(5 years back).
(A throwback).
Sky High University buzzed with life around it.
Students lined on the lawns with books in their laps, music drifted from open dorm windows, and laughter rippled through groups scattered across the campus paths.
But for Jayden, it all sounded far away, like a world he didn't belong to.
He walked along the quieter side path behind the east lecture hall, his bag slung loosely over one shoulder.
He hadn't made many friends here. Most people either avoided him or whispered when he passed. He heard it in the way their voices dipped, in the looks they gave him.
"That's him…"
"The fraud's son."
"Emerson Cole's son."
"The boy whose father stole millions."
He clenched his jaw, trying to shut it all out. His father was gone, and his mother had left not long after, unable, or unwilling, to face the weight of their family's disgrace.
And here he was, carrying the stain of it like a brand on his skin.
