LUCA POV💦
They were talking about her everywhere.
Not by name, of course. They wouldn't give her that much dignity. But I knew exactly who they meant.
"That cleaning girl."
"She marched into the hearing like she belonged there."
"I heard she made the Vice Dean uncomfortable."
Good. Let them be uncomfortable.
I sat at the back of the business lecture I was supposed to care about, flipping a silver pen between my fingers, watching Professor Delaney talk about competitive markets and power imbalance—like he understood either.
I wasn't listening. My mind was still in that hearing room yesterday, watching Lilly sit alone under fluorescent lights and tear the board to shreds with nothing but truth.
It had been brutal. Honest. Raw.
And it had made every person in that room squirm.
I'd never seen someone weaponize honesty like that. And I'd never felt so useless—sitting in the back row, biting my tongue while she burned their pretenses to the ground.
And now?
Now they were sharpening knives behind closed doors.
---
I walked out mid-lecture.
Julian caught up with me at the hall. "You skipped again."
"Wasn't worth staying," I muttered.
"You look like you want to punch someone."
"I do."
He gave me that quiet stare of his. "It's about her, isn't it?"
I didn't answer.
He didn't need me to.
---
The admin building was humming with false politeness. I slipped past reception—being the Chancellor's son had perks—and headed to the records office.
"Mr. Demon, we can't—" the clerk started.
I dropped a forged request form on the desk and flashed the smile I used when I needed people to get out of my way.
"I'll only be a minute."
Inside the filing system, I searched for Lilly's name. Nothing under current students. I knew that. Still, it stung.
I found her under "Non-Academic Staff." The page was thin. Job details. Emergency contact. No disciplinary record.
I scanned the bottom.
Application to Legacy Grant: submitted under special review.
Status: Deliberation in progress.
I took a photo.
Someone had added a note at the bottom—handwritten, recent.
"Consider re-evaluation. No precedent for non-student recipients. See attached."
There was no attachment.
But I knew what that meant.
They were already laying the groundwork to deny her.
---
I found Ethan lounging outside the gym.
"Get me a favor," I said.
He raised an eyebrow. "A favor or a crime?"
"Depends who's asking."
He chuckled. "Alright. What is it?"
"I need access to the internal mail logs. Admin side."
Ethan blinked. "Luca, that's—"
"I'm not asking for permission."
He sighed. "Fine. Give me a day. But if this turns into another scandal—"
"It won't."
That was a lie. It already was.
---
Samantha struck faster than I expected.
By the time I got back to my dorm, the campus bulletin board app had a new thread climbing in popularity.
"Legacy Grant Nominee Has Criminal Past?"
Anonymous post. No source. No name. Just vague accusations and enough malice to make it stick.
I scrolled through the comments.
"Typical. People like that always find loopholes."
"It's not about race or class—it's about standards."
"We should be lifting real students, not janitors."
I slammed my phone onto the table so hard the screen cracked.
Alex looked up from his game. "Yikes. Bad news?"
"Something like that."
Julian leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. "You going to tell her?"
"She already knows," I said quietly. "She's not stupid."
"No," he agreed. "But she's still alone."
That silence sat between us too long.
Then I stood. "Not for long."
---
When I found her, she was in the west wing, on her knees cleaning a spill someone left behind on purpose.
I knew it was on purpose. I'd seen Samantha's friends laugh as they passed the hall ten minutes earlier.
Lilly scrubbed without looking up. Her knuckles were raw.
I crouched beside her.
"You saw it?" I asked.
She didn't look at me. "Of course I did."
"I'll take it down."
She paused. "It won't matter. It's already out."
I exhaled hard. "They're cowards."
"They're scared," she corrected. "They saw someone from the basement reach for the sky."
I hated how calm she sounded. Like she'd already accepted it.
"You know what scares them more than you?" I asked.
"What?"
"That you didn't break."
She finally looked at me. Her eyes were tired, but alive.
"They can smear me all they want," she said. "But if they deny the grant, they'll have to do it publicly. And I'll be there."
"You really want to fight them?" I asked, not knowing if I meant it as admiration or warning.
"I've been fighting my whole life," she whispered. "They just finally noticed."
---
Later that night, I sat alone in the rooftop garden, staring at the city lights bleeding into the sky.
My phone buzzed. Ethan's message:
Got it. Someone flagged her file manually two days before the hearing. Guess who?
He attached a screenshot.
Vale, Samantha
Of course.
I sent back: Erase it. Quietly.
And then: I want everything she's touched in the last week flagged for sabotage.
If Samantha wanted to play dirty, I'd bury her in her own dirt.
---
The next morning, the university's internal page went down for "maintenance."
By noon, a memo leaked: Unauthorized edits detected in faculty records. Investigation pending.
By evening, Samantha was suspended from the student council "pending review of conduct."
I didn't smile.
Not really.
Because I knew this wasn't over.
But the war had a new front.
And this time, it wasn't just Lilly fighting.
I returned to my dorm to find an envelope slid under the door.
No return address. Just my name, handwritten in tight, sharp strokes.
Inside was a photo.
Lilly. Sitting in the admin lobby. Talking to someone I didn't recognize.
On the back, a message in red ink:
"𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙨𝙝𝙚'𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 ."
I stared at the photo long enough for the edges to curl in my fingers.
Then I set it down and lit it on fire.
Whoever they were… they had no idea what I'd give up to protect her.
Even if it meant burning down everything else