Chapter 4

After thanking Ms. Warner, I hurried after Ivan as he walked out of the office.

"Livingston Group's legal department will make you pay for whatever stunt you're trying to pull," I warned.

Before Ivan could reply, my phone started buzzing violently in my pocket. Multiple notifications poured in at once, and my brows tightened with each one.

First, it was a text from the student council president, Edison Mayes. He politely reminded me to manage my family conflicts well, suggesting that I step down as vice president and hand off my responsibilities for now.

Then, Amy Graham, the coordinator of the well-received campus startup incubator project I'd been involved in, texted me too. She informed me that my core team membership had been suspended, as the team wished to work with members who displayed more emotional stability.

Even the volunteer service club I frequently helped out with removed my name from their event roster.

I stared at Ivan, knowing the people who were behind this sudden wave of changes were him and the crowd at the mailroom, who'd taken the half-story they heard as the truth.

Just as my fingers went numb with anger, his voice came from above me. "See that, Mindy? This is what happens when you don't listen. And this is just a warning for wasting money on Black Friday sales. Something worse will be waiting for you if you still refuse to behave and apologize to me."

At that, Ivan let out a cold snort before he turned and walked away.

Just then, Mom finally called me back. "What's wrong, sweetheart? I was in a meeting, so my phone was on silent. I saw all your missed calls. Did something happen?"

After our call ended, I checked the flight confirmation she sent me. I let out a sigh in relief when I saw that she was already on her way back.

The weight pressing on my chest finally lifted a little at the thought of Ivan's ridiculous lies about to collapse soon.

I was about to head back to the dorm to pack up and take a hot shower. But the moment I stepped downstairs, two uniformed officers stopped right in front of me. "Are you Mindy Livingston from Room 1031? We need your cooperation with an investigation regarding a theft case."

…

The atmosphere in the temporary conference room that the college had arranged felt suffocatingly tense.

My head throbbed as I stared at the stacks of cash on the table, supposedly "found" in my wardrobe.

Ivan stared, "This is my fault, officers. I failed to educate her properly…"

He pointed at the money with a disappointed look. "I trusted her mother, so I told Mindy to distribute aid funds to the underprivileged students. I never imagined she'd use the school's funds to satisfy her own material desires!"

Beside Ivan were the same two young men from the mailroom who'd sided with him earlier. They were nodding enthusiastically.

"That's right, officers. We saw everything earlier. Ivan kept trying to talk sense into her and get her to return everything she bought. She refused and even threw a parcel at him."

"Exactly! Ivan told her not to splurge, but she was acting so en. She said that the money was hers the moment it touched her hand, and no one could tell her what to do."