Chapter 2The Smear Campaign

"Do not tell anyone we are related."

"Why not?" I asked.

"I'm a junior in college. If you run around calling me 'Uncle,' what does that make me look like?"

"Like an elder."

"Go home and tell your grandmother she should have given birth to me twenty years earlier."

He turned on his heel to leave.

I yelled after him.

"But what if I run out of money for food?"

Without looking back, he tossed a debit card over his shoulder.

"Text me. Let me know when it's empty."

From that day on, we acted like total strangers on campus.

He was the untouchable god of the Finance department, winning national scholarships every year, insanely good-looking, and universally crowned the campus heartthrob.

I was a freshman in the Journalism department. Completely average, blending into the crowd like a grain of white rice in the dining hall.

No one would ever associate the two of us together.

That was, until Chloe Sterling developed a massive crush on Liam.

I don't know how she managed to get her hands on our text history.

Most likely, she had someone snoop through Liam's phone while it was confiscated during his competitive finance decathlon week.

She found out that Liam transferred money to me every month. She found out I went to his apartment every few days. She found out I used his debit card to buy three cases of milk at the grocery store.

But she didn't know what our relationship was.

And she didn't care.

A freshman girl frequently entering the campus heartthrob's apartment and spending his money—that was enough evidence for her to write her own narrative.

The award ceremony was abruptly canceled.

The university administrators called me into their office.

My academic advisor sat on the side, looking like she had just swallowed a box of chalk.

"Harper, explain these text messages."

I said, "Those are normal conversations between me and a family member."

"A family member?" My advisor frowned. "Liam Vance's emergency contact file doesn't list you."

"He's my..."

"Were you about to say he's your boyfriend?"