DANTE'S POV
I was supposed to be in Economics when I heard the screaming.
The smart thing would've been to keep walking. Mind my own business. Stay out of whatever drama was happening in the North Dorm.
But I'd never been good at doing the smart thing.
I jogged toward the commotion, pulling out my phone to text my cousin Marco: Something's happening at North Dorm. Crowd gathering. Feels bad.
His response was immediate: Stay out of it. Your father will kill you if you get involved in another scandal.
Too late. I was already pushing through the crowd of students, all of them recording on their phones like vultures. I hated that about this place—everyone treated other people's pain like entertainment.
I broke through to the front and froze.
Alex stood in a doorway, his face pale with fury. Beside him was a girl I didn't recognize—messy dark hair, an ill-fitting uniform, and eyes that looked like she'd been punched in the gut.
The lottery winner. Had to be.
I looked past them into the destroyed room. Everything was trashed. And that message on the wall in red paint made my stomach turn.
"Everyone back up!" Alex's voice cracked like a whip. "Now!"
Nobody moved. Of course they didn't. They were too busy filming.
The lottery girl—Jade, I remembered her name from the morning announcements—suddenly pushed past Alex and walked straight into the destroyed room. She moved like a robot, picking up a torn shirt, then a broken picture frame.
"Jade, don't—" Alex reached for her but she jerked away.
"Don't touch me." Her voice was quiet but sharp as glass. "This is my problem. Not yours."
"Whoever did this committed a crime. I'll have security investigate—"
"Security?" She laughed, and it was the saddest sound I'd ever heard. "Your security is probably the one who did it. Or looked the other way while someone else did."
Alex flinched like she'd slapped him.
She turned to face the crowd, and I saw tears streaming down her face even though her expression was blank. "Got enough footage? Make sure you get my good side."
Several students had the decency to look ashamed. Most kept recording.
I stepped forward before I could stop myself. "Hey. Show's over. Delete the videos or I'll make sure your parents get calls about cyberbullying. Move."
"Who are you to—" someone started.
"Dante Morelli. Italian Duke's son. My family owns half the telecommunications companies your parents use for business." I smiled, but it wasn't friendly. "So unless you want to explain to them why their accounts got mysteriously frozen, I suggest you leave. Now."
The crowd scattered like roaches when you turn on a light.
Alex looked at me with surprise and something like gratitude. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet." I walked into the destroyed room, careful not to step on anything important. "Jade, right? I'm Dante. And I'm really sorry this happened to you."
She was still holding the broken picture frame. I could see the photo inside—an older woman with Jade's eyes, smiling.
"My mom," she whispered. "This was the only picture I brought. And they broke it."
Something cracked in my chest. I knew what it was like to have something precious destroyed by people who didn't care.
"We can fix the frame," I said gently. "The photo looks okay. Just the glass is broken."
She looked at me then, really looked, and I saw the exact moment she decided I was another rich kid who didn't understand anything.
"You can't fix this." She gestured at the room. "You can't fix any of this. So why don't you go back to your fancy life and let me deal with my mess?"
Most girls at this school flirted with me. Batted their eyelashes. Laughed at my jokes even when they weren't funny.
This girl looked at me like I was part of the problem.
I was completely fascinated.
"You're right," I said. "I can't fix this. But I can help you find who did it."
"Why would you help me?"
"Because I'm bored. Because this place is full of fake people doing fake things, and you're the first real person I've met in years. Because—" I paused, surprised by my own honesty. "Because someone should."
She stared at me for a long moment. Then she turned back to salvaging what she could from the wreckage.
I took that as a maybe.
Alex was on his phone, barking orders at someone about security footage and fingerprints. He was trying so hard to help, but I could see Jade pulling away from him with every word. She didn't want his royal authority. She wanted to be left alone.
But being left alone was the worst thing for her right now.
I pulled out my phone and texted Marco again: Need a favor. Big one.
What now?
There's a girl who needs protection. And friends. And someone who isn't going to treat her like a charity case.
Dante, no. Don't get involved.
Too late. I'm already involved.
