“Don't you dare!”
Tamara had the bracelet dangling from one finger, swinging it like it meant nothing.
“You're this precious about some cheap bracelet? How many nights did you have to sleep with him to get it?”
“You want it back? Fine. From now on you treat me with respect. And I want you to admit, out loud, that you're being kept by some old man. Then get on your knees and knock your head on the floor a hundred times. Do all that, and it's yours. Sound fair?”
“One kowtow, and I lower it one centimeter.”
Her voice dripped with satisfaction.
The way she looked at me was the way someone looks at a stray dog whose food just got snatched away.
The sheer arrogance of it made me laugh out of pure rage.
I'd been raised in the palm of my father's hand my entire life. I'd never lifted a heavy thing, never gone without, and I had never been humiliated like this.
If I wanted, the whole school could be mine.
Why the hell would I bow my head to the person who fabricated explicit photos of me?
Instead of kneeling, I closed the distance between us, step by step.
I reached for the bracelet, but she saw it coming and kicked me square in the knee.
The same knee she'd already hurt. Pain shot through my leg and my face twisted.
I held back my fury and the urge to strike her, terrified she'd drop the bracelet.
My voice went cold.
“Tamara, are you sure you want to do this? Let me make something clear. My father funds this school. You're one of the scholarship students he sponsors. If I kneel to you today, you won't set foot on this campus tomorrow.”
The room went quiet for two seconds.
Then they burst out laughing.
“Did I hear that right? A whore trying to act tough? If your dad's a school board chairman, then I'm your grandchild.”
“Don't bother with her, Tamara. She probably wants to pawn the bracelet to treat whatever diseases she's carrying.”
Tamara lifted the jade bracelet again. This time she tossed it into the air.
My eyes went red instantly. Veins stood out along my neck.
This was the last thing my mother ever left me. I couldn't watch it shatter.
I clenched my jaw and forced myself to step back.
“I'll apologize. I'm sorry. I'll be respectful from now on. Is that enough?”
She curled her lip, unimpressed.
“Strip. Record a video of yourself naked as a guarantee. Otherwise, how do I know you're sincere?”
My head snapped up. My voice came out raw.
“Don't push it.”
Tamara grabbed both my arms and locked them behind me. She'd grown up doing farmwork, and the strength in her grip was brutal. I couldn't break free.
I couldn't move.
Kate stepped forward and ripped my shirt open, baring a wide stretch of skin.
“You love selling yourself so much, right? Let's film a little promo and drum up some business for you.”
She manhandled me like a ragdoll. Every ounce of strength had drained from my body.
Ice settled behind my eyes.
“If you touch me, my father will destroy you.”
Tamara pulled out my phone, opened the camera, and switched to video. Her thumb hovered over the record button.
One second before she pressed it, the door exploded inward.
“Stop!”
Tears clung to my lashes as I looked up.
My father, who was supposed to be at the office, came charging through the doorway.
One sweep of his arm sent Tamara and Kate sprawling to the floor. He shrugged off his suit jacket and draped it over my shoulders.
“Evie, are you all right? I'm taking you home. Right now.”
He stood back up, walked toward Tamara, and crushed the phone on the floor under his heel.
The color drained from Tamara's face.
“That phone was a limited edition my boyfriend just bought me. Can you even afford to replace it?”
She looked my father up and down, and her face lit up like she'd just cracked a code.
“So you're the old man keeping Yvette as his sugar baby, huh? Playing hero now? Just wait till I tell my boyfriend. He'll make both of you pay!”
My father's gaze drifted down to the name badge pinned to Tamara's chest. His brow furrowed slightly.
“So you're the girl who came out of the mountains. In that case, perhaps it's time you went back.”
His words drew a sharp laugh out of Tamara.
“Cut the act. My boyfriend is the richest man in the city AND the school board chairman. Who do you think you are to expel me?”
And with that, she lifted the jade bracelet high and slammed it against the floor in front of everyone.
It shattered into pieces.
The breath left my lungs. Hatred flooded my chest until there was no room for anything else.
Even my father's eyes flashed with something dangerous.
But Tamara didn't notice. She was too busy gloating.
“Watch me call my boyfriend over here to set you both straight!”
She whipped out her phone and dialed.
Two seconds later.
A ringtone cut through the dorm room.
Tamara's head snapped toward the sound.
A man in a chauffeur's uniform stood behind my father, rigid, not daring to make a sound.
The moment Tamara recognized that face, she froze solid.
