AVAILABLE BALANCE: $12,057.00 ​Darius stared at the balance in his savings account, a sudden warmth flushing his eyes. For over a year, every grueling hour spent as a campus dispatch rider had built toward this single number. While other students slept, Darius had been shuttling high-value packages, confidential documents, and luxury deliveries between the exclusive presidential dorms and the secure receiving center. As a scholarship student constantly scraping by, the job was his lifeline, covering the vast chasms his meager stipend couldn't touch. ​But this morning, the exhaustion in his bones evaporated. It was his girlfriend's birthday. He and Kimberley had been together for 2 years and he just wanted this particular birthday to be special. ​For months, he had secretly kept track of the things she pointed at in magazines and he had spent every single cent of his savings earlier that morning to get em. On his bed in the cramped dorm room sat

"Charlie, slow down. What problem?" Darius pressed the phone tighter to his ear, stepping away from Holt and the grandmaster toward the tall study windows. "The university administration has called an emergency disciplinary panel which is going to be held tomorrow!" Charlie stammered, his voice shaking. "Also, Mr. Bentley, just left here with five security men! They’ve torn our room apart looking for you, and they’re threatening to expel me if I don’t tell them where you are. Where the hell are you and what did you do to Mars?" Darius's stomach dropped, the momentary warmth of the last hour evaporating in an instant. "I'm... I'm handling something right now," Darius said carefully, glancing back at the two men watching him with quiet interest. "Just tell them you don't know where I am. If they come back, don't say anything else to the security, Charlie. Nothing. You understand me?" "Darius, they're not playing around. Mars's father is on the board of trustees.

It was around eleven o'clock at the Greywick University. The administrative hall was already crowded by the time Darius arrived, students clustered along the corridor pretending not to stare as he passed. Whispers followed him like a current. *That's him. The delivery guy who broke Mars Bentley's face.* *Did you hear he tried to pay with a fake black card last night to impress his ex-girlfriend who dumped him?* *I think he's going to be expelled, Mr. Bentley is going to ensure that.* Charlie walked beside him, jaw tight, trying to keep a calm composure, but as soon as he sighted Mr. Bentley, his eyes widened with terror. "Darius, Mr. Bentley is here." "I can clearly see that." "Guyyy, you have to apologize. When we get in there, just drop to your knees and beg Mr. Bentley for forgiveness. If you swallow your pride, maybe he’ll drop the criminal charges and let you graduate!" Charlie whispered, his heart hammering against his chest. Darius looked at his roommate, his

Morning light spilled across the penthouse in long golden bars, catching on crystal glassware that neither of them remembered owning. Charlie was the first to notice the smell — warm, buttery, impossibly rich — and he was out of bed and down the hallway before his eyes had fully adjusted to being awake. "Darius!" His voice cracked with disbelief as he skidded to a stop at the dining table. "Darius, get out here right now!"Laid out across the marble surface was a spread that belonged in a five-star Michelin restaurant: On the dining table sat a lavish spread: delicate folds of smoked salmon draped over a bed of capers, a platter of imported French cheeses, flaky pastries still warm enough to fog the glass dome covering them, and a silver pot of Blue Mountain coffee releasing slow curls of steam into the air. Crystal glasses held fresh orange juice, and a small bowl of caviar sat elegantly on ice. Charlie spun around, half expecting to find a chef standing sheepishly in the