Chapter 2 Support

Roger smiled brightly, but the words that came out of his mouth were vicious. "So, you see, the final list the school submitted only had one name from start to finish—mine, Roger Smith. No matter how well-prepared he was, what good would it do him?"

As soon as he finished, he tore in half, right in front of me, the stack of documents Timothy had poured countless days and nights of effort into.

"Matt!" Timothy's voice cracked as he shouted, his eyes instantly reddening.

I watched those papers scatter to the ground, fury blazing through me in an instant.

I'd seen shameless people before, but never anyone this brazenly shameless!

"Why you!" My blood surged, the veins at my temples throbbing.

"What about me?" Roger sneered, grinding the shredded papers beneath his shoe, satisfaction written all over his face. "Unhappy about it? Then, tell your mom to donate a building to the school too! Oh, wait—I forgot. People like you could never afford that!"

My temples throbbed harder; I clenched my fists so tight my knuckles turned white.

The teacher beside him, Mr. Winters, immediately stepped in to side with him.

"Sir, the situation is quite clear. Madam Smith donated an entire laboratory building to our school, making a tremendous contribution to our research program. After careful consideration, the school decided to award the exchange student spot to the more suitable candidate—Roger."

That fawning, sycophantic tone made my stomach churn.

"Mr. Winters, is it?" I turned toward him, my gaze sharp as a blade. "My brother, Timothy Mace, ranked first in the entire year, earned a national gold award for his research project, and scored nearly full marks on his tests. So, tell me—what qualifications does your so-called more suitable candidate, Roger Smith, have?"

Mr. Winters' face flushed red; he opened his mouth but couldn't say a word.

Then, Roger suddenly burst into exaggerated laughter.

"What do I have? I have my mother! She's the head of the Smith family and the chairperson of Aureon Tech! Money is all that matters—got it?"

Aureon Tech? The head of the Smith family?

I listened to every word that came out of his mouth, the cold smile tugging at my lips, almost impossible to hide. The real brains behind Aureon Tech wasn't Christine.

"Aureon Tech's Smith family?" I raised an eyebrow, feigning surprise. "Oh, I've heard of them—a pretty powerful family. Funny, though… I didn't know they had a son named Roger Smith."

My calm tone and quiet skepticism clearly caught him off guard.

To him, anyone hearing the names Aureon Tech and the Smith family should either bow in awe or grovel in flattery, not look at him with curiosity and doubt.

He froze for a second, then snapped in anger. "Who the hell do you think you are? Our family's business isn't something an outsider like you needs to know about!"

Mr. Winters immediately straightened up and scolded, "Sir, please mind your words! The school has verified Roger's identity. You have no right to make baseless accusations or cause a scene here."