He Tried to Control My Life, But Forgot I'm a Moretti Princess

At midnight, Damian's message popped up.

"Viv, you up?"

I stared at the two words on the screen: Viv.

Not my full name. It was what he'd called me since we were kids.

Like a marker. A habit. Something he thought would never change.

I didn't reply.

He sent another. "Application submitted? We agreed—Southern State. Next year we'll be alumni."

He followed it with a smiley face.

His tone was casual.

As if nothing had happened.

As if, an hour ago, he hadn't used an anonymous account to submit a confession to my anonymous wall.

The post was short. It came in at 12:17 AM.

"I changed my childhood friend's college application to a community college."

"She's too outstanding. So outstanding that everyone around her feels inferior. I did this to teach her some humility."

"Besides, I know she can't leave me. So we'll still be in the same city, and I'll help her fix these flaws."

It was signed with a smiley face.

The anonymous wall was an account I'd created in sophomore year. The whole school knew it was completely anonymous.

Until last year, when a stranger used a submission to harass a younger student. After that, I quietly added IP logging to the backend.

I thought I'd never need it.

But when I traced the IP of that anonymous post, I found it belonged to Damian.

And the childhood friend whose application he'd changed was me.

I typed back: "Yeah, just submitted. Going to sleep. Good night."

He replied instantly with a smiley face.

"Good night."

Damian lived next door. Just a white fence separated our houses.

We'd grown up together since kindergarten.

On the first day, he'd already figured out my Wi-Fi password, my birthday, and my cat's name.

Later, he started using my tablet for games, my streaming accounts for shows, my family's printer for homework.

The whole grade assumed Damian and I were a couple. Even I believed it.

At party games, when someone told him to look at his most beloved girl, he looked at me first.

At dances, when other guys showed interest in me, he'd get jealous and block them, insisting I could only have the first dance with him.

In freshman year, he leaned over the fence and made a proposal.

"Viv, let's apply to the same college. Southern State. Close to home. We won't have to be apart."

I agreed quickly.

First, Southern State's biomedical engineering program was genuinely strong.

Second, I couldn't think of a reason to say no.

Until the fall of sophomore year, when Chloe transferred in.

She sat in front of Damian. Her voice was soft. She solved problems slowly. She looked like a girl who'd stepped out of a manga.

And Damian slowly started to notice her.

The first month, he knocked on my window.

"Viv, help Chloe with her math? She doesn't understand my explanations."

I said okay.

The second month, Chloe's Latin was failing too.

"You're first in the grade for Latin. Help her. She's in your class. She's stressed."

I helped.

From then on, every exam, her score report was the first one he looked at.

If she did well, he'd taught her well.

If she did badly, it was my fault.

"Viv, can you be a little more patient when you explain? Her foundation is weak. That's not her fault."

I'd only said "We went over this last time" when she got the same problem wrong for the fourth time.

Later, I won the gold medal at the International Science and Engineering Fair. The school announced my name over the loudspeaker.

That night, he knocked on my window through the fence, his expression serious.

"Viv, can you keep a lower profile? Chloe's been in a bad state lately. Don't mention the award around her."

I'd never been harsh with Chloe. I'd never mentioned the award in front of her.

But it didn't matter.

In Damian's mind, Chloe was fragile. She needed protection.

And I was just someone too capable to need any protection at all.

I opened my laptop and did exactly two things.

First, I deleted the community college application materials.

Second, I drafted an email with the anonymous post and the IP screenshot attached, and sent it.

The recipient was Attorney Harris, the Moretti family's legal counsel and a friend of our family for twenty years.