Chapter 2

After failing the Westbridge interview, I had no choice but to wrap up my Master's Capstone Project while looking for other jobs.

The next day, I submitted the final files to the department and continued browsing job postings.

An hour later, my phone rang. It was my advisor.

"Mara, what is going on? The project you submitted is identical to Vivian's. And she submitted hers yesterday."

"That's impossible, Professor. Let me check."

I opened my laptop, and my blood ran cold.

The timestamps on all my local project files had been altered to yesterday.

A horrifying thought surfaced, but I violently pushed it down.

"Professor, please believe me. I built this project entirely on my own. Give me a few days, and I will prove it."

With trembling hands, I called Grant.

Straight to voicemail.

At the exact same time, a post blew up on the anonymous Easton University campus forum.

The title: Top Student Mara Bennett Suspected of Plagiarizing Vivian Mercer's Capstone Project.

Within half an hour, it had thousands of comments.

[No way? Isn't Mara the top of our class?]

[Who knows how she actually got those grades.]

[Vivian has the version history logs. Doesn't that prove Mara copied?]

I immediately hacked into the forum's backend to pull down the defamatory post.

But the moment my fingers hit the keys, a countermeasure blocked me. My permissions were revoked, and my account was forcefully kicked out.

Someone was guarding that post. Someone backing Vivian up.

And their technical skills were at least on par with mine.

Looking at the entire university alumni network, there were very few people who could overpower me in cybersecurity.

Grant was one of them.

By the time I stormed into the lecture hall, Vivian was standing at the podium, presenting "her" Capstone Project.

"This is a cutting-edge AI prototype—"

The code on the screen, the model architecture, every single interaction detail... it was the exact project I had spent two months agonizing over.

"Vivian!" I shouted, cutting her off. "That is my Capstone Project."

Vivian flinched, her eyes instantly welling up with tears.

"Mara, what are you talking about? Just because I let you glance at my design a few times doesn't mean you can claim it's yours."

"If it's yours, show the proof."

Without missing a beat, she pulled up a string of creation logs. The timestamps clearly showed the work beginning over two months ago—the exact day I had started coding.

Whispers broke out across the room.

"Mara, we know you're smart, but Vivian has the proof. Just apologize."

"Yeah, if this blows up, it's going to ruin your academic career. The Academic Integrity Committee is already investigating. Just apologize so she drops it."

Their stares felt like needles.

I kept my chin high.

"Vivian, I will prove that this project is mine."

To prevent hardware failure, I had set up an independent, encrypted cloud backup and maintained a hidden Git commit history. Not even Grant knew about it.

I never expected I'd have to use it to save my own life.

The truth would come out soon enough. But until it did, I had to wear the label of a thief.

Chapter 2

After failing the Westbridge interview, I had no choice but to wrap up my Master's Capstone Project while looking for other jobs.

The next day, I submitted the final files to the department and continued browsing job postings.

An hour later, my phone rang. It was my advisor.

"Mara, what is going on? The project you submitted is identical to Vivian's. And she submitted hers yesterday."

"That's impossible, Professor. Let me check."

I opened my laptop, and my blood ran cold.

The timestamps on all my local project files had been altered to yesterday.

A horrifying thought surfaced, but I violently pushed it down.

"Professor, please believe me. I built this project entirely on my own. Give me a few days, and I will prove it."

With trembling hands, I called Grant.

Straight to voicemail.

At the exact same time, a post blew up on the anonymous Easton University campus forum.

The title: Top Student Mara Bennett Suspected of Plagiarizing Vivian Mercer's Capstone Project.

Within half an hour, it had thousands of comments.

[No way? Isn't Mara the top of our class?]

[Who knows how she actually got those grades.]

[Vivian has the version history logs. Doesn't that prove Mara copied?]

I immediately hacked into the forum's backend to pull down the defamatory post.

But the moment my fingers hit the keys, a countermeasure blocked me. My permissions were revoked, and my account was forcefully kicked out.

Someone was guarding that post. Someone backing Vivian up.

And their technical skills were at least on par with mine.

Looking at the entire university alumni network, there were very few people who could overpower me in cybersecurity.

Grant was one of them.

By the time I stormed into the lecture hall, Vivian was standing at the podium, presenting "her" Capstone Project.

"This is a cutting-edge AI prototype—"

The code on the screen, the model architecture, every single interaction detail... it was the exact project I had spent two months agonizing over.

"Vivian!" I shouted, cutting her off. "That is my Capstone Project."

Vivian flinched, her eyes instantly welling up with tears.

"Mara, what are you talking about? Just because I let you glance at my design a few times doesn't mean you can claim it's yours."

"If it's yours, show the proof."

Without missing a beat, she pulled up a string of creation logs. The timestamps clearly showed the work beginning over two months ago—the exact day I had started coding.

Whispers broke out across the room.

"Mara, we know you're smart, but Vivian has the proof. Just apologize."

"Yeah, if this blows up, it's going to ruin your academic career. The Academic Integrity Committee is already investigating. Just apologize so she drops it."

Their stares felt like needles.

I kept my chin high.

"Vivian, I will prove that this project is mine."

To prevent hardware failure, I had set up an independent, encrypted cloud backup and maintained a hidden Git commit history. Not even Grant knew about it.

I never expected I'd have to use it to save my own life.

The truth would come out soon enough. But until it did, I had to wear the label of a thief.