The weight of three hundred thousand dollars felt different now. Not heavy with burden, but charged with possibility. I sat in my apartment, staring at the transaction confirmation on my phone, unable to believe the numbers were real. The system had delivered on its promise. The digital deposit was solid, verifiable, and impossible to explain.
My phone buzzed. A news notification flashed across my screen. Olivia was trending on social media. The story about my shopping spree had spread like wildfire through the college community. Videos showed me casually dropping fifty thousand dollars at Fendi while Olivia watched in shock. The comments were brutal. Some called me a showoff. Others praised my confidence. A few recognized the cruelty of what I had done.
I should have felt triumphant. In
