Chapter 3
Jennifer and I were constantly being compared, and she'd always had it out for me.
Back then, Jacob, the social climber, didn't pick Jennifer. Obviously, he thought her family wasn't as loaded as mine.
Seeing Jennifer's smug face, I just laid out the truth without sugarcoating it.
Her expression instantly soured, and she snapped at me to shut up.
Jacob tried to comfort her. "Jennifer, I love you for who you are. Don't listen to this witch."
He added, "She's so hypocritical. How could you believe a word she says? You're the real heiress here!"
Jennifer was all smiles after that, immediately promising to get him a luxury watch the next day.
Jacob shot me a look, full of smugness.
Watching these two clowns put on a show, I couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"What are you laughing at? My family's company is about to land a 700-thousand-dollar deal—enough to buy your pathetic life!" Jennifer snapped.
As she said that, Jacob's eyes lit up with excitement.
Jennifer loved to show off. Everyone at school knew her parents ran a local machinery company called Lawson Group.
700 thousand dollars?
I just smiled again.
They had no idea my allowance alone was way more than that.
And they didn't know that the 700-thousand-dollar project Jennifer was bragging about was actually the one my father set up for me to work on with him, just to give me some experience.
To buy a new batch of machines, he'd picked out a few companies, including Lawson Group.
"Wow, Jennifer's family is so rich. She really is an heiress," someone said, fawning over her.
While everyone was busy hyping her up, I whipped out my phone under their condescending stares.
"Daddy, take Lawson Group off the project list," I said, not missing a beat.
Hearing me say that with so much confidence, Jennifer was stunned.
The crowd around us fell silent.
They started whispering to each other. "Wait, is Catherine actually some rich heiress?"
Someone joked, "Which daddy? Her sugar daddy or something?"
Another person said, "But honestly, she doesn't look like she's pretending."
Jacob's eyes darted nervously, the flattery on his face vanishing, replaced by suspicion.
He put on a concerned face and asked Jennifer, "Jennifer, what did Catherine just say? Is she really the big boss's daughter?"
Jennifer looked even more flustered, suddenly remembering her father had mentioned that the big boss was some Mr. Fletcher.
She thought to herself, 'Could Catherine seriously be Mr. Fletcher's daughter?'
But she didn't want to lose face in front of everyone, so she put her hands on her hips and shot back, "Catherine, don't you feel ashamed? If you're that delusional, maybe you should get it checked out."
She added, "Drop the act now. Everyone at school knows your dad is just some junk dealer!"
She went on, "My family's company isn't some big secret—half the school knows about it. You think just calling someone and making up a story scares me? You think I'll buy it? You think anyone here will?"
She grabbed her phone, saying she was going to check with her family.
After tapping out a few words on her screen, she lifted her chin and said, "My dad says the project's still on, and we've actually landed some other big deals lately!"
I let out a cold laugh. Jennifer was guarding her phone screen so tightly. What? Was she afraid someone would see she was just texting herself from an alt account?
She could fool everyone else, but she shouldn't start believing her own lies.
She'd have to pay the price herself in the end.
Jennifer's father already knew the truth. The big boss had heard that the Lawson family's daughter had a bad reputation at school, and he wasn't sure about their family values. So, Lawson Group had been dropped from the project.
For a moment, the students didn't know who to believe.
But thanks to their preconceived notions, the image of me as a gold-digging, fake liar was already burned into their minds.
Most of them just blindly chose to believe Jennifer.
But a few people, worried that I might actually be the real heiress, started deleting the fake photoshopped images of me they'd posted on the school forum, along with the false rumors about the "scandalous videos" they claimed to have seen.
They were scared I'd sue them. These people were cowards, terrified of facing the consequences, but they still couldn't change their nasty ways.
Well, I wasn't going to let them off the hook.
Before coming back to school, I'd already saved all the evidence. Their deletions wouldn't do them any good.
My roommates were buzzing about what had just gone down at the school gate, all fired up after seeing the forum posts.
"No way! I heard it clear as day—her mom said on the phone that they sold some waste and only sent her three!" One of them blurted out.
"Yeah, I heard it too! I can't believe she was still making a fool of herself in front of Jennifer!" another added.
"But... what if all three of us misheard? If we're spreading rumors, are we gonna get in trouble? What if school gives us a demerit? Then I won't get my recommendation for the honors program..."
The one saying this was Grace Hardy, the slickest one in our dorm and the vice president of the student council's publicity department. She had connections everywhere.
It was because of her network that rumors about me spread so fast.
One of my roommates laughed wildly, "Grace, what are you so worried about? As long as the three of us don't admit it, Catherine won't have any proof that we were the ones who spread the rumors."
She added, "Besides, how is this even a rumor? We're just telling the truth. Catherine is just a broke nobody!"
Just then, I pushed the door open and walked in.
"So, it truly was you guys who started all this," I said, my voice calm but cold.