Chapter 4

The day I came back to campus.

A dozen luxury cars sat lined up in a row outside the school gate, drawing a crowd of students who stopped to take pictures.

I walked in wearing head-to-toe couture, ringed by bodyguards.

Plenty of students recognized me, their eyes going wide with shock.

"Isn't that Stella Mason? What's she doing bringing all these people to school?"

"Hey, did you see the car she just got out of? That thing costs eighty million at least. Isn't her dad a driver? Where'd she get the money for a car like that?"

"Are you stupid? It's obviously her employer's."

"Did you forget she showed up in a luxury car on the first day of school too? We all thought she was some rich heiress, and she turned out to be a driver's daughter. What a fake."

Me, fake?

They didn't know the car I'd arrived in that first day was already the most low-key one my family owned.

May Lawrence liked to fawn over the rich and stomp on the poor, didn't she? Today I'd give her all the fawning she could want.

Right as I was thinking it, May came walking over behind Michelle Fox and Ernest Harding.

Her face darkened the moment she took in the scene.

"Stella Mason, what do you think you're doing?"

"This is a school. Get out of here and take these shady people with you. Or is the punishment the school gave you not enough for you?"

I shot her a mocking glance. "Clearly, it's not."

My family may be the richest in Ashford City, but my parents have always kept a low profile, and I take after them. In all these years not one classmate of mine knew a thing about my background.

Even the parent meetings were handled by Oliver and his wife.

So on the first day, without thinking, I'd put down their occupations in the box for my parents. I never imagined that would become May's excuse to come after me.

Ernest stared at his phone for a moment, then suddenly looked up, his whole face lighting up. "Stella, are those cars at the gate all yours?"

"What cars?"

May still had no idea what had happened at the entrance.

A student described it for her in vivid detail.

"Advisor, you don't know. Stella Mason drove up with more than a dozen luxury cars parked outside the gate. Even the cheapest of them runs into the millions. Everyone's crowded at the entrance taking pictures. Could she really be some rich heiress?"

May heard that and swept a contemptuous look up and down over me. "Stella Mason, you think renting a few cars and hiring a few bodyguards to parade around campus will change your lowly origins and make people look at you differently?"

"Let me tell you, fake is fake."

"I'll say it one more time. Take your rented cars and these shady people and get out of the school, or don't blame me when I report you to the administration and have you expelled."

"Go ahead."

"I'd love to see who the school expels today."

I glanced at Oliver. He stepped aside with his phone to make a call.

May flipped her hair, unimpressed, and sniffed. "Stop the act. Since I'm in a good mood today, get down on your knees and apologize to me, and maybe I'll let you off."

"Otherwise, once this reaches the administration, you can start packing your things and get lost."

From the corner of my eye I caught a few people hurrying up behind her. I lifted my chin. "Is that so? They're already here. Whatever you've got to say, you can say it now."

As I spoke, several school leaders came rushing over, apologizing to me in the meekest tones.

"Miss Mason, we're so sorry. We had no idea you were Mr. Fox's daughter. This whole thing was a misunderstanding."

"I've already given the order to revoke your punishment, and a letter of apology has been pinned to the top of the school website for one month. How do you find this resolution?"

May had been about to launch into her complaint, and hearing this she looked outraged. "Dean, Stella Mason skipped class for days without reason and brought all these disorderly people here to cause trouble. How can you let her off this easily, and apologize to her on top of it?"

This whole mess was her doing to begin with, and seeing her still dare to talk back, the dean glared at her, furious and exasperated.

"Shut your mouth!"

"Miss Mason's father donated a billion to the school. He's an honorary board member here. Her affairs are none of your business."