Chapter 3

Across more than a dozen screenshots, they'd managed to paint me as a serial plagiarist who'd aggressively demanded both a consulting fee and a share of the prize money.

They'd even made it look like I'd sent Maris a string of creepy, suggestive messages, constantly hinting that I wanted to sleep with her.

But what really made my blood boil was the doctored payment record.

I had sent her five thousand dollars. They'd flipped the transaction around and claimed Maris had paid me five thousand dollars to leave her alone—that was how bad the so-called harassment had gotten.

I took a deep breath and immediately started typing out an explanation. Except I couldn't post it. A forum moderator had restricted my account. Every function had been disabled, including replies.

Then I remembered something Maris had mentioned before. One of the moderators was her roommate.

My phone buzzed several times. Maris had sent me a laughing reaction. "Seen the post yet? You know, when you really think about it, you brought this on yourself.

"From the day you joined, it was always 'this doesn't work' or 'that's not good enough'. You kept forcing us to add more details to the financial model. Tristan's already anxious enough as it is, and you tore into his work so many times that he completely lost it.

"Elowen wanted to make our market growth projections look a little stronger, and you just had to insist 50% was ridiculous. You wouldn't let us go above a conservative 15%. She got so pissed she smashed her mouse back at the dorm.

"You're a student too. We called you our senior to be polite, and somehow you actually started believing you were important. Here's the truth. We've been sick of you breathing down our necks for weeks. If you'd stayed out of it, our project would've been ten times better."

I bit my lip, but before I could respond, every message she'd sent me disappeared one by one.

So that was the game.

The forum post was insurance. They wanted their version out first, in case I reported them. And now she was deleting her messages because she knew better than to leave evidence behind.

I'd seriously underestimated them. They hadn't decided to cut me out on impulse. They'd planned this from the start.

"Maris, aren't you worried something might go wrong at the finals tomorrow?" I asked.

"Still trying to scare me?"

The message vanished almost immediately. Then another appeared. "Although, thanks for the reminder, Caspian. You'd better stay far away from the finals tomorrow. Otherwise, we'll release everything else we've got on you.

"You're graduating soon, aren't you? It would be a shame to destroy your reputation this close to the finish line. Imagine being such a disgrace that you have to drop out."

My reputation?

I saved the screen recording I'd made, then opened their forum post again.

Maris and all five of her teammates had piled on, each with their own story about what a nightmare I supposedly was.

According to them, I controlled every decision the team made. I'd borrowed money from several of them, and whenever they refused to lend me more, I'd gone off on them.

And apparently, even that wasn't enough. Now they were threatening to ruin my reputation if I didn't stay out of their way.

Except there was one problem.

I was one of the judges tomorrow. Why would I stay away?

The moment I walked into the presentation hall on the day of the finals, someone shoved me back out and dragged me off to the side.

"You've seriously got a death wish, don't you? We told you not to come, and you showed up anyway."

It was Elowen who'd pushed me. Maris stood beside her in a tailored skirt suit, clearly dressed and ready to give the presentation for their team.

Her eyes traveled slowly from my face down to my shoes. Then she gave me another once-over and clicked her tongue. "Huh. You look better in person. That picture didn't do much for you, but the body's definitely working for me."

She smirked. "Tell you what, Caspian. Maybe I'll let you take me out sometime. For now, be a good boy and get out of here. Because if you don't, we can always give everyone on that forum a few more things to talk about."

I looked over the six of them. They barely resembled the bright, friendly people smiling in their team photo. If nothing else, the whole mess had taught me one thing—never assume you knew what someone was like from a picture.

That mistake had bought me two months of trouble.

"Maris, we'll deal with your forum post later. But right now, you need to move. The finals are about to start."

All six of them stared back at me with varying degrees of contempt. Not one moved aside.

Only Tristan seemed uncertain. He hesitated before speaking up in a small voice. "Wait… Don't you need an invitation to get in here? He's not registered as part of our team, so how did he even get inside?"