Chapter 4

The second Professor Miller landed, his notification popped up on my phone.

After a brief confirmation, I headed back to the university to meet him.

Professor Miller worked fast; my biometric profile had already been restored to the building's access system.

When I stepped through the lab doors, every single person in the room stopped dead in their tracks.

Mandy instantly marched over, blocking my path.

"What? Crawled back here to pay the eighteen grand?"

When I gave her stony silence, she ground her teeth.

"Fine. If you won't pay willingly, I have plenty of ways to make you cough it up!"

She yanked out her phone and hit the button to start a TikTok live stream.

"Hey everyone! Tune in! Let me show you all the privileged freeloader who sneaked her way into our world-class research lab. Honestly, she's probably Professor Miller's sugar baby or side piece!"

"She skipped out on an eighteen-thousand-dollar onboarding bill, ran unauthorized outside software during working hours, and brought complete chaos to our team!"

"Her name is Harper Vance! Remember this face! Every lab and institute in the country needs to blacklist this scammer right now!"

Up until now, I had always published papers under my professional monograph moniker.

Barely anyone outside the top brass knew my full legal name.

These kids certainly didn't.

The viewer count on her stream spiked violently within seconds.

The live comments scrolled by in a blur:

[Are side chicks really this shameless nowadays? Flaunting it out in the open?]

[Lmao look at her, definitely got zero brain cells, just trading her pretty face for a cushy lab spot.]

[Every lab director take notes! Do not accidentally hire this snake!]

Watching the chat take her side, Mandy grew drunk on validation, shoving the phone camera inches from my nose.

"Mandy Smith, public defamation carries severe legal consequences."

"I'm just spitting pure facts, aren't I?" she asked, turning to the rest of the lab.

The other grad students nodded along eagerly, chiming in with agreement.

Losing my last shred of patience, I pulled out my phone and dialed Professor Miller.

"Professor Miller, how far away are you?"

Mandy smacked the phone right out of my hand, sending it clattering across the tile floor.

"Still putting on a show? Who do you think you're scaring?"

She raised her stiletto and stomped down hard on my phone screen, cracking the glass into pieces.

"I'm delivering justice today. Go on, tell the stream—whose mistress are you?"

Right at that moment, the lab doors were kicked wide open.

Professor Miller burst into the room, drenched in sweat, panting heavily from sprinting up the stairs.

Mandy's face instantly split into a triumphant grin as she scurried over.

"Professor Miller! You arrived at the perfect time! Our lab doesn't tolerate dirty nepotism. Look, I caught this fraud red-handed for you!"

Instead of praising her, Professor Miller's face turned purple with pure fury. He shoved her aside so hard she nearly stumbled into a workstation.

"Get the hell out of my way, you blind idiot!"

Panting, Professor Miller spun around, bowed slightly, and extended both hands toward me in desperate deference.

"Dr. Vance... I am mortified. Please, forgive this disgraceful display."