Chapter 174

• The First People’s Hospital.
• I shouldn’t have been there, but I needed to see the wolves circling, needed to know how deep their fangs had sunk. The corridor smelled of disinfectant and false pity, and when I stopped by the slightly open door of Vanessa’s room, her laughter drifted out, sharp and smug.
• She lounged in the hospital bed like a queen in exile, holding a glass of red wine in one hand, her phone in the other, her painted lips curved in satisfaction. I didn’t need to see the screen to know what she was looking at my name dragged through the dirt on Weibo, headlines screaming lies, the world spitting my story back in my face.