Elena POV
The next morning, my existence was cancelled with a single beep.
I stood before the imposing glass monolith of the Business School, tapping my plastic ID against the reader.
Red light. *Access Denied.*
I frowned and tried again, pressing the card harder against the sensor.
Red light.
Frank, a security guard I had exchanged pleasantries with every morning for four years, approached the glass from the other side.
He didn't reach for the release button.
He looked at me through the thick pane, his expression heavy with a profound, helpless pity, before he deliberately turned his back and walked away.
A cold knot tightened in my chest.
I pulled out my phone, my thumb flying to my email app. *Authentication Failed.*
I tried my cloud storage. *Account Suspended.*
My digital life had been grayed out.
Then, the notification slid down the screen like a guillotine blade. A priority news alert from the campus network.
*Sofia Russo publishes breakthrough anti-tracking financial algorithm. Hailed as a prodigy.*
The ground seemed to vanish beneath my feet.
They hadn't waited for my surrender. They had simply bypassed the siege and taken the castle.
Luca.
The realization hit me with the force of a physical blow. He must have used the master override key I gave him—the one meant strictly for emergencies.
I scrolled down, my vision blurring. There was a second article, a follow-up punch meant to keep me down.
*Elena Russo under investigation for academic dishonesty.*
My hands trembled so violently I nearly dropped the phone. I tapped the link.
It was a post by Dante. Attached was a high-resolution photo of a diary—Sofia’s diary—dated two years ago. The handwriting was a meticulous mimicry, detailing proprietary logic that matched my code perfectly.
The caption was pure venom wrapped in concern: *My sister Sofia is too kind to speak up, but I won’t be. Elena stole her notes while Sofia was recovering from trauma. Plagiarism is a disease.*
I stood frozen on the sidewalk as the morning rush streamed past me.
The whispers started low, then swelled into a static buzz.
I saw heads turn. I saw the lips curling into sneers.
*Rat.*
*Thief.*
*Fake.*
My phone buzzed against my palm, startling me. A formal notification from the Dean’s office.
*Ms. Russo, due to the serious allegations brought forward by the Genovese and Russo families, your enrollment is suspended effective immediately, pending a tribunal. You are barred from campus grounds.*
I leaned back against the rough brick wall, struggling to draw air into my lungs.
It wasn't just about the code. They didn't just want the product; they wanted to dismantle the creator.
They needed to destroy my credibility so thoroughly that I could never claim it back. If I was branded a pathological liar, the truth would sound like nothing more than a desperate defense.
Luca had orchestrated this masterstroke.
He knew I wouldn't sign, so he removed the need for my signature. He had incinerated my future to build a pedestal for Sofia.
I looked up at the building that housed my lab, my research, my sanctuary.
It was a fortress now, and the drawbridge was up.
I turned on my heel.
I didn't cry. The tears were a luxury I could no longer afford.
There was nothing left to defend here.
