Of all people, this was who Lionel had been protecting.
Fay greeted me as if nothing were wrong.
"Hey there, Moira! Long time no see!"
My teeth chattered beyond my control. My voice came out scraped raw.
"Why? Why her?!"
The fury I'd been choking down erupted. I seized Lionel's collar and shoved my face into his.
"She spread those fake videos of me. She got me expelled. Did you forget all of that?"
Lionel wrenched free and slammed me back onto the couch. His voice cracked into a snarl.
"Enough, Moira! Are you going to hold that petty crap over everyone's heads for the rest of your life? Fay was only eighteen. And let's not pretend you weren't the one throwing yourself at her boyfriend first!"
A ringing filled my ears.
For what felt like minutes I watched Lionel's lips move without hearing a single word.
He'd forgotten.
I'd only been nineteen that year.
I never threw myself at Fay's boyfriend. I was just a pawn in their game.
Fay launched her vendetta because her boyfriend glanced at me once in the dining hall. She hired a hacker to deepfake a video of me and my professor, then spread it across the university forums.
I was forced out of school.