The Year She Stopped Being Crazy for Him novel Chapter 442

Lara covered her mouth with a laugh. "Why is everyone so quiet? Too scared to guess? Seems like you've all figured it out."

Zachary quickly shot her a warning look. "Lara, what are you doing? What 'special circumstance'? Gardenia is obviously just joking with us."

Gardenia had been waiting for Hassan to step up and explain.

But from start to finish, his reaction remained completely detached. He showed absolutely no intention of speaking up for her.

Forced into a corner, she played along with Zachary. "Yeah, I'm just joking."

But no one at the table thought it was a joke anymore.

They were all internally losing their minds over the unspoken revelation, stealing covert glances at Natalie.

She was being blatantly humiliated right in front of everyone, yet she sat there without flinching.

If it were any ordinary woman, a screaming match would have erupted by now.

The person sitting next to Natalie thoughtfully nudged a glass toward her. "Do you... want a drink?"

Natalie smiled politely. "No, thank you. I'm not drinking tonight."

The rest of the dinner dragged on in suffocating awkwardness.

It didn't take long for the meal to devolve into a heavy drinking session. One by one, people lined up to toast Hassan.

Given his status, he was under no obligation to return the favor. It was entirely one-sided brown-nosing.

Hassan hated these kinds of social obligations. He glanced at Natalie.

She figured they had stayed long enough.

Standing up, she announced, "I have something I want to show everyone."

A server walked in from outside to help her set up the projector.

The room buzzed with renewed interest. "What is it?"

Natalie looked straight at Lara. "I'm sure Lara knows."

Lara froze, her gaze snapping toward her friend Vera. Both of them turned pale.

Yesterday, Vera had mentioned her account got hacked but was later recovered without anything missing.

Neither of them had thought much of it.

Vera had even forwarded the old high school video of her bullying Cora just for kicks, laughing over voice notes as they rewatched it.

When you have skeletons in your closet, every rustle of the wind feels like karma coming for you.

Lara tried desperately to keep her cool.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify