Chapter 4

I stood in the aisle, looking up at the clock on the wall.

Two minutes until the exam started. Two hours until it ended.

This selection was my only ticket to the International Olympiad, the only way a poor kid like me could secure a full-ride to MIT. It was also the "meet me at the top" promise Chloe and I had made.

But now, the peak was still here, and she was gone.

I sat back down and picked up my pen. "Sir, you can hand out the papers."

The proctor let out a sigh of relief. "Good choice, kid. Don't let distractions ruin your future."

The moment the exam paper landed on my desk, I scanned the questions.

They were brutal. Truly national-level difficulty.

The final, high-weight question involved complex non-linear dynamics. If Chloe were here, she would probably be chewing on her pen, crying her eyes out.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and all I could see was her tear-stained face in that photo, saying *Logan, just you wait.*

If I didn't go, her life might actually be ruined by her father’s forced arrangements.

If I did go and abandoned this exam, my life might be ruined too.

This choice was harder than any physics problem I had ever solved.

But I, Logan, don't do single-choice questions.

I put pen to paper, my hand moving at lightning speed.

Because of my speed, the scratching of my pen against the paper was incredibly loud in the silent room.

The students around me looked over in sheer terror.

Forty-five minutes.

It took me exactly forty-five minutes to finish a high-level exam designed for two hours.

I wrote down the final derivation for the last question, then slammed my pen onto the table.

"I'm turning in my paper, sir."

Amidst the dead silence of the room and the slack-jawed stare of the proctor, I grabbed my backpack, leaped right over the first-floor window sill, and landed in front of Maria.

"Lead the way," I said coldly. "Take me to the engagement venue."

The black sedan sped down the coastal highway.

Maria was shivering in the passenger seat while I sat in the back, searching up Chloe’s supposed "fiancé" on my phone—Julian Vance.

Julian Vance. The sole heir to the Vance tech empire. A prodigy who entered college at fourteen and won two international gold medals.

He wasn’t just rich; he was an intellectual beast.

No wonder Chloe’s dad looked down on me. To billionaires, a scholarship kid who got high scores through sheer hard work wasn't even fit to shine Julian's shoes.

"Mr. Logan," Maria said, her voice trembling. "The road ahead is blocked. Mr. Vanderbilt has private security guarding the estate. You can’t get in without an invitation. And... I heard Mr. Vance has a horrible temper. Last time a guy tried to talk to Miss Chloe, Julian had his legs broken."

I looked out the window.

Indeed, five hundred yards ahead, a security checkpoint had been set up. Several burly men in black suits were patrolling with guard dogs.

"Pull over," I said suddenly.

"What? Here?" the driver stammered.

"The front entrance is suicide." I pushed the door open, pointing toward a brick wall adjacent to the estate. "That's the exhaust vent for the hotel's kitchen. Based on the architectural blueprint of this estate, that vent has a structural weakness and is constantly under maintenance. There will be a gap."

Maria stared at me like I was an alien. "How... how could you possibly know that?"

"Because the blueprint of this hotel was used as a structural stress analysis problem in one of our prep tests." I ripped off my school tie and wrapped it around my knuckles. "You guys go back. I’ll take it from here."

Ten minutes later, covered in dust and soot, I dropped from the kitchen ventilation shaft onto the backstage area of the grand ballroom.

The elegant sound of a violin quartet floated through the air. The master of ceremonies was speaking into a microphone with mock enthusiasm: "And now, please welcome our brilliant groom-to-be, Julian Vance!"

The crowd erupted into applause.

I hid behind the heavy red velvet curtains, peeking through a gap.

Under the massive crystal chandelier stood Chloe. She was wearing a stunning white strapless gown, looking breathtakingly beautiful.

But her face was a mask of despair, her eyes completely hollow as she stared at the floor.

Beside her stood a guy in a sleek white tuxedo.

He wore gold-rimmed glasses, looking like a textbook sociopath with a polished, smug grin.

That was Julian Vance.

"Chloe," Julian said into his lapel mic, his voice so smooth it made my skin crawl. "I heard you had a very... passionate rival back at Oakwood Prep? On a big day like today, why didn’t you invite him to bear witness?"

Chloe snapped her head up, glaring at him. "Julian, don't push it. This is a business deal between our families. Leave innocent people out of this."

"Innocent?" Julian adjusted his glasses, his smile widening. "But I heard that just last night, in the middle of a storm, someone called him 'hubby' on Snapchat."

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