Reborn to Burn Them All novel Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

“Go to hell, Sophia!” Howard roared, struggling to fight back in a blind

rage.

But instead of a heroic comeback, he found himself pinned to the ground by Sophia’s foot, totally helpless. His tough talk now sounded pathetic.

Sophia looked down at him, a smirk playing on her lips. “I could take out ten punks like you with just one punch.”

Howard clenched his fists, burning with humiliation. His veins throbbed on his forehead, eyes blazing red. Sophia’s foot felt like a boulder crushing him, pinning him down. No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t budge an inch.

Heather rushed over to help Howard.

Sophia shot her an icy look. “Want to join him?”

Heather remembered Sophia’s brutal methods. Somehow, Sophia seemed to know all her dirty secrets, and it made her pause. “He’s your brother. You can’t do this to him,” she murmured.

“Brother?” Sophia scoffed. “A loser like him thinks he deserves to be my

brother? Please.”

She lifted her foot slightly and looked down at Howard with disdain. “Get lost. I’m in a good mood today, so you get a pass. But next time, be prepared to lose a hand or a foot.”

Howard lay there, completely still.

Heather tried to help him up, but he didn’t budge.

“Howard, what’s wrong? Don’t scare me!” Heather cried, her eyes welling up with tears. She shot Sophia a death glare but quickly looked away.

Sophia let out a scornful laugh and slammed the door shut.

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After a few brutal minutes, Howard finally dragged himself up. He glared at Sophia’s closed door, his eyes bloodshot.

Too scared to yell, he muttered, “Don’t get cocky. I’m signing up for Taekwondo lessons right now. You’ll be eating your words soon.”

With that, he stumbled downstairs, leaning on Heather.

*****

Meanwhile, Sophia sat at her computer silently. She didn’t need to check her SAT scores–she already knew they were stellar. To avoid annoying calls, she had killed her phone early that morning.

‘Top SAT scorer?‘ She scoffed. After nine retakes, it was just another walk in the park for her. But reporters swarming the Chandler residence was a

first.

She sighed and grabbed her phone. The moment she switched it on, missed calls and messages flooded in. Within seconds, her phone was

blowing up non–stop.

“Hello, is this Sophia? I’m the admissions director at Jelasburg University. Would you like to visit our campus?”

“Hello, Sophia? I’m the admissions director from Halinston University. Can we have a conversation?”

“Congratulations, Sophia. You ranked first in the SAT. I’m the admissions director at Shariton University, and I’d love to discuss opportunities with

you.”

The offers were from some of the top universities in the country. Jelasburg University and Halinston University were especially aggressive, their recruitment campaigns feeling more like a full–on college war.

Sophia answered all the calls. She expected to feel annoyed, but surprisingly, she was flattered by the sincere interest from so many

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schools hoping she would choose them.

“I see what’s happening. She was jealous of Yvette and wanted to compete with her. When she realized she couldn’t keep up, she hired some reporters just to create a show and feed her ego. It’s all fake.”

Yvette stayed quiet, allowing Howard’s imagination to run wild. Just now, back in her room, she had had second thoughts–if Sophia really nailed those scores, Heather and Jonathan’s phones would have already been ringing off the hook.

Reporters had already shown up at their door, but there was no news online about Sophia being a top scorer among STEM students. Something didn’t sit right.

Yvette knew Sophia had a crazy good memory, but she still couldn’t accept that Sophia might actually be smarter than her.

Howard was already thinking about how to get back at Sophia. He bought Yvette’s story and thought Sophia was really naive–it felt like she was digging her own grave.

“Mom, Yvette, let’s go out for the interview,” he said. “Since the top scorer

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Chapter 12

isn’t showing up, it’s only fair that we, her family, step in.”

Seeing the malicious grin on Howard’s face, Yvette replied, “You and Mom can go ahead. Count me out.”

Howard quickly fixed his hair and clothes, then headed out with Heather.

The moment they appeared, the reporters swung their cameras into place.

“I apologize for my earlier rudeness,” Howard said with a charming smile. He was playing nice, even telling the servants to get water for the

reporters.

Before the reporters could get a word in, Howard launched into his explanation. “I’m sorry, but I was just too shocked to hold back. I couldn’t believe Sophia became the top STEM student. After all, her grades had been a total disaster.”

A reporter shoved a mic in his face and asked, “So you’re saying that Sophia’s SAT score is like a total underdog story?”

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