Chapter 8

Though Logan was an uneducated trust-fund playboy, he had at least managed to buy his way through college. He knew that for STEM publications like mine, a first-author credit wasn't something handed out like party favors.

He frowned, momentarily forgetting that I was hours late. "Who has the balls to pull that shit?"

I glanced at Chloe, whose expression was already faltering with guilt, and offered a faint smile. "Apparently, someone heard about my relationship with you and used it as leverage. She said if I didn't hand it over, she'd have you dump me."

Logan froze, clearly surprised by the revelation.

Chloe, unable to sit still, burst out defensively, "It's just a stupid paper! What's the big deal? If it's gone, you can just write another one!"

Right. Just a paper. Just the culmination of two agonizing years of sleepless nights. Just a breakthrough project destined for an elite academic journal.

To someone like Chloe—an academic failure who barely managed to finish high school through public funding, and whose cash-strapped family blew their life savings just to squeeze her into a bottom-tier for-profit community college—research meant nothing.

Girls like her probably didn't even know what Google Scholar was.

Chloe covered her tracks by adding aggressively, "Or do you just not love Logan at all? You aren't even willing to give up a little piece of paper for him?"

She shot me a challenging glare, convinced I would bow down as I always did.

Logan’s expression shifted several times before he settled on a dismissive scoff. "Chloe's right. If the paper's gone, write another one. I haven't even punished you for showing up this late."

I looked him straight in the eyes. "So you think I should just hand over years of hard work to a complete stranger, just to keep you from dumping me?

"You know damn well how hard I worked on this project. Running literature reviews, spending nights in the lab, routinely grinding until four or five in the morning. And after sleeping barely thirty minutes, I’d still rush out into the cold to bring you breakfast."

I let out a cold, sharp laugh. "She doesn't get it, but don't you have a bachelor's degree?

"Oh, I almost forgot. I wrote your graduation thesis for you."

Chloe realized I was insulting her intelligence and shrieked instantly:

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Are you calling me stupid? You think you're special just because you're in grad school—"

"Shut up!" Logan roared.

Hearing that, Chloe turned to me smugly. "Did you hear that? Logan told you to shut up!"

Logan shoved her hard, sending her tumbling onto the plush couch.

"I told "you" to shut up."

"Logan, she just insulted you too—"