I stayed in the bathroom for twenty minutes before Roni found me, her expression sympathetic but also calculating in a way that suggested she was already thinking about strategic responses.
"Isabella," she said gently, "I know this is horrible. But we need to figure out how to respond before the narrative gets completely controlled by the Calloways."
"Respond how? Alexander just publicly dumped me in front of the entire academy while his mother watched with satisfaction. What response counters that?"
"Any response that shows you're not destroyed by this. Any statement that reclaims your agency instead of being positioned as the rejected pharmaceutical heiress."
Before I could argue, Nick appeared with Julian, both looking angry in their respective ways—Nick's controlled fury and Julian
