Chapter 41Lucas sat at the library table looking at the defence plan for the morning hearing when he heard the front door creak open. Heels clicking on the marble floor ran through the villa with unmistakable authority."Lucas?" Estelle's voice sounded from the entrance hall. "We have to talk. Now.""How did you get here?" Lucas asked in a cold tobe "And how did you hear about the hearing?"Estelle put down her briefcase on the ground. "I have informants at the university. One of them told me of the new allegations hours after being made." She looked at Lucas"You don't have to be prepared to defend yourself," Estelle said firmly "I'm in charge of this. I swear."The words should have been soothing. They gave Lucas the cold shudders instead. There was something about where Estelle was standing—neither aggressive, precisely, nor reassuring. She was too still, too upright, as if she had been waiting."What do you do?" Lucas faltered. "The hearing tomorrow morning. I'm accused of falsif

Chapter 43Lucas should have realized that exonerating himself in court would not silence the rumors. The university had brushed off the accusations, had issued their press release of "regrettable errors" and "issues of security," but the court of public opinion played by other rules. Rules that were unrelated to facts or official dismissal and all about the kind of psychology that plays havoc during mobs.He discovered how much different those regulations were three days later, when Dominic sent him a link with the message: You need to see this. It's bad.Lucas opened the link on his laptop and his stomach lurched. It was an Instagram account @JohnsonTruthExposed, opened two days prior but already with over three thousand followers. The bio read:Exposing the REAL Lucas Johnson - Elite Fraud, Academic Cheat, Fake Humble Rich Boy.The posts were vicious.The most recent featured a photo of Lucas from the Elite Summit—him sitting in his designer attire.This is a privilege. As you're s

Chapter 45The moment Estelle saw Lucas’s name trending again for all the wrong reasons, her eyes narrowed, not in surprise, but calculation. She moved like a storm with purpose, her calm demeanor belying the sheer intensity of what she was orchestrating behind the scenes.She didn’t panic.Instead, she reached for her laptop, her phone, and a thick brown folder she kept stashed in her bottom drawer. Inside were names, email addresses, screenshots, archived conversations, and a growing collection of receipts. Not just from now, but from past incidents that had nothing to do with Lucas. This wasn’t her first time.While Lucas sat in his dorm room wondering how his name could be dragged through the mud for a third time in less than a month, Estelle was already at war.She started with the university administration.“Hi, Dr. Meyers,” she said over the phone. “I need ten minutes of your time. It’s urgent, and it concerns the integrity of the student body.”Ten minutes turned into thirty.

Chapter 47Lucas.At first, I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me. Probably stress, or fatigue and maybe a little too much caffeine. Easy explanations. But the feeling wouldn’t go away and the subtle sense that something or someone was always watching. It had a very big effect on me. It was like everywhere I moved was being filmed, and my daily life was monitored. I just didn't feel in control anymore and it made me feel sick. It started with the security cameras. I’d never paid them much attention before. They were just part of campus life, always mounted high, their red lights blinking like tired eyes. But suddenly, I began to notice them more. Not just notice, but watching and tracking them down.Their angles, their placement and how they seemed to shift, as though they were newly installed. A few now pointed directly at the routes I took daily. My dorm entrance, the shortcut behind the humanities building, the narrow alley behind the library.Had they always been the

Chapter 49Lucas had already encountered the lady in gray clothes on one certain Tuesday morning. She sat at a table by the corner, her laptop was in front of her as hot coffee was at the top of the table as she was typing on the laptop, looking up every now and then as she looked in the direction that Lucas had taken his order. There was nothing unusual about her, a thirty-five year old lady, dressed in business attire and focused on her duties. Just that Lucas couldn't shake off the feeling that he had already met her.He picked up his coffee and attempted to convince himself that it was a coincidence as he saw a table in front of him in the café. The Café was popular so many people trooped in, for their meals and coffee. But as he opened his laptop and began to prepare for his international finance class, he sensed her gaze on him. When he looked up she was busily staring at her screen, playing with her keys.Lucas attempted to shake off the discomfort and concentrate on what he wa