Chapter 1The Smear Campaign

At the university's Top Ten Outstanding Students award ceremony, just as I stepped onto the podium, the massive projector screen suddenly went black.

The next second, dozens of highly explicit, scandalous text message screenshots popped up on the screen.

The entire auditorium of two thousand students and faculty erupted in a deafening uproar.

The sender was me. The recipient was sitting in the very front row: the campus golden boy, academic prodigy, and junior finance major, Liam Vance.

The screenshots were filled with messages I had sent:

[I'm broke. Send me a thousand bucks.]

[I'm sleeping at your apartment tonight. Leave the door unlocked.]

[If you don't give me the money, I'm going to harass you every single day and ruin your reputation.]

The sorority president and campus 'it-girl', Chloe Sterling, sprinted onto the stage with a microphone. Pointing directly at me, she announced with self-righteous fury:

"Everyone, look closely! Harper Quinn is not some innocent, hardworking straight-A student. She is a shameless gold-digger who has been chronically harassing and extorting Liam Vance!"

"A toxic, disgusting parasite like her doesn't deserve to stand on this stage and accept an award!"

Countless gazes of absolute disgust stabbed into me like knives. The university administrators' faces turned ashen.

Chloe looked at me with smug triumph. "Harper, Liam is too much of a gentleman to call the police, but today, you are going to publicly apologize for your shameless, predatory behavior!"

I stared at the "extortion" records on the screen and helplessly rubbed my forehead.

Hold on a second.

Liam Vance is my biological uncle. My grandmother had him late in life.

I went to my own uncle's apartment to grab some free food and ask him for some pocket money.

How did that turn me into a shameless gold-digger?

...

Liam Vance is my biological uncle.

No one at school knew this.

It wasn't that I was intentionally hiding it.

It was because on my very first day of freshman year, Liam cornered me outside the library and, with a completely deadpan expression, laid down three rules.

"Do not call me 'Uncle' on campus."