Bully Lord

Part-147

James felt a surge of anger, but he managed to keep his cool. He knew that escalating the situation would not help. James met her steely gaze, feeling annoyed by her tone.

"I'll pop out your eyes if you look at me like that," Toya threatened.

"Oh come on! What kind of devil says something like that?" James retorted.

"Then tell me why you're doing this," Toya insisted.

James decided to be direct.

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable," he said, trying to defuse the situation. "But we're investigating a case of online scams, and we believe it might be connected to your grandmother."

James explained the online scamming situation and mentioned that one of the collected NIDs belonged to her grandmother.

Toya's expression softened slightly, but her skepticism remained. "What do you mean? My grandmother is innocent," she said, her voice filled with disbelief.

"I know," James replied. "That's why we need to talk to her. We think her identity might be being used by someone else."

Toya hesitated, her mind racing. She knew her grandmother was a kind and gentle soul, incapable of harming anyone. But she also knew that the world was full of dangerous people.

"I'll think about it," she said finally. "But don't expect me to agree to anything right away."

With that, she turned and walked away, leaving James feeling a mix of hope and uncertainty. He knew that convincing Toya to help them would be a challenge, but he was determined to try.

As he rejoined Ryan and Sourov, he filled them in on his conversation with Toya. They were both surprised by her reaction.

"I didn't think she would be so receptive," Ryan said.

"Maybe there's a chance," Sourov added, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

They decided to give Toya some time to think about it. In the meantime, they would continue their investigation, hoping to find more clues about the scammers.

The next day, as James sat at his desk, attempting to focus on his studies, his mind kept wandering back to the online scam investigation. The case had become an obsession, and he found it difficult to concentrate on anything else.

Midterms were approaching, and he knew he needed to buckle down and study. But the lure of the investigation was too strong. He tried to balance his time between schoolwork and the case, but it was a constant struggle.

Mili, his classmate and friendly rival, had noticed his distracted behavior. She had always been a top student, and the two of them were often competing for the second-highest rank in the class. Recently, she had been sending him cryptic messages, challenging him to study harder.

"If you beat me this time, I'll buy you coffee. And if I beat you, you'll have to buy me one," she had texted him earlier that day.

Though he was confused why her sudden challanging throwing competitiveness toward him, James found her sudden competitiveness amusing. He wasn't particularly interested in academic rankings, but he enjoyed the friendly rivalry. Besides, it gave him a much-needed distraction from the stress of the investigation.