Chapter 2 - The Stolen Crown
Arthur stared at the blurry image of Chloe for a long, agonizing minute.
He simply could not understand why the most popular girl on campus would risk hacking a federal-grade security system.
He needed answers before Elias decided to send a Sterling cleanup crew to erase her from existence.
Arthur quickly deleted the message and packed his bag, heading straight for the dean's office.
He needed to intercept the server logs before the school administration noticed the massive digital breach.
As he walked down the marble hallway, two massive campus security guards suddenly stepped in front of him.
They grabbed his arms without a word and dragged him forcefully into the dean's lavish office.
Dean Alistair sat behind a massive mahogany desk, looking at Arthur with absolute disgust.
Julian Vance was sitting in a leather chair next to the desk, wearing a victorious, wicked smile.
Sitting on the center of the dean's desk was a diamond-encrusted Rolex watch.
The dean coldly informed Arthur that the watch had been found inside his locker during a random search.
Julian leaned forward, claiming that the poor charity case had finally resorted to petty theft.
Arthur remained perfectly calm, knowing he had never even seen that watch before in his life.
He realized Julian was trying to frame him just to get him expelled for sheer entertainment.
Arthur was about to drop his cover and end the dean's career right there on the spot.
Before he could speak, the dean raised a hand to silence him completely.
The dean surprisingly confessed that he already knew the watch was a planted fake.
Julian's smug smile instantly vanished, replaced by a look of sheer, confused panic.
The dean looked directly into Arthur's eyes with a mixture of fear and forced authority.
He stated that someone extremely powerful had just purchased the entire university property an hour ago.
The new owner's very first executive mandate was the immediate and permanent expulsion of Arthur.
Arthur felt a sudden, sharp twist in his gut as he realized his family was not behind this.
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He looked down at his burner phone as it began to vibrate uncontrollably in his pocket.
The incoming message from Elias simply read that the Sterling Empire was currently under hostile attack.
