Chapter 4

Jack had a bad feeling about it, and it stayed that way until an unfamiliar female schoolmate blocked his path in the hallway.

“The nerve you have to show up in school? Someone as shameless as you should be expelled!”

He was utterly baffled by her words. “What do you mean? Make it clear.”

“You’re quite the actor. No wonder Matthew always used to say that you couldn’t live without your sugar mommies. It turns out your father is just a kept man after all. Everything about the two of you has spread online.”

“Don’t you dare say another word about my father!”

Frightened by his aggressiveness, the girl fell silent and slunk away to the side.

Jack suppressed his anger and went online. A post titled “The Unknown Secrets of High School Heartthrob Jack and His Father” was pinned right at the top of the Reddit homepage.

The post not only falsely accused Ian of using underhanded schemes to break up Matthew’s parents, but it also claimed that Sarah was not Jack’s biological mother. It stated that he was an illegitimate child who had stolen Matthew’s life.

There were even several explicit private videos of Ian. However, those videos were AI-generated. Ian was suffering terribly from cancer and was far thinner than the person in the videos. Furthermore, he had lost all his hair long ago due to chemotherapy!

As for the most explicit video, the man in it had been swapped out. Although the footage was somewhat blurry, a face that looked almost identical to Jack’s could be made out.

Jack’s breathing grew heavy, but he tried his absolute best to remain calm. “I will find a professional to verify that the video is fake, and I will report this to the police to clear the names of my father and myself!”

An innocent person had nothing to fear. Even though his hands were shaking with rage, he immediately searched for professional agencies that could authenticate videos. However, in the very next second, his phone was snatched away.

Lily stepped in front of him nonchalantly, blocking his way. “I thought you were just afraid of your identity as an illegitimate child being exposed, which was why you didn’t want Mrs. Greer to acknowledge Matthew. I never thought you’d actually be… so wild and unbridled.”

Almost everyone in the school knew that he and Lily were childhood friends who knew everything about each other, so her remark confirmed the authenticity of the post.

Jack looked at her in disbelief. “What nonsensical garbage are you talking about? Give me back my phone.”

He reached out to grab it, but Lily moved nimbly, making it impossible for him to catch it. During the struggle, the buttons on his shirt popped open, suddenly exposing the scars all over his body to the crowd.

A playful smirk curled up at the corner of Lily’s mouth. “Yet you still claim the video is fake? Then how do you explain these scars on your body?”

Her intentionally raised voice instantly turned Jack into the target of everyone’s accusations. Now, even more vile words and insults surrounded him.

“You know that this is…” Jack paused abruptly.

Meeting Lily’s cold, playful eyes, he connected the dots.

“It was you?” His voice was dry and raspy.

Lily smiled without a care, then leaned in close to him and whispered, “That’s right. I made the post, and I generated the video using AI. Your father bullied Matthew’s father, and you hurt Matthew. I had to stand up for my boyfriend.”

Boyfriend.

Jack staggered back two steps. Just to stand up for Matthew, Lily made up a story out of thin air, causing him and Ian to be humiliated and vilified online?

“Lily, you’re unbelievable!”

Jack was so angry that his clenched fists shook.

Lily’s expression turned cold. Just as she was about to say something, Jack’s phone rang.

Seeing that it was a call from the hospital, he grabbed Lily’s arm tightly. Taking advantage of her pain as her attention shifted, he snatched his phone back.

The moment he answered, he heard terrible news from the other end.

“Mr. Greer, your father has suffered a sudden, life-threatening condition due to emotional distress. We need a family member’s signature to go ahead with resuscitation, but we can’t seem to reach your mother!”

Jack panicked. Ignoring everything else, he rushed toward the hospital. Yet, right at the door to the hospital, he was stopped by Matthew and several thugs.

Those thugs gave Jack no opportunity to react or call for help. They rushed forward, struck the back of his head with a club, and shoved him into a van.

He was pushed onto the stage of an auditorium, his arms pinned by the thugs so that he could not move. In the next second, the pitch-black surroundings lit up.