All Chapters of Rich Love : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

J.J’s POVI thought ignoring her would help.I thought maybe if I gave her space, she’d come back. Crawl back. Whisper another apology like before. Offer her silence as some kind of surrender.But she didn’t.She walked past me in the hallway this morning like I didn’t exist.No glance. No hesitation.Just… walked.And I hated it.I hated the way it burned.It was the same fire that came after a challenge, except this time, it wasn’t about pride or power—it was about control I had lost. And the fact that Carolyn, of all people, had taken it from me?Unforgivable.I sat in the lounge for most of the day, jaw clenched, heart pounding with that sick, tight rhythm that came whenever something slipped through my fingers.I couldn’t think straight.After school, I messaged George."Let’s go out. Tonight. I need to blow off steam."He replied almost immediately.You thinking the usual spot?Yes. Bring Julius. I don’t want to think. Just drink.We met up around 6PM. Julius had to sneak out o

Carolyn’s POVTina didn’t even look at me in the hallway.She passed by like I was air—no nod, no smile, not even a flicker of hesitation. And that hurt more than anything J.J had ever done to me directly.Because Tina?She was my safe space.My softness.The only person who didn’t treat me like a scholarship case or a project or a punching bag.Now she was gone.And for what?I didn’t need anyone to tell me J.J was behind it. I didn’t need to ask.It had his fingerprints all over it.The kind of control that left no blood but broke bones all the same.I sat in the back of class that morning, eyes fixed on my textbook but seeing nothing. Even when the teacher asked a question, my voice barely left my throat.“Carolyn?” she prompted again.“I—I’m sorry, ma,” I whispered.She sighed and moved on.That was how the whole morning went.Like I was disappearing.And I was letting it happen.Until I decided I wouldn’t.Not anymore.I waited for the final bell.Waited until I saw him in the co

Carolyn's POV I didn’t look back.Even though my palm still burned from the impact.Even though my chest was pounding so hard I thought I might collapse.I kept walking.Because if I stopped, I knew I’d break.Not because I regretted it.No—never that.But because slapping J.J felt like releasing years of quiet pain that I never even realized I’d carried.The weight of people talking at me instead of to me.The sting of being looked at like a burden wrapped in a scholarship badge.The ache of every time someone like J.J made me feel like my worth depended on their approval.That slap was for every time he made me feel like nothing.It was for Tina.It was for me.By the time I stepped off the school grounds, I was trembling. Not with fear—but with adrenaline. It felt like I had cracked open something I didn’t know existed inside me.A voice.Power.The ability to push back.But the moment I entered the bus heading home, all that fire dulled into fatigue.My shoulders slumped.My knee

J.J.'s POVAs I was in the classroom I was fuming and very upset, I tired to patch things up with Carolyn, tried to show her that I am not the villain or the bad person she thought I was, I tried to show her that I care and that I don't take her for granted but what did she do? she spite it right back at myself. I had to take advice from the internet just to make things right with her but it did not work. I remember the way I felt as I stood by the school gate, arms folded across my chest, trying to stay cool though the heat of the sun and the fire in my chest both begged to burn right through me. As my eyes scanned the crowd of students coming into the school restlessly until they locked on her—Carolyn. When. I saw her, she was, walking into the school building like I didn’t exist, like the hundred times we have spoken to each other even though it was mostly kinda a master-slave type of relationship but it was something, it ought to have meant something—anything—she can't ignore it

J.J.’s POVThe whole afternoon, I couldn't get the image out of my head.George.Carolyn.In his arms.Her face buried against his chest. Her arms clinging to him like he was her damn savior.It made my blood boil.She was supposed to look at me that way.She was supposed to need me.Not him.Never him.I stormed through the school courtyard after the final bell, my fists clenching and unclenching at my sides. I spotted George standing near the bike racks, Julius beside him, saying something I didn’t hear.It didn’t matter.All I saw was red.I stalked toward them, my shoes crunching against the gravel. They both looked up as I approached.George’s jaw tensed immediately, like he knew exactly why I was there.Good."You got a lot of nerve," I spat, coming to a stop a few feet away.Julius stepped between us, raising a hand."J.J., come on, man. Chill. It’s over, alright?"I ignored him.My eyes locked on George’s."I told you to stay out of it," I growled. "You knew what you were sup