Chapter 1Love Not Charity

Thomas rejected the honors program spot for me.

He gave it to Rena Quinn, the scholarship kid he supposedly couldn’t stand.

When I told him we were over, he just took off his gold-rimmed glasses, polishing them with a deliberate slowness, completely unfazed.

"Don't forget, I voted for you in the campus ambassador poll, not her. That took some real pressure."

He spoke as if placating a child. “Rena’s family is dirt poor. That program is her only shot. Think about how many times I’ve gone after her for your sake over the years. Just consider this a way of making it even.”

"Jealous again?" he sighed, a faint smile playing on his lips. "Once you marry into my family, you can have anything you want. Why lower yourself to her level?"

I stared at his infuriatingly calm expression. "I said we're breaking up. Did you not hear me?"

For the first time, a frown creased his brow, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared, replaced by a confident smirk. "Fine. I'll give you a week to cool off. I'll win you back next week. Happy now?"

He was so certain I couldn't live without him.

But he had no idea.

I’d already received a full scholarship offer from Oxford University. My flight to England was in five days.

* * *

“You’re breaking up with Thomas Chase?”

My best friend Chloe’s shriek blasted through the phone.

“Ava, are you insane? You don’t just dump the ultimate catch like it’s nothing!”

I held the phone away from my ear and leaned back against my headboard, scrolling through the campus message board.

The pinned post at the top was in a blaring red font: [Thomas Chase Defends His Girl, Humiliates Rival Rena Quinn with Program Spot!]

The comments were a spectacle.

“LMAO, isn’t Rena the one who’s always acting so high and mighty, saying she despises the rich? Funny how she took the spot so fast.”

“You don’t get it. This is a power move. Thomas is basically saying: ‘Take the money, shut your mouth, and stop bothering my Ava.’”

“Exactly! Our Ava is a queen. That broke girl Rena is always pulling shady stuff behind her back. It’s about time someone put her in her place.”

“Thomas is way too good to Ava. He spoils her rotten.”

I read the comments, a wave of nausea churning in my stomach.

They all thought Thomas was defending me.

Only I knew the truth. That spot—the one I had pulled countless all-nighters for, the one I had poured my soul into earning—had been tossed away to someone else with a careless, “let’s call it even.”

“Ava, are you even listening? Say something!” Chloe was practically hyperventilating.

I opened Rena’s social media profile. Her latest post was from half an hour ago. No picture, just a single line of text: “A handout, I know. But I earned this.”

I screenshotted it and sent it to Chloe.

“See? That’s his explanation to me.”

Silence on the other end. After a long pause, Chloe’s voice came back, strained.

“...So he really gave the spot to Rena? But why? I thought he hated her.”

“Every time she tried to sabotage you at school, wasn’t he the first one to jump in and shut her down?”

Yes, why?

I once believed he was on my side.

I used to think the animosity was because he loved me, and so he loathed anyone who tried to hurt me.

But it turned out that every public confrontation was just a prelude to a private, generous compensation.

And I was the fool, the only one who had been kept in the dark, the only one whose feelings were real.

“Chloe,” I said softly.

“Yeah?”

“Thomas and I are really over.”

“There’s no misunderstanding.”

I heard Chloe’s sharp intake of breath.

I knew what she wanted to say—that Thomas’s family was powerful, that he doted on me, that he was the perfect boyfriend everyone envied, and that I shouldn't be so rash.

But they only saw what he wanted them to see.