Expelled, Betrayed, and $100M Richer

Chapter 6

Ethan stood completely frozen in the middle of the room, his eyes wide with horror as Dean Raymond unfolded the official papers taken from his coat pocket. The black header printed across the top of the document was painfully clear to everyone present: Advanced Applied Mathematics - Final Examination.

"No... no, please!" Ethan gasped, his voice cracking as sweat broke out across his forehead. "That is impossible! They were supposed to be a love letter I wrote for our anniversary! I swear on my life, I did not steal anything\!"

Marcus took a slow step forward, covering his face with his trembling hands as if crushed by disappointment. 

"I am so deeply ashamed," Marcus sobbed, shaking his head dramatically. "I tried to hide his greed for so long, hoping he would change. But my son is a corrupt, deceitful human being who brings nothing but shame to our family name. He is nothing but a fraud who stole his way to the top!"

Beside Marcus, Chloe looked directly at Ethan. A sweet, innocent expression remained on her face for the audience, but her eyes glittered with pure, triumphant malice. She gave him a tiny, mocking smirk that no one else in the room could see.

Dean Raymond slowly lowered the official exam papers onto his desk. The warmth and fondness he had held for Ethan just moments ago vanished completely. His stern eyes turned as cold and unyielding as ice. 

He shook his head slowly, looking disappointed.

"I am thoroughly ashamed that I ever defended you," Dean Raymond declared, his deep voice cutting through the silent room like a frozen blade. "To abuse the cherished memory of your sweet mother and mock the academic integrity of this institution is utterly unforgivable. Ethan Raymond, by the authority of the disciplinary committee, your full scholarship is terminated immediately. You are permanently expelled from Westley Academy and blacklisted from every academic institution in this nation!"

Ethan felt as if a heavy hammer had smashed directly into his chest. The hot tears welling in his eyes finally burst forth, streaming uncontrollably down his bruised, muddy cheeks.

"Dean Raymond, please! Look at me!" Ethan begged, dropping heavily on his knees on the cold floor. "You knew my mother and you know me better than anyone else! I didn't do this\! Please don't destroy my mother's dream!"

"That is the final judgment," Dean Raymond said coldly, turning his back on Ethan without another glance.

A vicious barrage of cruel insults instantly exploded from the crowd of students standing near the doorway.

"Get out of here, you disgusting cheater!" Julian sneered, zooming his phone camera directly onto Ethan's sobbing face.

"Poverty rat! Why cheat if you can not reach the standard!" Garrett shouted with a harsh, mocking laugh.

One by one, the professors, the students, Officer Briggs, Marcus, and Chloe walked out of the committee room. As Chloe passed by Ethan's kneeling body, her satin skirt brushed against his wet shoulder, and she let out a soft, mocking laugh before leaving the room. 

The mahogany door slammed shut with a deafening thud, leaving Ethan completely alone in the silent office.

Ethan collapsed flat on the floor, weeping hysterically. Choked, ragged sobs tore from his throat as he helplessly pounded his bruised fist against the hard tile.

His mother's dying wish—the sacred promise he had worked for, four long years—was completely shattered into dust. He would never graduate at the top of his class. He would never get the chance to study in France. He was leaving Westley Academy disgraced, empty-handed, blacklisted, and powerless.

It was poverty. Poverty was the ultimate root of every single nightmare in his life.

Because he was poor, Julian and the rich students felt justified beating him into the dirt. Because he was poor, Chloe threw his three years of honest sacrifice into the mud to sleep with his father for influence. Because he was poor, no one cared to search for the truth.

"Poverty..." Ethan choked out through bitter sobs, his voice echoing against the empty walls. "A poor man has no voice, no dignity, and no justice. A poor man has no place in this cruel world."

With absolutely nothing left to live for, Ethan dragged his battered, aching body up from the floor. His broken ribs throbbed with sharp pain, but he barely felt it anymore. The agonizing pain inside his heart was far too deep.

He walked out of the building . He walked slowly toward the tallest building on campus—the ten-story science complex. He pushed open the entrance door and began the long, agonizing climb up the stairs, step after painful step, until he reached the top floor and pushed open the roof door.

Ethan walked straight to the edge and stepped on the narrow concrete ledge, ten stories above the hard cobblestones below.

He looked down at the tiny, distant streetlights glowing in the street.

"Mother, I am so sorry," Ethan whispered into the howling wind, tears streaming freely down his face. "I tried so hard. I sacrificed my health, my sleep, and my dignity. But I failed you. Poverty won. In a world ruled by money, a poor man really has no place to live."

Ethan closed his eyes, taking a deep, final breath of the air. He leaned his body forward, ready to step off the ledge and end his miserable existence forever.

Just as he closed his eyes and was about to jump off the building, his phone suddenly buzzed violently in his pocket.

The heavy, rapid vibration startled him. With trembling, numb fingers, Ethan reached into his coat and pulled out his cracked phone screen.

A bright, glowing notification illuminated. It was an automated alert from an abandoned, long-forgotten cryptocurrency wallet and tech startup venture he had coded during his lonely freshman nights—a project he had completely forgotten about while struggling to survive.

The pop-up message read:

[GLOBAL MARKET ALERT: Project Apex acquired by Vanguard Tech Syndicate for $1.2 Billion. Your founder's share payout has been processed.]

Ethan blinked in utter shock, his thumb shaking uncontrollably as he tapped open his banking application. The screen refreshed instantly, displaying a staggering, unthinkable balance:

Account Balance: $100,000,000.00 USD

Ethan stared at the long row of zeros in dead, breathtaking silence. 

One hundred million dollars in capital.

Ethan stepped back from the ledge immediately, his boots landing firmly on the roof floor.

Overnight, Ethan had transformed from the wretched, helpless outcast everyone felt justified in trampling into someone they could no longer afford to offend.

The nightmare of his suffering, poverty, and weakness was finally over. Now, it was time to show everyone who had wronged, humiliated, and lied against him what he could really do.