But his phone never rang, and no messages came through.

Anxiety began gnawing at him. Did Bianca really not care about being destroyed online?

Did she hate him so much that she would rather see her entire future burn than bow her head to him?

Mathis checked the social media platforms and realized almost all the hate posts had been scrubbed.

No wonder she hadn't come to him. Someone else had already stepped in.

Kingsbridge University's official statement and the old footage of Bianca's lectures had been pushed to the top of the trending lists—a lethal counterattack against the rumors branding her an academic fraud.

Clearly, whoever was behind this didn't want Mathis to intervene. The counter-narrative meticulously avoided directing the mob's fury back at Cynthia.

And it made zero mention of the fact that Bianca was his wife.

Cillian Calder was likely afraid that attacking Cynthia would provoke Mathis into protecting her, making the situation unpredictable.

"Shameless slut! Stop stealing other women's boyfriends!" the attacker screamed before sprinting away.

Bianca called the cops. The officers at the station took her statement but shook their heads. "That spot was a camera blind zone. They deliberately chose it to avoid being recorded."

"So you can't catch them?" Bianca asked.

The officer nodded sympathetically. "Whenever someone gets canceled online, irrational vigilantes come out of the woodwork.

I suggest you lay low for a while. The posts have already been deleted, and the internet has a short memory. It's the best option you have right now."

Bianca agreed and prepared to leave the station.

Milo arrived with a fresh change of clothes for her, which she changed into in a borrowed room at the precinct.

As she got into his car, Milo looked at her with pained eyes. "You really need bodyguards right now. These people are unhinged."

Bianca didn't want to owe him any more than she already did. "Thanks for the offer, Milo, but once I'm back in Austin City, I'll be driving everywhere. I should be fine."

Milo didn't push it, but he silently resolved to assign two covert bodyguards to tail her anyway.