They said Jace will be a bum forever.He smiled. Challenge accepted.They said his attitude would land him in jail.Cool. He like bars.They said he'd get a girl pregnant in freshman year.Guess what? He did.And right now, She’s on his chest. Two of them are eighteen. The baby in her stomach is five months. Tomorrow, they'd be getting married. No priest, no fucking courts. It'd be right here in their hostel. Four months from now, a sophomore med student would guide them through the birth. Fuck hospitals and doctors. Her phone buzzed. He glanced. She slammed it shut.She turned to him, face inches from his.“I want to go outside,” she whispered.“Why? Pain?” he asked.“No. I’m fine. Just…” She kissed him. “Be back soon.” She stood, and Jace watched her go, a grin spreading.Humans were fucked up. They said pregnancy was hard. Morning sickness, aches, swollen bellies. Bullshit.Five months. No complaints. No symptoms. Nothing. Except proof in the damn test that confirmed it.Then a v

Jace shot the chief one last disgusted look and pushed out of the office. He checked the credit alert again. $38 million. Real? Fake? No way to know. The universe had already proved it was unhinged today.A quiet sob drifted from down the hall. A kid. Jace turned and saw a tiny thing, maybe ten, wiping his face with his sleeve.“Hey,” Jace snapped, “if you wanna cry, go do that outside. The cops aren’t gonna give a shit about you in here.”The boy looked up, eyes red. “Please… can you help me? My brother was—”“—caught with drugs or alcohol?” Jace cut in.“He had an argument with—”“Lead the way.”No patience. Never had any. Especially not with cops breathing the same air.The kid hesitated but then led him back to one of the stalls where a cop stood, arms folded like he owned the building.“How much is the bail?” Jace asked, jaw clenched.“Who are—”“How much?” Jace repeated, voice dropping with that don't test me edge.“Two thousand dol—”Jace already sent it before the cop finished

Inside the office, the dean handed over the documents with… respect.Jace grabbed them, tossed them on the table, and scanned through the basics. Eighty percent of the shares in the school. He looked up at the dean, barely holding himself together.“Woah,” Jace muttered. “I’m not doing nothing.”“I’m sorry… is there a problem, Mr. Jace?”Jace chuckled. “Oh, of course there are problems. For the past five months, my life’s been filmed. Even when I’m sleeping. Millions of eyes watching me. And you know what’s the funniest part?”The dean shook his head sharply. “No, sir,” he said quickly.Jace leaned in, voice dropping like he was about to reveal a sacred secret. “I once told Maya I peed in bed… until I was twelve.” Then he busted into laughter.The dean trembled, cold sweat breaking out across his forehead. That mix of shock, confusion, and terror—classic.“I find it funny… that a lot of people heard that,” Jace said, the smile fading into something sharp, dangerous.“I-I’m sorry, sir.

8:30 p.m.Jace had grabbed a bunch of clothes—high-end, limited-edition shit. He sat on the hotel bed, watching Maya on the brand-new tablet he’d ordered an hour ago.She was on a livestream, spewing bullshit to her followers.“Y’all can’t believe what he did,” she whimpered. “He went to my studio and destroyed everything.”“So wicked!”“He should be arrested.”“Don’t cry, love.”“He doesn’t deserve you.”Jace slid on his Rolex and glanced at the mirror. His stomach twisted.How many times had he stood right here—well, in some mirror somewhere—whispering:“You’re so handsome. You deserve Maya. You deserve her love.”To himself.Like a fucking clown.While millions watched his delusion unfold in real time.His lips curled in a smile. Crying is predictable.And God, he really let his guard down with Maya. Crying in front of her whenever bad news from home hit him.Shit.His phone rang, cutting off the urge to punch the mirror.A strange number.He answered.“Hey, Jace,” a voice said on

Jace sat down with the girl. She was breathtaking—eyes that caught every glance in the damn room. He’d joined the party late, barely two minutes, and before they could even start ‘getting to know each other,’ the DJ was blasting, signaling the dance floor. Jace didn’t sit still. He never had been a gentle guy—whatever the hell that meant—and he wasn’t about to start now. At a corner, Maya watched. Jace, sitting with the second richest girl in the school—a sophomore, medical student, killer looks—was driving her insane. Why the fuck was this girl with Jace? She couldn’t concentrate on her own boyfriend, who had been yapping at her all day. But this… this was Maverick’s girlfriend. How the hell was Maverick letting this happen with a dumbass like Jace? “Babe?” her boyfriend called, fumbling, desperate for attention. Maya looked at him, fuming. “Huh? What?” “Do you want us to hit the dance floor?” he asked, like it was nothing. “Yeah,” she snapped, deliberately positioning herself