Chapter 1 At the university’s awards assembly, campus queen bee Chloe Vance exposed my bank transfer records with the four young heirs of the Sterling family. Eight million dollars in a single year. The entire auditorium instantly exploded. She hung a cardboard sign reading “Campus Gold Digger #1” around my neck, ordered her followers to dump a bucket of fake money all over the floor, and threw a dog leash at my feet. “You love money so much, don’t you?” “Get on your knees and crawl around like a dog.” “For every fake bill you pick up, I’ll pay you the equivalent out of my own pocket, just to spare the Sterling family.” I didn’t move. Chloe forcefully hooked the leash to my collar and kicked the back of my knees. “Stop acting so pure and innocent.” “Weren’t you better at being on your knees when you were earning all that cash in the Sterling boys’ beds?” She stomped on my hand, smugly waving her phone. “I already sent the eight million dollar bank statement to Grandpa Sterling.” “When he gets to this school, I want to see if a parasite like you can still walk out of here on your own two feet.” I looked at the total transfer amount displayed on the massive projector screen, rubbing my forehead in exasperation. Hold on a second. Those four little brats combined only gave me eight million this year? If the old man finds out about this, who exactly is going to be the one getting yelled at? …… Before I could even process the absurdity, Chloe yanked the dog leash tight. The metal collar choked my throat, forcing me to bend over. The laughter from the audience grew deafening. “Make her bark, Chloe!” “Eight million bucks? I’d be a dog for that, no problem!” People were shoving to the very front row, holding up their phones to record. The title of the live stream on the campus confession page had already changed to: [SHOCKING! Broke Scholarship Student Sleeping with All Four Sterling Heirs, Raking in $8M a Year!] I lifted my head and looked directly into the camera of the guy closest to me. “Make sure you get a clear shot of this.” The guy holding the phone froze. “What?” “Make sure you clearly film her putting a dog leash on me and kicking me.” “I’ll need the evidence when I sue her later.” The auditorium went dead silent for a split second. The smile on Chloe’s face stiffened. She immediately ground the toe of her designer heel into my fingers. “Sue me?” “Why don’t you explain why Liam Sterling transfers you a hundred grand every single month first?” She clicked her presentation remote. A screenshot of a text conversation popped up on the big screen. Liam: [Did the money hit your account?] Me: [Only a hundred grand? What am I, a beggar?] Immediately after, a photo of a black Amex card from Noah Sterling. [Swipe it as much as you want. Don’t worry about the limit.] The third screenshot was from Julian Sterling. [The penthouse has been transferred to your name. The door code is your birthday.] The final screenshot was the most outrageous. At 2:00 AM, Mason Sterling had wired me $500,000. [I’m so sorry, Your Highness.] [You got the money, please don’t tattle on me tomorrow, okay?] The entire auditorium went absolutely feral. Chloe was laughing so hard tears were forming in her eyes. “Looks like sleeping with four men at once wasn’t enough for you.” “You actually forced Mason Sterling to play some kind of sick master-servant roleplay?” I stayed silent for two seconds. If Mason knew his pathetic, groveling texts were currently being broadcast to the entire university, he’d probably want to find a dog leash and hang himself with it. But in the eyes of the crowd, my silence was an admission of guilt. Director Davis, the administrator in charge of the assembly, stormed onto the stage with a dark expression. “Harper, are these bank transfers real?” “Yes.” “And the penthouse, the black card, and the car… were those given to you by the four Sterling students as well?” “Basically.” Director Davis’s face turned ugly. “Until the source of these assets is fully investigated, your eligibility for the ‘Top Ten Outstanding Students’ award is temporarily suspended.” I pointed at the dog leash tight around my neck. “And what about Chloe publicly humiliating and assaulting me? How is that being handled?” Chloe’s eyes instantly welled up with fake tears. “Director Davis, I just felt so bad for the four Sterling boys.” “If I didn’t expose her today, how much longer would they be scammed?” Director Davis let out a heavy sigh. “Her methods may have been a bit extreme, but she was acting out of good intentions.” “You need to reflect on your own behavior first.” I laughed out loud. So as long as you pull up enough bank statements, putting a dog leash on someone is considered an act of heroism. Seeing that she had the administration’s backing, Chloe yanked the dorm keycard off my wrist lanyard. “She