<b>Chapter </b><b>175 </b>
Author’s POV:
Jade’s phone vibrated in her pocket as Chase and his friends stormed off to confront the Reddit poster. She didn’t bother following them. When she pulled out her phone, Ethan Haxton’s name shed on the screen. Perfect timing.
“Hello, Mr. Haxton,” she answered, keeping her voice neutral despite themotion around her.
“Jade.” His voice was calm but carried an undercurrent of concern. “I’ve been informed about what’s happening at
Princeton. Are you alright?”
She leaned back in her chair, watching students hurry between sses through the rain–streaked windows<b>. </b>“I’m fine. It’s just university gossip.”
“It’s more than that.” There was a pause. “I’ming to Princeton.”
Before she could respond, the ssroom door burst open. A group of students rushed in<b>, </b>eyes glued to their phones.
“Holy shit, did you see the new post?” a girl with a pink streak in her hair eximed. “Someone just dropped a bomb
on the forum!”
Her ssmates immediately pulled out their devices. Whispers quickly turned to gasps.
“Is that a fucking Maybach purchase receipt?”
“Look at the name–Ethan Haxton!”
“The car te matches–NY001!”
Jade turned back to her phone. “What did you do?” she asked Ethan, already knowing the answer.
“What needed to be done,” he replied simply. “The forum needed some rity.”
Across the room, conversations erupted like popcorn.
“Wait, so that ‘sugar daddy‘ rumor was about Ethan Haxton? The Ethan Haxton?”
“This can’t be real. Why would someone like him even look at a Princeton student?”
“If it’s him<b>, </b>then fuck–Astor, Sheldon, and Jensen all look like nobodies inparison.”
“This <b>is </b>obviously fake. Whoever posted this has zeromon sense. You can’t just fake documentation for <b>someone </b>like Haxton.”
<b>: </b>
E
Jade could practically hear Ethan’s satisfaction through the phone. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“<b>I </b>simply dislike misinformation,” he replied. “And I particrly dislike when it involves you.”
In his downtown New York office, Ethan had pushed aside contracts for a multi–billion–dor merger to personally reviewments on a university forum. One by one, he banned ounts posting maliciousments, exercising administrator privileges that shouldn’t have been possible for anyone outside the university’s IT department.
Meanwhile, across campus in the female dormitories, panic had erupted in one particr room.
“We’re so fucked,” Megan Hayes whispered, pacing frantically. “It’s Ethan Haxton. What if they find us?”
Her two roommates sat frozen on their beds, faces pale.
“It wasn’t me who started the sugar daddy rumor,” one of them said quickly. “That was all you, Megan.”
In theputer science building, Chase’d cornered a terrified junior–the top student inputer science–who’d been coordinating with dozens of paidmenters.
“I–I was just having fun,” the student stammered as Chase dragged him toward the administration building. “It was
just a joke!”
In President Thornton’s office, the atmosphere was tense. The student sat hunched in a chair, while Chase stood by
the window, arms crossed.
“Who paid you?” Jade asked calmly, having arrived minutes earlier.
The student looked up, startled by her direct approach. “N–nobody! I told you, I just-”
“Was it Megan Hayes? Emily Morgan? Aurelia Sullivan? Catherine Sullivan?”
At “Catherine Sullivan,” his eyes widened fractionally–a tell even an amateur could spot.
“I…” he swallowed hard. “Catherine paid me a few hundred thousand. She said it was just a prank.”
President Thornton sighed heavily, massaging his temples. Just minutes earlier, he’d been praying the culprit wasn’t
a student.
While this drama unfolded, across town in a luxurious office, Dominic Sullivan was reviewing quarterly reports when his phone rang without him touching it. Somehow, it had epted the call automatically and switched to speaker mode.
“Hello?” he said, confused.
“You have thirty minutes,” a cold female voice responded. “If you don’t want Sullivan Group bankrupted by morning, bring Catherine to Princeton. Now.”
<b>8:16 </b><b>Thu</b><b>, </b><b>Sep </b><b>25 </b>
The line went dead just as Archer pushed open the door. “Dom, Aurelia just called. She says Jade’s in some kind of
trouble at school.”
97
Back in her bedroom, Catherine Sullivan lounged on her bed<b>, </b>scrolling throughments with satisfaction. People were tearing Jade apart, questioning her integrity, her grades, her appearance–everything. Perfect.
Then she saw the new post–the Maybach receipt with Ethan Haxton’s name. Her face contorted with rage and disbelief.
“This slum rat must be insane,” she muttered, gripping her phone tightly. “A girl from that disgusting neighborhood thinking she can have Haxton’s heir?”
Jealousy burned through her veins as she began typing instructions to hire more online trolls.
On campus, the revtion about the Maybach owner hadn’t cleared Jade’s name as intended. Instead, students now spected that Jade herself had posted the receipt, desperate to prove her connection to someone important.
“She’s so pathetic, making up rtionships with billionaires.”
“Someone should warn her before she gets hurt. Haxton will sue her for defamation.”
Then, at precisely 3:15 PM, a sleek ck Maybach with the license te “NY001” pulled up at Princeton’s south gate. Students gasped, phones raised to capture the moment.
“Holy shit, the car is real!”
“Is that… oh my God, it’s actually Ethan Haxton!”
Inside the car, Connor grimaced. “I feel like we’re in a zoo exhibit.”
Ethan, perfectlyposed in his tailored suit, simply lowered the window and gave the gawking students a clear
view of his face<i>. </i>
“This is a significant sacrifice, sir,” Connor muttered.
Ethan smiled slightly. Is it? Or is this actually quite convenient?”
He pulled out his phone and texted Jade: I’m at the south gate. Would you minding to pick me up, Miss Morgan?
The crowd grew as word spread, and students whispered among themselves.
“There’s no way she actually knows him.”
“First Chris Jensen<b>, </b>now this?”
<b>“</b>You think a guy like that would actually date a college freshman<b>?</b><b>” </b>
8:16 Thu, Sep 25
97
Fifteen minutester, Jade pushed through the crowd, feeling their stares boring into her back. When Ethan saw her, he stepped out of the car, his six–foot–plus framemanding immediate attention. The whispers instantly died as
students froze in disbelief.
“You’re not wearing enough,” he said, frowning at her light sweater. “Aren’t you cold?”
“I run warm,” she replied simply.
He opened the passenger door himself. “Get in. It’s warmer inside.”
The collective gasp from the crowd was almostical as Jade slid into the Maybach. Camera shes went off like strobe lights, and she could already imagine the photos circting through every social tform within minutes.
“I didn’t think you’d actuallye get me,” Ethan said once they were both inside, the door closing with a soft, expensive thud that sealed them off from the chaos outside.
“It’s the least I could do. Mr. Haxton made a special trip for me,” she answered.
“Well, it concerns your reputation.” His eyes studied her face. “I wanted to silence those voices for you. Though had I known you’d be so underdressed, I wouldn’t have made youe out.”
“Does it bother you?” he asked, gesturing vaguely toward the window where students still pressed against the ss, trying to glimpse inside. “Being the center of attention like this?”
Jade nced at the faces outside–some shocked, others envious, a few calcting. In her previous life, attention meant danger. Now, it was merely an inconvenience.
“Not particrly,” she replied.
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