I looked up and saw Jade watching me with suspicious eyes.
"Who are you texting?"
"My cousin. He's good at finding information." I put my phone away. "Like who might have done this."
"Let me guess—you want something in return? That's how it works here, right? Nothing's free."
"You're cynical. I like that." I grinned. "But no. No strings attached. Scout's honor."
"Were you even a scout?"
"Absolutely not. I got kicked out for—" I stopped. "That's a story for another time."
She almost smiled. Almost.
My phone buzzed. Marco's response made my blood run cold: Just checked security logs. All cameras in North Dorm were disabled from 10:15 to 11:30 this morning. Professionally done. This wasn't a student prank—this was planned.
I looked at the destruction again with new eyes. This wasn't random vandalism.
This was a message. A warning.
And whoever sent it had the power to disable academy security.
I glanced at Alex, who was still on his phone. Did he know? Was he involved?
No. I'd known Alex for years. He was many things—arrogant, entitled, emotionally constipated—but he wasn't cruel. The look on his face when he'd seen this room was genuine shock.
Which meant someone else was behind this. Someone with resources and access.
"Jade," I said carefully. "Has anyone threatened you directly? Before this?"
She hesitated, then shook her head. "No. Why?"
Before I could answer, Alex's phone rang. He answered it, his face going from pale to gray.
"What? When?" He listened, his jaw tightening. "I'm on my way."
He hung up and looked at Jade with something like fear in his eyes.
"What?" she demanded.
"There's been another incident. Someone spray-painted your photo across the main courtyard with the same message. 'Charity trash doesn't belong here.'" He paused. "And they used your face from your employee photo. The one that wasn't public until this morning."
My stomach dropped.
Someone had access to restricted academy files. And they were escalating fast.
Jade's face went white. "How many people saw it?"
"The entire school," Alex said quietly. "It's the main courtyard. Everyone passes through there."
For a second, I thought she might break. Her hands were shaking, her breathing quick.
Then she lifted her chin, and I saw steel in her eyes.
"Fine. They want to humiliate me? Let them try. I've survived worse than mean rich kids." She looked at me, then at Alex. "But if either of you think I'm going to run crying back to Seattle, you don't know me at all."
She walked out of the destroyed room with her head high, still clutching the broken picture frame.
Alex and I exchanged a look.
"She's either the bravest person I've ever met," I said, "or the most stubborn."
"Both," Alex muttered. "Definitely both."
My phone buzzed again. Another message from Marco: You need to see this. Check the school's anonymous message board. NOW.
I pulled it up, my stomach sinking with each second.
Someone had created an entire thread about Jade. Her address back in Seattle. Her mother's death. Her sister's rejection. Her financial struggles. Every painful detail of her life, exposed for entertainment.
And at the bottom, a poll: How long until the charity case drops out? Place your bets.
Over three hundred students had already voted.
I showed Alex. His face went deadly calm—the expression he got before he did something either really smart or really stupid.
"We need to tell her," I said.
"No." Alex's voice was hard. "Not yet. She's barely holding it together. This will destroy her."
"She has a right to know—"
"Tomorrow. We tell her tomorrow. After we figure out who's behind this and make them regret ever touching her."
I wanted to argue. But looking at the poll, at the cruel comments, at the private details of Jade's life scattered for everyone to mock...
Maybe Alex was right. Maybe she needed one night where she didn't know how bad it really was.
"Fine. Tomorrow." I paused. "But Alex? Whoever did this isn't playing games. They want her gone. And they're not going to stop until she is."
"Then we make sure she stays," Alex said.
"We?" I raised an eyebrow. "Since when are we a team?"
"Since about ten minutes ago when you decided to get involved." He looked at me seriously. "Can I count on you?"
I thought about Jade's exhausted eyes. Her broken picture frame. The way she'd stood up to a crowd of people filming her pain.
"Yeah," I said. "You can count on me."
We walked out together, neither of us noticing the blonde girl watching from the stairwell shadows.
Camilla smiled and took one more photo of the destroyed room.
This was going even better than she'd planned.