Chapter 3

Warm blood sprayed across my face. Ryan's mouth hung open in terror as he pointed a trembling finger at me.

Everyone was stunned by the sudden turn of events. One after another, they pointed at me and screamed.

"Murder! The capitalist's killing people!"

Evelyn's face darkened with fury. She shoved me away hard, held Ryan in her arms, and roared, "Call 911!"

I stared coldly at the smug look on his face. My hands clenched at my sides without my realizing it.

After Ryan was loaded into the ambulance, Evelyn walked up to me, scowling. "You nearly got him killed. Happy now?"

The crowd erupted again. A new wave of insults came at me, and people started smashing things in anger.

Just as things were about to spiral out of control, I smirked. "You're saying I tried to kill him? Then let's pull the security footage and settle this in front of everyone. If I really stabbed Ryan, I'll go to prison."

The moment I said it, the angry crowd slowly quieted down.

Doubt even started showing up in the livestream chat of the people who'd been filming.

[No way. You guys are being manipulated. I don't think this guy's dumb enough to kill someone.]

[You never know, though.]

[Yeah, I don't think he's that stupid either. If anything, that other guy seemed a little unhinged.]

Evelyn stared straight at me, frowning hard. "Nathan, you're the CEO of Hayes Group. You could easily have the footage swapped.

"Ry is my student. If you want to hurt him, you'll have to go through me first."

Refusing to let it go, she picked up her phone, flipped the camera around, and made her accusation with red-rimmed eyes. "Nathan Hayes is my fiancé. Lately, he's been acting like a jealous little boy and has hurt a lot of people. As his fiancée, I apologize. But I won't cover for him. I want to be clear: everything he's done to my student Ryan is true.

"As for his interference with research funding and the attempted murder, I definitely won't defend him in court."

With that, Evelyn ended the livestream without hesitation and left with the group.

Someone still wanted to turn back and curse me out on her behalf, but she forced them out.

I stood there speechless. Owen swallowed nervously. "Mr. Hayes, less than a minute after the livestream ended, Hayes Group's stock dropped ten points."

I forced down the emotions churning inside me. "Contact the PR department. Get a statement ready. Fast."

But my statement couldn't keep up with how fast Evelyn and Ryan's smears spread.

Clickbait accounts went wild, maliciously editing videos of me "killing someone" and pulling funding.

My accounts were swarmed by armies of paid trolls and haters.

Some keyboard warriors even mailed me razor blades. People on the street called me "the vampire of academia."

Every project Hayes Group had been working on, even the contracts that had already been signed, was either pulled or hit with sky-high compensation demands.

As public outrage spiraled, my sister, Claire, called.

"Nathan, this got out of hand. Evelyn and the Monroes are paying off troll armies on every major platform and every lawyer in the city with any clout so no one will take your case.

"They're saying you deliberately sabotaged a major national project. People in government have even come asking questions. And those senior board members want you to apologize to the Monroes, agree to the marriage, and fix their cash-flow problem. You..."

I took a deep breath, hung up, and unblocked a number.

"Let's meet."