Chapter 1

My invention won first prize, but the name on the award belonged to Eva Finch, the daughter of my boyfriend's family housekeeper.

When it came time to register for the competition, my boyfriend was the one who'd offered to sign me up.

I confronted him, and he turned it back on me, snapping:

"Eva's mom is sick. I put Eva's name on the award to make her happy. Can you not be so vain about it?"

"Her mom took care of me for twenty years. She's no different from my own mother. Just think of it as showing your devotion early!"

His words actually made me laugh.

We'd been dating two years, and already he was assigning me filial duties?

But what he didn't know was that this award was national.

Claiming it under a false name was enough to land someone in prison for years.

If he thought throwing himself behind bars to honor a housekeeper was worth it, then good for him.

...

When school started and I came back, banners hung everywhere. Congratulations to our own Eva Finch on her award-winning invention!

Except the robot in the photo was clearly my invention.

Over summer break, when I was getting ready to submit for the award, my boyfriend Stewart Delgado had said I was working too hard and offered to handle the paperwork for me.

I rushed into the classroom.

"Stewart, why is my award under Eva Finch's name? Did the award committee make a mistake, or did you write it down wrong when you submitted?"

The whole class was crowded around Eva, congratulating her. When they heard me, her sweet little smile turned guilty.

Stewart stood up and stepped in front of Eva, righteousness written all over his face.

"That's right, I didn't help you steal it!"

"Eve Fox, if you want an award, you earn it with your own ability. Asking me to help you steal Eva's, what kind of thing is that? Even if you threatened to break up with me, I would never do something like that!"

The other students bent their heads and started whispering.

"What's going on? Eve wanted Stewart to help her steal Eva's invention?"

"That's shameless. I didn't think Eve was that kind of person."

Me, steal from Eva? I was so angry I almost laughed.

"Stewart, what are you talking about? Who did I steal from? This robot was always—"

Stewart shoved me, cutting me off.

"This robot took Eva half a year of hard work to build."

"When Eve found out, she wouldn't leave me alone. She kept pushing me to get it for her. Said she wanted an award just for fun."

"She said, 'Isn't Eva just your family's housekeeper's daughter? You order her to hand it over, and she wouldn't dare say no.'"

"But Eve, a housekeeper is a person too. A housekeeper's daughter deserves respect too. I will never help you with something like that."

Stewart's twisting of black into white had me shaking.

"Stewart, what nonsense is this? This robot was my invention from the start!"

Eva walked up with red eyes and took my hand.

"Evie, don't blame Stewart. It's all my fault."

"Stewart, since Evie wants it so badly, I'll just give it to her. I—"

Eva covered her mouth, sobbing so hard she couldn't speak.

Stewart wrapped an arm around Eva's shoulders and roared at me.

"Eve, stop twisting the truth. The award committee already announced the list. You still won't give it up?"

"If this is your invention, then tell me, why is it in Eva's name?"

I stared him down.

"Because you were the one who submitted it for me that day."

I opened my chat history with Stewart.

That day, he'd messaged me to say he was going to register the award for me, and told me to get some rest.

I scrolled through the messages and found that one had been deleted.

I jerked my head up, stunned, and met the smug smile on Stewart's face.

He knew my phone password. I'd never guarded anything from him.

I looked at him, unable to believe it.

"Stewart, you actually deleted my chat history behind my back?"

Stewart's brow creased with disgust.

"How is every word out of your mouth a lie?"

"I never said anything like that. You can't produce any proof, so you say I deleted it?"

One student spoke up: "Let me settle this fairly."

"Eve, since you say you made the robot, you must have saved the original data files, right?"

"Just look at your original archive and we'll know."

I took out my laptop, but a bad feeling was already rising in me.

It booted up. I clicked on the D drive, and the corner of Stewart's mouth curved up, so faint it was almost impossible to catch.