Elena woke up to the sound of her phone vibrating so hard it nearly fell off her nightstand.
It wasn't an alarm. It was a barrage of notifications from the Blackwood Confidential—the university's anonymous gossip app.
[LEAKED]: The Prince and the Pauper? Who is the mystery girl Julian Blackwood was pinning against a pillar at the Gala? Poor Cissy...
Elena's heart dropped into her stomach. The photo was grainy, taken through the heavy rain, but it was unmistakable. You couldn't see their faces clearly, but you could see the emerald silk of her dress and the possessive curve of Julian's silhouette.
"No," she whispered.
She dressed in record time, throwing on her oversized hoodie to hide, but the moment she stepped onto the quad, she felt the shift. The whispers followed her like a physical weight.
"That's her."
"The transfer? Gutsy. Does she know what Cissy does to people who touch her things?"
The Lion's Den: Economics 101
When Elena walked into the lecture hall, the silence was deafening. Julian was already there, sitting in his usual spot. Cissy was draped over his desk, her hand resting on his shoulder, a diamond the size of a marble glinting on her finger.
Julian looked up as Elena entered. His eyes were colder than the rain from the night before. There was no trace of the man who had kissed her until her lungs burned.
"Look who decided to show up," Cissy purred, her eyes like chips of ice. "The scholarship girl with the sticky fingers. Julian was just telling me how annoying it was that a student was harassing him for grade favors outside last night."
Elena stopped in her tracks. Harassing him?
"Is that what happened, Julian?" Elena asked, her voice trembling with a mixture of disbelief and a new, sharper kind of hate.
Julian didn't look away. He leaned back, his arm sliding around Cissy's waist in a public display of ownership.
"I told you last night, Vance. I don't like being followed," he said, his voice flat and cruel. "If you're that desperate for a passing grade, try studying instead of stalking your betters."
The class erupted in laughter. Elena felt the sting of tears, but she refused to let them fall. She realized then that Julian wasn't just playing a role; he was a master of it. He was protecting her by painting her as a crazy stalker—making her too "pathetic" for Cissy to bother destroying.
But the cost of that protection was her dignity.
The Secret Note
As the lecture ended, Julian walked past her. He didn't look at her, but as his coat brushed her desk, a small, folded piece of paper fluttered onto her lap.
Elena waited until the room cleared to open it.
"Check your bank account. Don't look at me in public again. She's watching."
Elena pulled up her banking app. Her balance, which had been $42.00, now read $5,042.00.
He was paying her. Just like his father had tried to do five years ago. He was trying to solve her problems with the one thing she hated most: Blackwood money.
"You idiot," she whispered, crumpling the note. "You think you can buy my silence? You think you can buy me?"
She didn't feel protected. She felt like a transaction.