Chapter 22 Lucas “...You can stay here without worries, I'll make sure they attend to you well.” She finished, smiling at me and I nodded even though I didn't hear half of what she said. Estelle walked forward and I tailed slowly behind her, listening to every instruction she gave. “You can consider this place your home. Feel free to do anything you want.” She completed, turning and bumping into me who stayed immersed in thoughts. I stepped back immediately, muttering an apology. Estelle shook her hands in the air, saying it was nothing before she turned towards the door. “Here's your room. You can call any of the maids if you have something that needs urgent help.” She said and I nodded. I watched on as she opened the door, placing the luggage into the room. She turned towards me who stood frozen at the doorstep before she called out to my name. “Lucas?” She called, and I stepped in immediately, waving off my thoughts. “I think you should be fine here. I'll get going now.”

Chapter 24The morning sun filtered through the curtains of Lucas room, but it had a chill air accompanying it. He reached out to the bedside table to pick his phone as he looked at the thousand messages that flooded his phone. He opened his mouth in shock as he looked up to the top of the headlines and saw his own name written up there with the hashtag #LucasTheScammerHis hands moved on its own, scrolling through post after post. Each one worse and stings more than the last. Screenshots of bank transactions that he had never made, numbers with too many zeros flowing from the company's account to his “personal account”. Photos of him, some he recognized from charity events, others from business dinner, but they'd been edited, darkened, placed alongside images of men in expensive suits with their faces blurred out. The captions painted him as a con artist, a fraud who'd built his lifestyle on stolen money.“Breaking news: Lucas Johnson exposed as fraud” one of the headlines said.“Lu

Chapter 26The journey to the house had become slow as Lucas was thinking about the earlier incident that had occurred in the afternoon. It was in only a short while that he had become rich so he couldn't pinpoint who was the enemy.“Has there been anyone who has been watching me from the beginning?” He pondered.Although he was still careful in his movement making sure that he was not being followed.Getting to the villa, he removed his cap, smoothing his hair with one hand and trying to compose himself. Maybe Estelle wasn't home yet. Maybe he could slip upstairs and change, then pretend he'd been in his room all afternoon.But the moment he opened the door, he knew that his hope was futile.Estelle was sitting down on the chair facing the door as if she had been waiting for him personally. Circling the glass of wine which was in her hands. She did not greet him when she saw him rather she looked at him with those cold calculating eyes “Lucas,” she said, her voice cold. “Sit down,”

Chapter 28The integrity speech had concluded without ever once referring to Lucas by name, but with a significance that had been unambiguous. References to "those who abuse their offices," to "the unrestrained evils of nepotism," to "maintaining standards even in privilege"—each had been a biting rebuke, and each had known it.Lucas had sat through the entire affair, having a nonchalant look throughout the session. When at last there was applause, he'd risen in a slow pace not wishing to be discovered.The ballroom now transitioned into network mode. The formal seating arrangement dissolved as the guests rose from their tables, champagne glass in hand, forming groups, with fake smiles and hidden motives.Lucas rose slowly, adjusting his suit jacket and looking around the room with the careful attention of a man stepping through a minefield.A group of students he'd gotten used to his first year huddled together in a tight group near one of the cocktail tables, their group tiny. As Lu

Chapter 30Lucas' mind wandered to the conversations that he had shared with Estelle over the few weeks. Every sincere assurance sounded like manipulation. Every time she had told him to be quiet, to trust her, to leave things in her hands.“Was it to protect him or to control him?” He pondered.Recalling the words that she had said earlier, he sighed. In the world of power and politics, he needed help not from outsiders or from the ones who claimed to be his “sister”, he needed genuine ones. People who had an idea of who he is but had no stake in whatever game that was played behind the scenes.Charlotte and Dominic. They were the only ones who stood by him. They were the only ones who'd stood by him for everything—the plagiarism accusation, the Twitter storm and the rest. They'd never demanded anything in return, never tried to make money out of his situation.If he was going to act on it, he needed assistance. And they were the only people he had.Having come to the conclusion, Luc