has eight million dollars in her account.” “She definitely has more stolen goods hidden in her dorm.” She held my keycard up to the live stream cameras. “Today, I’m going to clean house for the Sterling boys.” “Let’s see exactly how much stuff this gold digger has hoarded from other men in her little nest.” Chapter 2 Chloe led a mob of Student Government lackeys straight toward my dorm. Along the way, she ordered one of them to hold onto the dog leash. If I walked even slightly too slow, the metal chain dug into my neck, leaving bright red welts. Students lined the pathways, holding up their phones to film the spectacle. Some guys were whistling at me. “Hey, eight-million-dollar sugar baby, can I get in on that?” “Cycling through all four Sterling boys? Damn, your schedule must be packed!” Chloe looked back at me, smiling with sickening sweetness. “Do you hear that?” “The whole school knows exactly what kind of trash you are now.” When we reached my dorm room, I placed my hand firmly over the door handle. “The Student Government does not have the legal authority to search a student’s room.” She smugly pulled a piece of paper from her designer bag. It was an official dorm inspection warrant. The person who submitted the report was her. The person assigned to investigate was her. The person who approved it was also her. One person executing all three administrative steps. Such stunning bureaucratic efficiency. Director Davis was trailing right behind us. “Harper, just cooperate.” “If we don’t find anything, the university will naturally clear your name.” “And if my property is damaged during this unauthorized search?” I asked. Chloe waved her phone in my face. “Stolen goods don’t need to be kept in pristine condition.” She swiped my keycard and marched straight to my closet. She moved with practiced precision, almost as if she had scouted the room beforehand. The second the closet door swung open, a men’s tailored suit jacket was sitting right in plain sight. The crowd gathered at the door immediately erupted into jeers. Chloe yanked the suit jacket off the hanger and threw it into a cardboard box. “Liam’s.” Next, she ripped open my desk drawer and pulled out Noah’s black Amex card. Sitting on my desk was a luxury watch Julian had sent over. And resting on my nightstand was the spare key fob to Mason’s sports car. With every item she pulled out, the insults hurled from the hallway grew louder and more vicious. “She really didn’t spare a single one of them.” “This isn’t a gold digger, this is a whole Sterling family wholesale distributor.” Chloe grabbed the black card and slapped it against my cheek. “Warming the beds of four different men just to get these.” “How do you even sleep at night?” I turned my head to dodge her hand. “I suggest you watch your mouth.” “What, you dare to do it, but you’re too scared to let people talk about it?” She yanked open my bedside table drawer. Sitting on the very top were four thick red envelopes. Written across the front of each envelope was the exact same phrase: [Wishing Our Little Ancestor a Long and Healthy Life.] Chloe held them up to the camera, laughing so hard she had to bend over. “You’re nineteen years old, and you’re making men wish you a ‘long and healthy life’?” “I guess if you’re scamming this hard, you really do need to live a few extra years to spend it all.” She ripped the envelopes open. There was no cash inside. Only four handwritten IOU notes. Chloe glanced at them and carelessly tore them to shreds. “Trash.” My expression instantly turned to ice. Those were apology notes the four brats had been forced by the family elders to write after they skipped a mandatory family dinner. They didn’t owe me money. They each owed me an IOU to spend an entire day with me for my birthday. I was just about to bend down to pick up the pieces, when Chloe suddenly noticed the carved rosewood box tucked in the very bottom of my drawer. Her eyes lit up. “Hidden away like this… this has to be a token of love, right?” I immediately stepped in front of her, blocking her path. “Don’t touch that.” Seeing my face finally lose its calm, Chloe’s smile widened maliciously. She shoved me out of the way and flipped the box open. Inside rested an old, worn jade pendant. The jade wasn’t particularly translucent, and the edges were chipped with age. Carved into the back was an ancient, traditional character: Sterling. Chloe picked it up and examined it mockingly. “You aren’t seriously going to try and claim this is some Sterling family heirloom, are you?” I held out my hand. “Put it back.” “You want it?” She dangled the pendant outside the dorm window. “Get on your knees and call me ‘Master’ three times.” “Then I’ll give it back.” I stared at her. “If that breaks, you will not be able to afford the consequences.” “It’s a cheap piece of fake