The Unveiling of Secret Queen

Chapter 1130: Chapter 1130: Fortune Turns, Simply Not Answering Caryn Zachmann’s Phone Call

Sherrina Yacoub was also looking at her, the almond eyes no longer held the prior trust: ”Caryn, is what those people are saying on Twitter true?”

Caryn Zachmann raised her head in a panicked state, meeting her gaze.

Sherrina’s eyes carried complex emotions—doubt, astonishment, mostly disbelief, with a hint of concealed disdain.

Caryn sharply caught that hidden disdain.

That trace of contempt in Sherrina’s eyes was like a needle stabbing into Caryn’s heart!

”Sherrina.” Caryn was the first to avoid meeting Sherrina’s gaze. Her face turned pale as she frustratedly pushed back her chair and stood up, grabbing her phone from the table: ”I need to step out and make a quick call.”

She didn’t wait for Sherrina to probe further.

Holding her phone, Caryn hurriedly fled from the café as if escaping.

...

Caryn hadn’t gone far before finding a secluded corner by the roadside. Bowing her head, she restlessly checked the text message Stanley Zachmann had sent her again.

The more she looked, the more anxious and unsettled her heart felt.

She furrowed her brows, took a deep breath, and pinched her palms to force herself to calm down before dialing Stanley’s phone number back.

It had been three hours since the incident happened.

During the three to four hours of online fermentation, Caryn had been unreachable, even after Mr. Zachmann had called her twice. She reluctantly answered only one of his calls.

After that, she quickly turned off her phone, refusing to let anyone contact her.

Her approach essentially shut down any chance of anyone reaching her to explain things online and clear Nathalie Quinlan’s name, which wasn’t a problem at first. But now...

The first call Caryn made to Stanley went unanswered.

She bit her lip, feeling increasingly uncertain and deeply uneasy.

She stared at the phone screen in her hand, bit her lip again, and shamelessly dialed Stanley’s number once more.

”Beep...beep...beep...”

Still no answer this time.

Caryn’s face could no longer be described as merely embarrassed. Her delicate, oval-shaped face had lost all color, making her look utterly distraught.

Every now and then, someone would pass by on the street, and passers-by invariably glanced in her direction.

Though Caryn knew these people didn’t recognize her, she couldn’t shake off the vexed and irritable feeling of being observed.

That irritation and frustration escalated to the extreme as Stanley ignored all three of her calls.

Gripped by overwhelming anxiety, she helplessly lowered her phone, standing there dazed, unable to process how things had gotten so out of hand.

Just then, her phone rang.

Uncle?

Caryn grasped at the incoming call as if it were her last lifeline, not bothering to check the caller ID before hastily answering: ”Hello, Uncle, I...”

”Caryn, it’s me.”

Leonardy Zachmann’s voice came through from the other end of the line.

Caryn felt as though she’d fallen straight from the clouds into an abyss. She froze for a moment before responding: ”Dad, what’s up?”

”Where are you right now?” Leonardy’s voice came through the phone, calm and unreadable.

Caryn glanced up at Tsinghua University across the street, pursed her lips, and lowered her voice: ”I’m at a café near Tsinghua University with a friend, having coffee.”

She felt uncertain and quickly attempted to explain, adding, ”You know her—it’s Sherrina Yacoub. She just returned from abroad. She came to visit the university today. We hadn’t seen each other in a long time, so she invited me out to catch up... we’ve only just sat down.”

Her meaning was that she hadn’t been lying—when Mr. Zachmann had called her earlier, she had indeed been busy with departmental matters, and it was only after that that she went out with Sherrina.