Chapter 1

Before I could figure out what was going on, Vanessa Byer yanked the leash tight. The metal collar dug into my throat, forcing me to bend over.

The audience laughed even harder.

"Come on, Vanessa! Make her bark!"

"Eight million dollars? I'd be someone's dog for that kind of money!"

Someone shoved his way to the front, phone held high. The title of the livestream on the university's gossip page had already changed.

It read, "Exposed! Broke College Student Plays All Four Sterling Brothers, Rakes In Eight Million Dollars a Year."

I looked straight into the camera. "Make sure you get all of this."

The guy filming hesitated. "What?"

"The dog collar she put on me, and the part where she kicked me—I want it all on camera for when I press charges."

The auditorium went quiet for a moment.

Vanessa's smile faltered, but she quickly recovered and dug the toe of her shoe into my fingers. "You're seriously threatening to press charges? How about you explain why Adrian Sterling sends you 100 thousand dollars every month?"

She clicked the remote. A screenshot of our text messages appeared on the big screen.

Adrian texted, "Did you get the money?"

I replied, "That's it? 100 thousand dollars? What am I supposed to do with that, buy lunch?"

Next was a photo of a black credit card Blake Sterling had sent me. "Buy whatever you want. Don't worry about the bill."

The third screenshot was from Caleb Sterling. "The apartment's in your name now. The door code is your birthday."

The last one was the most ridiculous. At two in the morning, Dylan Sterling had sent me 500 thousand dollars. "I'm sorry, Your Highness. I screwed up. Just take the money, okay? And please don't tell on me tomorrow."

The auditorium erupted.

Vanessa was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes. "Wow. Four guys still aren't enough for you? And you've even got the Sterling brothers playing master and servant?"

I was speechless for a moment.

If Dylan knew the entire university was reading his pathetic attempts to beg for mercy, he would probably want to put a dog collar on himself. But everyone else took my silence as an admission of guilt.

Carter Bennett, who was in charge of the awards ceremony, came onto the stage looking furious. "Emily Dawson, did you receive all this money?"

"Yes."

"And the apartment, the credit card, and the cars? Did the Sterling brothers give you those too?"

"More or less."

Carter's expression darkened. "Until we can determine where all these gifts and payments came from, you're suspended from consideration for the Top Ten Students Award."

I pointed to the dog collar around my neck. "And what about Vanessa? She put a dog collar on me and humiliated me in front of everyone. Are you just going to ignore that?"

Vanessa immediately teared up. "Mr. Bennett, I just couldn't stand by and watch her take advantage of those four guys. If I hadn't exposed her today, how much longer would she have kept fooling them?"

Carter sighed. "She may have gone a little too far, but she meant well. You should worry about your own behavior before pointing fingers at anyone else."

I almost laughed. Apparently, if someone sent a person enough money, putting a dog collar on another human being was practically a public service.

Vanessa snatched the dorm key card from my wrist. "She's got eight million sitting in her bank account already. I bet she's hiding even more stuff she conned out of them in her dorm."

She held the key card up to the camera. "Well, I'm going to do the Sterling brothers a favor and get their stuff back. Let's see how much this gold digger's been hiding in her room."