street trash. What consequences could I possibly not afford?” She smiled brightly, and opened her fingers. The jade pendant plummeted from the third floor. A sharp, sickening crack echoed from the concrete courtyard below. My brain went completely blank. Chloe clapped her hands together in satisfaction. “Stop pretending to be some high-society heiress.” “Fake trash belongs in the garbage.” She leaned in close, lowering her voice. “If you really care about it that much, go down and pick it up.” “It works out perfectly. You’re already wearing the leash. You can crawl all the way down there in front of the whole school.” Chapter 3 The jade pendant had shattered into three pieces. I crouched by the courtyard planter, picking up the fragments one by one. It was the only thing my father had ever left me. When I was born, he had tied it around my neck with his own hands, saying it would protect me and keep me safe. Now, my safety wasn’t protected. And the entire Sterling family was probably about to have a collective heart attack. My roommate, Lily, pushed through the crowd and ran over to me. “Harper, your neck is bleeding!” She tried to unclip the dog leash, but the Student Government lackeys violently shoved her away. Chloe stood on the steps of the dorm building, actively directing her people to set up a “Restitution Altar.” My belongings were arranged into four neat rows. Each row was labeled with the name of one of the Sterling heirs. The black card, the luxury watch, the penthouse keys, and my own sports car keys—everything was displayed as evidence of my slutty, gold-digging crimes. A long, dramatic red carpet was rolled out across the center of the courtyard. At the very end of the carpet sat a metal dog bowl. The bowl was stuffed to the brim with fake Hell Bank Notes. Chloe held a megaphone and announced to the crowd: “This afternoon, the four Sterling heirs will be arriving personally to reclaim their stolen property.” “Before they get here, Harper must crawl the entire length of this red carpet on her knees.” A poll instantly went live on the campus forum. The top-voted comment read: [Eight million bucks just to make her crawl? That’s way too easy on her.] Lily was shaking with rage. “We’re calling the cops.” “I already did.” During the dorm raid, I had used my smartwatch to send an emergency SOS to the police. But until the cops got here, this theatrical circus was going to continue. I really wanted to see exactly how deep of a grave Chloe was willing to dig for herself. She walked over and callously kicked the pieces of the jade pendant I had just painstakingly gathered together. “Stop stalling.” “Get on your knees.” I didn’t move. She shot a look at two of her male Student Government officers. They flanked me, grabbing my shoulders and forcing me down. Lily rushed forward to stop them, but they shoved her hard to the ground. Her palms scraped across the concrete stairs, instantly welling with blood. I shot up from the ground. “This has absolutely nothing to do with her.” Chloe stepped in front of Lily, blocking my path. “You want me to let her go? Fine.” “Crawl.” She aggressively tightened the dog leash again, and kicked the back of my knees with her heel. I fell heavily onto the red carpet. The crowd surrounding us instantly erupted into cheers. Fake money rained down from the sky above me. Chloe stepped on my calf, kicking the dog bowl right in front of my face. “Pick it up.” “Aren’t you the expert at squeezing money out of men?” “Crawl to the end, and pick the bowl up with your teeth.” I leaned on my hands, my knees throbbing with numbness against the rough carpet. Right at that moment, the phone in Chloe’s jacket pocket rang. The caller ID displayed Grandpa Sterling. Chloe’s eyes lit up. She deliberately answered the call and put it on speaker. “Grandpa Sterling! Did you see the bank statements I sent you?” The other end of the line was silent for a few seconds. “Where is Harper?” “She’s right here in front of me.” Chloe shot me a look of pure, triumphant smugness. “I already confiscated all the things she scammed out of Liam and the other boys.” “She’s currently on her knees, reflecting on her crimes.” The breathing on the other end of the phone suddenly grew incredibly heavy. “Who told her to get on her knees?” Chloe smiled even sweeter. “I did.” “A greedy, manipulative woman like her needs to be taught a lesson, otherwise she’ll never learn.” The phone line went dead silent again. It felt like an eternity before the old man finally spoke, his voice dangerously low. “Tell her to stay exactly where she is.” “I am sending the four boys over there personally.” The call disconnected. The crowd erupted into a massive roar of approval. Chloe leaned down and patted my cheek mockingly. “Did you hear that?” “The four Sterling heirs are coming here to handle you