CHAPTER 3: THE SECRET BEHIND MY DEGREE
The second file appeared.
The crowd watched silently.
Professor Hughes looked confused.
“Emily…”
“What is this?”
I looked at the screen.
“This is why my father accused me of cheating.”
The file opened.
A series of documents appeared.
Research papers.
Emails.
University records.
My father had spent months spreading rumors that I stole my research.
But the truth was different.
The research was mine.
The ideas were mine.
The work was mine.
The emails proved someone had tried to sabotage my academic career.
Someone inside my own family.
Ethan.
The crowd erupted.
“No way…”
“Her brother?”
My brother’s face turned pale.
“That’s fake.”
I looked at him.
“You know what’s funny, Ethan?”
He stared at me.
“For twenty-two years, you were given everything because they told you I wasn’t good enough.”
I stepped closer to the microphone.
“But you never realized something.”
“What?”
“You weren’t better than me.”
“You were just protected.”
May you like
His face changed.
Because he knew I was right.
