Chapter 4The Fire and The Fan Girl

Carter panicked. He tried to snatch my phone.

"What are you doing?" he screamed. "You'll ruin her graduation! You're so vicious!"

He didn't care about my reputation. He didn't care that I would be blacklisted from every lab in the country.

"I am an authority in this field, Carter. Do you think a little mud will stick if I fight back?"

Carter insisted it was "just a paper."

I looked at him and felt nothing but disgust.

Back when we were in the lab together, he used to bring me snacks during all-nighters. He knew how serious plagiarism was.

Bella clutched her chest, face pale. "I can't go back to school. Everyone will hate me."

When she hired a ghostwriter, she didn't seem worried about hate.

"Harper, I know you hate me..."

"Save the tears," I snapped. "I'm sick of your act."

Carter begged me. But it was useless.

We were summoned to the Dean's office. My senior colleague, Julian, was leading the investigation. His face hardened when he saw me.

"A lifetime of integrity, ruined by trash," Julian whispered to me. "I told you she was a fraud. She couldn't write that abstract if her life depended on it."

Julian had warned me about the "Genius Girl." But I was too busy trying to save my failing marriage to listen.

"Sigh." I waited to submit my evidence.

Bella couldn't produce a single draft. She just cried and looked at Carter.

So, she made a scene. She climbed onto the roof of the library, threatening to jump.

A crowd gathered.

Carter shouted to the onlookers, "Harper is my wife, but right is right! She made a mistake, and now she's trying to frame Bella! I just want the truth!"

Julian stood next to me. "Heart cold yet?"

"It's been frozen for a while," I smiled.

"Bella is a genius! She published three papers last year!"

"Yeah, Harper is just jealous because her husband loves Bella more."

The crowd was swaying. Public opinion was turning against me.

But then, some people started speaking up.

"That's Dr. Harper Vance. There's no way she plagiarized."

"Yeah, her citation index is insane. Why would she sabotage an undergrad?"