themselves.” She shoved the chain of the dog leash near my mouth. “You better start practicing.” “Don’t forget how to act like a dog when they get here.” Chapter 4 Half an hour later, a massive commotion broke out at the edge of the courtyard. The four Sterling heirs had arrived. Chloe immediately ordered her people to turn all the live stream cameras toward them. She shoved me down at the end of the red carpet and kicked the dog bowl full of fake money in front of me. “Don’t say a single word.” “If you try to make excuses, I’ll make sure they see all the proof of you hooking up with other men.” I looked up toward the edge of the crowd. Liam was walking at the very front. Behind him were Noah, Julian, and Mason. All four of them had been on campus attending a networking event for the Sterling Family Foundation alumni. They had rushed over the second they got the call from the estate. The moment they appeared, the crowd of girls went wild with screams. Chloe quickly fixed her hair, picked up the cardboard box full of “stolen goods,” and hurried over to greet them. “Liam! I finally exposed her for you guys!” “Harper wasn’t just spending your money.” “She was simultaneously taking Noah’s black card, Julian’s penthouse, and Mason’s sports car!” Liam didn’t take the box. His gaze swept right past her and landed directly on me. When he saw the metal dog leash wrapped around my neck, he stopped dead in his tracks. Noah also noticed my bruised, swollen knees. “Who did this?” Chloe, assuming he was asking who had set up this brilliant restitution ceremony, immediately smiled and claimed credit. “I did.” “She refused to get on her knees at first, so I had to have some people help her.” The muscles in Noah’s jaw instantly locked tight. Completely oblivious to the murderous aura radiating from the boys, Chloe handed the shattered pieces of the jade pendant to Julian. “Oh, by the way, she was also using this cheap fake trash to pretend she had a Sterling family heirloom.” “I already smashed it for you.” Julian stared at the shattered jade in his palm, the blood draining from his face entirely. “You smashed this?” “Yeah.” Chloe smiled dismissively. “Why would you keep a piece of garbage that a gold digger traded her body for?” Mason aggressively lunged forward. Liam threw his arm out, physically blocking him. The quieter the four boys became, the more Chloe assumed they were just paralyzed by fury at my audacity. She turned around, picked up her microphone, and announced to the entire school: “Harper took advantage of the Sterling heirs’ kindness, scamming eight million dollars out of them simultaneously!” “Not only did she act like she was the future Mrs. Sterling, she actually forced the boys to call her ‘Your Highness’!” “And just a few minutes ago, she even claimed that the money was given to her out of ‘filial respect’!” The crowd instantly erupted into loud, mocking boos. Chloe picked up the handle of the dog leash and held it out to Liam. “Liam, you should personally walk her down this red carpet.” “Make her realize her place.” “In front of the Sterling family, she is absolutely nothing.” Liam finally reached out and took the leash. The entire courtyard went feral. People were screaming for me to crawl. Dozens of cameras zoomed in on my face, eagerly waiting to capture the moment I was personally humiliated by the Sterling heirs. Chloe stood in front of me, her face full of fake pity. “It’s too late to regret it now.” “Did you really think sleeping with a few rich guys gave you the right to walk all over the Sterling family?” I ignored her. I just watched Liam slowly walk up to me. He didn’t pull the leash. Instead, he knelt down and carefully, gently unclipped the metal collar from my neck. Then, he ripped the “Campus Gold Digger #1” sign off my chest, grabbed my arm, and helped me stand up. The courtyard slowly fell silent. Chloe frowned in confusion. “Liam, you’re making a mistake.” “She’s the gold digger.” Liam tossed the heavy metal leash directly into the dog bowl. He looked down at the bleeding scrapes on my knees, his voice dropping to a low, agonizing whisper. “I am so sorry.” Chloe panicked and interrupted. “Why are you apologizing to her?!” “She scammed all four of you!” Liam didn’t answer her. He turned around and looked at the other three boys, who were still standing frozen at the edge of the carpet. “What the hell are you waiting for?” Noah was the first to walk over. Julian, holding the shattered jade reverently in both hands, stepped up beside him. Mason’s eyes were already completely red. The four arrogant, untouchable Sterling heirs, under the watchful gaze of thousands of students and faculty, lined up in a perfectly straight row. And then, in perfect unison, they bowed deeply to me. “Great-Aunt.”
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