Chapter 13

Maisie couldn’t have afforded that luxury stuff with her own money due to her middle-class status. I bet Tanner must have sold off many of my gifts to buy Maisie those items. I finally put the puzzle pieces together. No wonder I did not see him wearing some of the gifts, he must have sold them for money to buy gifts for Maisie!

Our classmates suddenly thought of the Bulgari necklace from just now.

“If Pearl is the Rosenbloom heiress, that means the necklace from just now-”

“You don’t even have to question it! She must be the owner of the necklace. Tanner is too poor to buy a Bulgari necklace!”

“Fuck! Tanner and Maisie, you’re taking us as fools!” Our classmates circled Tanner and Maisie. They were ready to harass them.

At that moment, the school security guard showed up with the police. Joseph went over to talk to them.

Earlier, I had instructed him to file a police report. By now, I was sure that the police had their hands on the security footage sent to them by Dad’s driver.

The police asked for the details of the alleged necklace theft. They questioned, “So, where’s the Bulgari necklace now?”

Maisie reluctantly handed it over.

“We’ve verified the receipts and footage of the store purchase. The Bulgari necklace indeed belongs to Pearl Rosenbloom. Maisie Sanders, how did you get hold of the necklace?”

Maisie struggled to offer an explanation.

“Well, if you can’t explain yourself, we have no choice but to take you to the police department.”

Panic shot through Maisie’s body at the mention of the police department. She blurted out, “T-Tanner gave it to me! He said he bought it just for me!”

Tanner came forward to shield Maisie. “Yeah, I got it for her. So what? Pearl is trying to win my heart. She bought that necklace and forced me to accept it. Was I wrong for regifting it to Maisie?”

I was speechless at his shamelessness.>

“Just when you thought Tanner was a real one, he secretly accepted all the gifts from Pearl!” one of our classmates whispered.

I clarified, “Look, I’ve never given anyone the Bulgari necklace. Someone broke into my house and stole it. I’m sure he looks familiar to you!”

Joseph played a clip that Dad’s driver sent to him. In the footage, John furtively tiptoed into my bedroom and ransacked my jewelry box. He stole quite a number of luxury items.

Panic was written across Tanner’s face. “I-I don’t know him at all!”

“Oh, Tanner, do you not recognize your own dad?”

Our classmates started gossiping. “Isn’t that the Rosenbloom family’s driver in the footage? Is he Tanner’s dad?”

“So, in short, Tanner is just the son of the Rosenblooms’ driver. He took the stuff that his dad stole from the Rosenblooms and gave it out to others. Is that correct?

”

The classmates exchanged shocked expressions.

“Woah, what a messed-up family!”

I said loudly, “That’s not all. Tanner changed his last name from Reilly to Rosenbloom so he could mislead everyone!”

“So, he was the one who changed his last name out of greed! And we were blaming Pearl for the same thing just now. No! I really feel like slapping myself now!”

“Yeah. We were so rude!”

“Tanner went to great lengths to lie to us!”

The police returned the necklace to me. They turned to Tanner. “John Reilly has been arrested for theft. Who’s coming with us to provide a statement?”

Joseph left with the police, leaving behind a baffled Tanner. He gasped, “Did you report my dad to the police?”

I retorted, “I hired him as a driver. I’m not his gold mine!”

Other classmates started calling Tanner names.

“Son of a thief!”

“Ugh! He’s a man who lives off a woman!”

“Maisie’s a fake bitch!”

Tanner and Maisie became the targets of scorn. Ms. Cressen wasn’t about to put a stop to the insults.

Once the classmates were done with the public shaming, Ms. Cressen said to Tanner coldly, “You! Come with me!”

Soon, we heard Ms. Cressen’s screaming from the corridor. Tanner returned to the classroom with his head hung low. I did not even need to guess; he must have been stripped of his valedictorian status and his scholarship.

Ever since I stood up for myself, Tanner had it rough. Since he lived far away in a suburb an hour from school, he could only rely on the bus for his commute to and from school. The journey took two hours each way. Since there wouldn’t be buses by the time we were done with our after-school programs on certain days, he had to walk home.

As a result, I often saw him dozing off in class, which only fueled Ms. Cressen’s anger. She made up an excuse to send him to sit in the last row.

Chapter 13

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During lunch, I ran into Tanner a few times at the cafeteria. He would stand for a long time by the counter. Sometimes, Maisie would offer him some help and buy him some food.

From the looks of it, Tanner was really an ordinary guy. I couldn’t believe I allowed a man with no virtues to manipulate me in my past life.

Now, none of our classmates curried favor with him anymore. In the past, people would willingly run errands for him and treat him with the utmost respect. Ms. Cressen once showered him with praises and called him a genius.

Those days were long gone. Even Finley, who used to be a close friend of Tanner’s, would hurl insults whenever he ran into the latter. Reduced to a social pariah, Tanner no longer had any interest in flirting with Maisie. He had spent all his energy just on surviving school.

Chapter 14