Julien's words were so absolute that Sydney was left speechless, but her heart swelled with happiness.
Julien had made his choice, and that was siding with her.
In this case, she would have nothing to worry about. Julien would not deliberately play down the matter because Mr. McDaniel was his teacher.
It wasn't that she was hard-hearted and wanted to force Julien to break ties with his teacher, nor did she want to hold onto the matter and make Miss McDaniel pay the price.
Rather, she knew that if she went soft and let them go because of their connections with Julien, they wouldn't be grateful.
On the contrary, they would see it as a sign of her weakness and continue to cause her trouble.
Sometimes, people must not be soft-hearted or worry about relationships, or it would promise trouble.
Most importantly, the McDaniel family had connections with Julien, not her.
Sydney's eyes flickered for a moment.
Luke, who had originally doubted Julien and sang against him, had nothing more to say.
After all, Julien had declared his willingness to hold justice for Sydney and cut off his ties with the McDaniel family.
What else could he say?
Deep down, he even admired Julien for his rationality and sensitivity.
Julien was not an indecisive man who was easily swayed by irrelevant emotions.
As long as Julien remained so sensible and sober, Sydney should not suffer any grievances.
So, although Luke still didn't like Julien, he stopped pursuing the matter.
Julien didn't care about Luke's attitude toward him. He didn't even look at Luke as he rubbed Sydney's head and stood up. "Since we already know who did this, I will take care of it."
Sydney's lips parted as she tried to say something, but Julien's phone suddenly rang.
Shutting her mouth, she signaled for him to answer the phone.
Julien took out his phone and saw it was Zack calling. Thinking it must be something important, he quickly put the phone to his ear. "Hello?"
"Mr. Flint, I've just returned from the Squirrel team. I managed to pry the truth out of Mr. Guzman's mouth," Zack said, stepping out of the door and standing in front of his car. He twisted his head to look back at the building, his expression complex and heavy.
Julien listened, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "Go on."
Zack took a deep breath, calming his inner turmoil before slowly speaking. "Mr. Guzman said..."
He hesitated, unable to get to the point.
Julien's eyebrows furrowed, and he said impatiently, "Spit it out, or I'll hang up."
"Okay!" Zack hurriedly responded.
Julien put the phone back to his ear. "Shoot away."
Zack closed his eyes, as if making a decision. When he opened them again, they were clear and calm. He then retold the whole story.
"Mr. Guzman said that Miss McDaniel was behind this. A week ago, she called him and asked him to arrange for paparazzi to follow Ms. Raines in an attempt to take scandalous photos of her. But after a week, the paparazzi still got nothing, so they decided to fabricate some. Then a paparazzo saw Ms. Raines and Mr. Chase going to the hotel together when he was stalking Ms. Raines. That's how the rumor started online."
He paused for a response but got none. Unsure of what Julien was thinking, he continued, "According to Mr. Guzman, Miss McDaniel did this because she likes you. Through creating a scandal, she intended to break up Ms. Raines and you."
"I know," Julien replied icily, glancing at Sydney.
Zack was taken aback. "You... know that Miss McDaniel was behind this and her reasons for doing so?"
Julien hummed in response.
Still, his pride in her was endearing.
This man was really...
Sydney shook her head and laughed.
On the other end of the call, Zack was struck dumb.
He groaned inwardly, sensing the underlying mockery. Mr. Flint was ridiculing his lack of foresight to comprehend such a straightforward matter.
Perhaps he was indeed inept?
Zack was left with a sinking feeling.
Regardless of Zack's state of mind, Julien abandoned his pride for Sydney for now and reverted to his usual stoic demeanor. "What about the editor-in-chief?"
Sydney's ears pricked up, her body instinctively leaning toward him.
Evidently, she was keen to know as well.
From Julien's words, she deduced that Zack had discovered that Erin was the ringleader through a strategy similar to hers.
The only difference was that she focused on those surrounding the editor-in-chief, pressuring them to assist in her investigation.
And Zack had chosen to confront the editor-in-chief directly.
Why else would Julien inquire Zack about that man's situation?
Knowing Zack well, she guessed that he had taken hard measures.
And she was also eager to learn of the editor-in-chief's fate.
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