Boris went pale. He was at my side in two steps, grabbing my arm.
"Stella, have you lost your mind?"
"Sit down—now. People are already calling you delusional. You want the whole room talking?"
"Get off me!"
I wrenched free of his hand.
The doubt inside me kept growing.
Nothing.
The inside of the desk was clean. Completely empty.
But she wouldn't lie to me.
I checked again, refusing to give up.
The mocking behind me grew louder.
Then.
My fingers grazed the inner wall of the desk and caught on an unnatural ridge.
I held my breath. A false compartment.
Something was inside.
If I'd missed that detail, if I hadn't found it—
My life would have been over.
My heart hammered so hard I could barely keep my hands from shaking.
I straightened slowly and raised my right hand.
"Teacher—reporting. There's something inside my desk."
My voice wasn't loud, but it landed like a stone dropped into still water.
The exam room went dead silent.
Every head turned toward me.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Boris's face draining of color.
My fingertips were still trembling.
Not from fear.
Because all of it was real.
He had actually gambled with my future—staked my entire life on it.
If the exam had started and they'd found it afterward—
Not just a voided score. Ten years of work, burned to ash.
I'd have carried that stain for the rest of my life.
And all of it, every last bit of it, was for Karen Summers.
"Everyone stay exactly where you are! Nobody move!"
It was too big. Within minutes, police flooded the hallway. Uniforms pushed through the door, and the whole building locked down around us. They moved everyone to a backup exam room.
Karen stared at me, her eyes burning with resentment and venom.
"Stella Fox! You bitch! Don't think this means you've won!"
I didn't make a scene. I didn't confront them openly.
They were in the dark. I was exposed. No point tipping my hand.
Finally, the message I'd been waiting for arrived.
"Miss Fox, we're en route. This is a priority matter—please keep your phone on and stay reachable."
But strangely, the woman in the mirror still hadn't appeared.
My heart climbed back into my throat.
Before I could think about it—
I felt the stares around me shift, fingers pointing, whispers sharpening.
"That's her, right? Never would've guessed. Top of her class, my ass."
"Tsk tsk. Shameless. Acting all pure and innocent this whole time."
"You never really know a person."
That was when Karen appeared, clinging to Boris's arm, head tilted, a sweet little smile on her face as she walked right up to me.
"Big Sis Stella, what a small world. I just never would've guessed you were this kind of person."
I had no interest in playing along. I started to walk past her.
Then she pulled out her phone and shoved the screen in my face.
Every image was from that night. Me backed into a corner, pinned there, unable to fight back—every humiliating second of it.
Blood roared straight to my skull.
My whole body shook with a rage I couldn't contain.
"Boris Gilbert!"
I stared straight at him, unblinking, shaking.
He was the only one who knew about that night.
Both my parents were officers. Years ago, someone with a grudge had come after them and hunted me down.
They found me and trapped me in an alley.
That night, Boris came crashing in. He was covered in blood, put himself between me and them, and dragged me out alive.
And then I understood.
Why the version of me in the mirror had been willing to help him cheat.
Why she'd compromised, step by step, until there was nothing left of her.
Because Boris had a free pass with me. He always had. One that could never be questioned.
I never once imagined that the person who saved me back then—
Would be the one to destroy me.
