Chapter 3Stolen Identity Sweet Revenge

"Rowan, my grandmother has cancer, and the hospital is threatening to stop her treatment. I was completely out of options..."

I leaned my elbow on the desk, listening to Janelle spin the exact same web of lies she had woven in our previous life.

Before she could finish, the door to our dorm room was pushed open. Dean Avery walked in, her expression grim.

"Is everyone present?" she asked, looking around. "Who’s missing? Give me their names so I can call them back immediately."

Aside from Janelle and me, we had two other roommates. Sarah was currently cramming for the LSAT, practically living in the law library. Lily had already moved out to work on a tech startup with her boyfriend.

Once the Dean called them, neither dared to delay; they both hurried back to the room within fifteen minutes.

Janelle, still oblivious to the email I had sent, asked in a small, anxious voice, "Dean Avery, is something wrong?"

The Dean closed the door behind her and turned to face us. "An incident has occurred. Someone in this room took a non-consensual, private photo of Rowan and distributed it online. If the person responsible steps forward now, we can handle this quietly. Otherwise, this becomes a police matter, and it will not end well for anyone involved."

Janelle’s fingers tightened around her phone so hard her knuckles turned white.

Based on the layout of the bathroom shown in the photo, we quickly narrowed down the timeline to the previous weekend.

Sarah immediately raised her hand. "I was at the library study room for forty-eight hours straight. I have the security swipe logs and security footage to prove I never set foot in the dorm."

Lily shook her head. "I was out of state visiting my boyfriend's parents. I have my flight receipts."

All eyes slowly fell on Janelle.

Janelle forced a fragile, nervous laugh. "Rowan, are you sure you didn't get confused? Last weekend, you asked me to take a photo of your back so you could send it to your online boyfriend. Did he leak it?"

The room fell silent. Sarah and Lily exchanged uncomfortable glances.

Dean Avery looked at me, her brow furrowed in disappointment. "Rowan, is this true? The internet is a dangerous place, and sending private images to strangers is highly risky. I hope you've learned from this."

I let out a quiet, cold laugh.

"Dean Avery, I never asked Janelle to take any photos of me. And I don't have an online boyfriend. I have no idea why she would say that."

Janelle’s eyes widened in panic. "Rowan, you've been talking to Zach Cole from the neighboring campus ever since the basketball mixer! You were too shy to approach him, so I offered to help you chat with him. Have you forgotten?"

I remembered that mixer. Janelle had asked me which player I thought was the most attractive, and I had casually pointed to Zach.

At the time, she had laughed and pointed to Gavin Mercer, our department's top student. “Sure, Gavin is brilliant, but Zach’s family is loaded. Look at his shoes—they cost more than my tuition. Compared to him, Gavin’s practically a charity case.”

I had thought it was just typical college banter. I never expected her to weaponize that moment to cover her own crimes.

I looked Janelle dead in the eye. "So, let me get this straight. Because you thought I had a mild interest in a guy, you felt entitled to secretly photograph me while I was changing, send it to him without my knowledge, pretend to be me, and solicit over a hundred and fifty thousand dollars from him?"

The color drained entirely from Janelle’s face.