Chapter 2
Vivian
The moment I stepped out of the VIP lounge, I didn't hesitate.
I pulled out my phone and brought up the live security feed.
Through my wireless earbuds, their unfiltered mockery and curses instantly cut through the air.
"Noah, should we really just let Vivian walk away like that?" Liam's voice held a rare, brief flicker of hesitation.
"Why the hell should we stop her? Just so she can stick around and make us sick with that stuck-up, high-and-mighty Sterling princess attitude?"
Noah sneered, his voice dripping with pure disgust.
"She only ever mattered because we were the ones protecting her. Now she's throwing away our friendship just to run off to Yale? Let her go. Without us, she's absolutely nothing in college!"
"Exactly," Liam chimed in, laughing. "Just wait until she realizes there's no one left to shield her from the vipers in our social circles. She'll come crying back to us in no time, just watch."
Listening to them, my fingers tightened around my phone.
Their absolute, bottomless defense of Lily—and their complete degradation of me—made me sick to my stomach.
But my heart didn't hurt anymore.
Noah was my stepbrother.
Our parents got married when we were only ten years old, and we had grown up under the same roof, sharing everything.
Liam lived right next door, my closest childhood friend.
They used to swear they would protect me forever.
They even used to joke that no matter who I married in the future, the other one would stand at the altar and personally hand my hand over.
But during sophomore year, Lily transferred to St. Jude's on a charity scholarship, and everything changed.
She targeted me first, showing up with her cheap, homemade baked goods.
She kept constantly reminding me that my father's foundation fully funded her tuition.
Out of pure, naive kindness, I introduced her to Noah and Liam.
That was the single biggest mistake of my life.
Within months, those two boys completely revolved their entire worlds around Lily.
They forced me to compromise for Lily's fragile emotions over and over again.
They forced me to apologize for my "privilege."
They even forced me to hand over my own resources to her.
In my past life, it was exactly because of the ridiculous, pathetic attachment I had to our past that I stepped in at the last second.
I hijacked their accounts and forced their university preferences back to Harvard and Yale to save their futures.
And look how that turned out. I paid for their futures with my own life.
Now? I couldn't care less if they ruined themselves.
Facing their pathetic provocations and cheap tricks, I felt absolutely nothing.
I just smiled, knowing the prey had already walked straight into the cage.
On the live feed, Liam and Noah paced over to the other side of the room, looking fierce and proud.
They immediately dialed the admissions office of Sunny Valley Vocational Academy, aggressively confirming their ridiculous enrollment details.
With their backs turned, Lily seized her moment.
Like a thief in the night, she crept over to my laptop.
She hammered at the keyboard, trying to wake the screen, a look of pure, frantic desperation in her eyes.
"Vivian, what makes you think you're so much better than me?"
She hissed, her voice cutting clearly through my hidden microphone.
"Once I get into your portal, decline your Yale offer, and click some garbage community college, let's see how proud you are!"
I watched her, thoroughly amused by her stupidity.
She tried three different password combinations, failing every single time.
Just as sweat began to bead on her forehead, a pop-up window appeared on the screen: Log in via Shared Device?
It was a trap I had intentionally left wide open.
Lily gasped with joy and immediately clicked Yes.
What her greedy, rushing eyes failed to notice was that this interface wasn't my application portal at all.
Because Liam and Noah had previously checked their portal status on my laptop using the auto-save password function, the shared link automatically pulled up their open, active accounts.
Desperate to ruin me before the boys turned around, she didn't even bother to look at the student names.
She aggressively clicked Decline Offer for both Harvard and Yale.
Then, she pulled up the pending transfer requests for Sunny Valley Vocational Academy and smashed her finger onto Accept.
Because she was using the boys' universal passwords that they used for everything, the system authorized it instantly.
A giant green checkmark popped up on the screen: Congratulations! Your enrollment is officially locked.
Lily let out a long, shaky breath, a twisted, triumphant smirk spreading across her face.
She honestly believed she had just shattered my Yale dream.
She had no idea she had just sealed the fate of her two braindead protectors, locking them into a dark abyss with no way out.
"Lily? What are you doing over there?"
Noah called out, walking back after finishing his phone call.
Lily instantly wiped the malice from her face, her eyes welling with tears in a split second.
"Noah... I was just checking to make sure Vivian closed her laptop properly. I was so scared she would lose something and blame it on me again..."
"Stop worrying about that heartless bitch!"
Liam walked over, rubbing Lily's head affectionately.
"We just spoke to the dean of Sunny Valley. Our enrollment requests are being processed as we speak."
Noah shoved his hands into his pockets, looking out the window with a cold smirk.
"At next week's University Reveal Day, we are going to announce our decision in front of the entire school."
"We'll let everyone see exactly how ugly Vivian's selfish face looks when she realizes she's utterly alone!"
On the other side of the screen, I let out a sharp laugh.
University Reveal Day was the most prestigious annual tradition at St. Jude's Prep.
Every graduate's wealthy parents, elite high society, and major media outlets would be packed into the auditorium.
The headmaster would project each student's final, irreversible college commitment onto the massive screen for the world to see.
I couldn't wait to see whose face looked ugly then.
The next morning, I was violently woken up by the thumping bass of speakers shaking my bedroom floor.
I threw on a silk robe and walked out onto my balcony.
Down below, in our family's private infinity pool, a wild bikini party was already in full swing.
Noah and Liam were in the water, splashing around, while Lily was wearing a cheap neon swimsuit, giggling as she sat on the edge.
They were acting incredibly intimate, treating my home like their personal playground.
As soon as Noah spotted me on the balcony, a malicious smirk crossed his face.
"Hey, look who finally decided to join the living!"
