Chapter 4

The air conditioning in the auditorium was freezing.

I smoothed out the edges of my graduation speech notes, only to crumple them again.

Suddenly, an email notification popped up on my phone.

The attachments contained everything needed to destroy my academic career.

Four years' worth of private chat logs between Lucas and me.

Grainy security footage screenshots of us entering and leaving the research lab together late at night.

The body of the email was razor-sharp:

"Chloe, if you don't step down from the graduation speech voluntarily, what will people think when they see these?"

"They'll think you used an inappropriate relationship to steal lab resources. They'll think your boyfriend ghostwrote all your research."

My fingers trembled as I checked the sender.

It was Lucas.

Looking up, I saw him standing in the shadows by the side exit of the auditorium, dressed in a sleek black suit.

The cufflinks he wore were bought with six months of my part-time tutoring money.

Seeing me look over, he walked toward me, still keeping a careful distance.

"You sent this."

There wasn't an ounce of guilt on his face. He didn't even blink.

"You forced my hand."

"Chloe, if you just stay in the background and don't get in Mia's way, nothing bad will happen to you."

"I'm just asking you to give her what belongs to her. Including this speech."

I clenched my jaw until my teeth ached. "Why her?"

Why should she get to sit back and steal the fruits of my sleepless nights?

Why should she get to stand on my stage, bask in my spotlight, and claim my graduation honor?

My name and bio were gone from the big screen. Mia's had taken their place.

Wearing an elegant beige dress, she stood at the podium, smiling gracefully.

Every eye in the room was fixed on her.

Resentment and agony flooded every inch of my chest.

Instinctively, I moved to rush the stage and rip the microphone from her hands.

A hard grip locked around my wrist.

He dragged me backward into the shadows. "Stop causing a scene. Let her have it."

I looked up, staring into his eyes, my voice shaking. "Why?"

"Because I'm worried people will pick on you and tear your speech apart if you go up there. I'm doing this for your own good."

He sounded so sincere, as if he genuinely cared about my well-being.

He didn't.

Mia wanted it, so my hard work was discarded like trash.

It had been this way for four years.

Co-author credits on papers, scholarship nominations, research opportunities—I was always expected to step aside for her.

Mia's sweet voice echoed across the auditorium, reciting every single word I had spent weeks perfecting.

A thunderous round of applause erupted, hitting my ears like a stinging slap across the face.

I couldn't stand another second. I ripped my arm out of Lucas's grip.

In that instant, my heart turned to ash, burying the very last ember of hope I had held for him.

I turned around and walked out of the graduation hall without looking back.

Lucas stayed where he was. He looked irritated, but he made no move to stop me.

He assumed I was just throwing another dramatic tantrum.

He thought that like the dozens of times before, I would crawl back the moment I cooled off.

Not this time.

Outside the campus gate, I hailed a cab. "Where to?" the driver asked.

"The airport."

I opened the campus forum on my phone one last time.

"Four years of chat logs showing Lucas chasing me are in the Drive link below."

"Link expires in 24 hours. Happy graduation, everyone."