Chapter 84
Harrison opened his eyes and reached for his phone. In the group chat Felicity had created-“The Capital Circle“-there were more than ninety–nine unread messages.
Most days, Felicity bantered endlessly with the other heirs of the city’s elite, flooding the chat with a steady stream of trash talk. But as Harrison scrolled through the notifications, he couldn’t shake the feeling that today’s heated discussion was about him.
He tapped into the group. Someone had forwarded the list of qualifiers for the ALI Math Competition and tagged Felicity.
“Is the top scorer really your sister?”
“Felicity, is your sister really that smart? You never mentioned her before!”
A few others were clearly just there to stir the pot.
“Freshly divorced and already snagging first place in the most prestigious math competition in the country. Let’s hear a few words from our resident ex–husband, @Harrison.”
Then Felicity jumped in, tagging Harrison:
“Remember on the 7th, Selene showed up with Adrian? That was the day of the ALI Math Competition prelims!”
She pressed on, confused:
“Didn’t Selene leave Azure Vista Estates that morning? Didn’t you say you cut her internet off that day? So where did she even get online to take the competition?”
Harrison replied, “She went to the Shaw family’s house–spent the whole day there.” Felicity sent a shocked emoji.
“No way! She took the math competition at the Shaw family’s place? Theodore Shaw is the head of the math department at Capital University! That’s a little… suspicious, don’t you think?”
That one comment was all it took for the group’s imagination to run wild.
“Wait, are you saying Mr. Shaw was coaching Selene during the competition?”
Boss Thompson (Felicity): “Who knows! All I know is the ALI Math Competition is online. You can look things up, but you can’t share the problems or discuss them
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with anyone. But come on–it’s online. There are always loopholes, right?”
The chat exploded with theories:
“That has to be it! She’s been a stay–at–home mom for seven years. There’s no way she remembers that much math! If she was at the Shaw family’s house, it’s super likely Theodore helped her cheat!”
Felicity chimed in again:
“Oh!1 just remembered–Mr. Shaw was Selene’s professor in college!”
A few seconds later, she messaged again in a panic.
“Ugh! I meant to retract that last message, but I hit ‘delete‘ instead!”
She tried to walk it back:
“Honestly, though, the head of the math department at Capital University wouldn’t risk his reputation to help a student cheat. Would he?”
But the damage was done. The group fell silent, everyone turning over the new possibilities in their minds. The topic of Selene’s first–place finish was dropped, as if by mutual, unspoken agreement.
Not long after, Harrison’s phone rang. Felicity was calling.
“Harrison, do you really think Selene could’ve cheated? I mean, I honestly don’t think
she’d dare.”
She was fishing for his opinion.
He gave a cold, dismissive answer.
“She had the guts to divorce me. Why wouldn’t she have the guts to cheat?”
Felicity tried to hide her amused smile.
“So you do think Selene cheated?”
Harrison didn’t deny it. His tone was laced with contempt.
“Just another fame–seeker.”
He wasn’t talking about Selene–he meant the Shaw family. Theodore Shaw, head of Capital University’s math department, a man who was supposed to stand for integrity, now reduced to helping Selene cheat, lifting her to a place she never could have reached on her own.
On the other end of the line, Felicity, surprisingly, tried to defend Selene.
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“She probably just wanted to prove herself, Harrison. She’s been a housewife for years. She has no idea what kind of consequences she’d face if she cheated in a competition like this!”
Let Selene embarrass herself in front of the whole world, Felicity thought. Harrison had no intention of helping her.
Just then, Secretary Burnett stepped into the office, looking grim.
Harrison hung up, set his phone down, and listened as Burnett reported,
“Mr. Vaughn, your grandmother has been taken in by the district attorney’s office.”
Harrison’s expression darkened, storm clouds gathering in his eyes.
While the entire internet buzzed about a full–time housewife taking first place in a national math competition, doubts were brewing beneath the surface.
Selene’s name trended all day, and after an NBN News interview, her fame reached a fever pitch.
That night, a high–profile influencer dropped a bombshell: Selene’s mentor was none other than Theodore Shaw, head of the math department at Capital
University.
With millions of followers, the influencer claimed to have inside information: on the day of the math competition, Selene had taken the test at Theodore’s home.
His theory was that Selene had shared the questions with Theodore, who solved them on a whiteboard and simply handed her the answers–explaining her stunning, first–place finish.
“No way a stay–at–home mom could score that high in the ALI Math Competition after seven years out of the game. It just doesn’t add up!”
With that, the tide of public opinion began to turn.
Someone even posted satellite images showing Selene near the Shaw family’s house on the day of the exam.
Students from Capital University joined in, revealing that Selene had once beer Theodore’s most promising student. He’d even clashed with professors from Aldonia Institute of Technology in a bid to recruit her to Capital University.
Soon, a math major from Capital University posted on the campus forum:
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“Selene’s been coming by the Shaw house to work on problems with us. She only started preparing for the ALI competition less than a month ago.
Professor Shaw has always looked out for her. Even after she dropped out to get married, he still welcomed her back to his home for lectures.”
To back up his claims, the student included a candid photo he’d snapped of Selene in the Shaw family’s living room.
That was the final nail in the coffin–proof of just how close Selene and Theodore really were.
