Chapter 1

By the time my exchange program interview ended, my name was already trending at the top of the campus forum.

The comments were blowing up.

"Wait, isn't that Nate Durham from the finance faculty?"

"I heard he ranked first in the exchange program interview. Guess someone pulled a few strings for him."

"Sounds like someone's bitter. He managed to land a sugar mama. If you've got what it takes, go find yourself one, too."

"That woman looks old enough to be his mother. How does he even bring himself to sleep with her? Talk about having no standards."

Someone had dug up my class schedule, academic awards, and internship history.

Every scholarship I'd earned over the past three years suddenly looked like proof that some sugar mama was bankrolling my success.

I stared at the screen for a long moment.

"Nate, are you okay?" Hugo Lawson, my roommate, asked tentatively.

"I'm fine."

I scrolled through the post from start to finish, taking screenshots of every page.

By the time I reached the fifth page, I'd received a message from Bruce Jagger, my academic advisor, telling me to report to his office immediately.

I locked my phone and glanced back at the classroom where we'd just finished our interviews.

Mark Stone stood by the door, surrounded by several student council members.

When he caught me looking, he broke away from the group and walked over. "Nate, don't let those comments get to you."

He frowned, looking even more troubled than I was. "People are always quick to judge. I'm sure you've got your reasons."

I looked him in the eye. "What reasons?"

Mark seemed taken aback by my question. After a brief pause, he lowered his voice. "I'm not trying to judge you. I'm just saying, you need to be careful about who you get involved with."

Several people nearby turned to look at us.

Mark hadn't come right out and called me a sugar baby, but he'd all but confirmed that the woman in the video and I had an inappropriate relationship.

"Thanks for the concern," I replied.

I slipped my phone into my pocket and walked past him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught his smirk.

When I entered his office, Bruce was sitting behind his desk, looking at the same post on his phone. "I'm sure you've seen the video everyone's talking about," he said.

I nodded.

Bruce's expression grew more serious. "Nate, it's just the two of us here. You can be honest with me. What's your relationship with that woman?"

"She drives me around."

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "You mean she's your chauffeur? The one who drives a Bentley?"

The question came out so quickly that he seemed to blurt it out before thinking.

I didn't know how to respond. I'd never told anyone at school about my family's background.

Bruce fell silent. His gaze shifted from my face to my canvas backpack.

I bought it at the university bookstore nearly two years ago for three dollars, and I'd used it ever since.

"On your student data form, you listed your father's occupation as a corporate employee."

"My dad does work for a company," I replied.

Just one that bore our family name, where he happened to own 62% of the shares.

Bruce clearly wasn't buying it.

He rubbed his temples, his tone softening as he spoke. "Nate, I'm not trying to pry into your personal life, but this situation has put us in a difficult position.

"We just had a meeting, and we've decided to postpone announcing the exchange program results."

"Why?" I asked.

"People are questioning whether the selection process was fair. The university needs to address those concerns.

"Then let everyone see the judges' scores. Release the interview recordings, too. I have no problem with a full review," I replied firmly.

Bruce sighed.

"It's not that simple. If you ask me, your best option is to withdraw from consideration voluntarily," he said, as he slid a withdrawal form across the desk toward me.