Natalie wasn’t short on money. She had tens of thousands of dollars in living expenses every month. Gavin, being the honest type, was best controlled with money.

She didn’t mind lending him more, especially if he couldn’t pay it back. Later on, when she needed something, she was sure Gavin wouldn’t hesitate to help her with a paper or an exam prep.

Natalie was well aware of her abilities. If she wanted to stay on David’s team, relying on what she already knew simply wouldn’t be enough.

A couple of quick taps on her phone, and Gavin had his money.

Gavin swallowed nervously. He thought, "It seems like Natalie is even easier to manipulate than Josie. Have I just found myself a new wallet? This time, it is 7000 dollars. How much should I borrow next time? As long as I keep up the image of being an honest guy, what can’t I get? I won’t pay back anyway. Natalie looks so innocent and sweet, she probably won’t even press me about returning it. How has Josie changed? If she’d been more like Natalie, I would have had an extra hundred thousand by now."

This was frustrating. Gavin was determined to get his money back from Josie. He accepted the transfer and then looked up at Natalie. "I heard you ran into Josie at the launch meeting. Did Aiden talk to her? What was her attitude?"

"Don’t even get me started!" Natalie sighed and shot Gavin a look. "Josie came to represent her new team at the meeting, and Aiden was worried she’d embarrass herself in the competition, so he tried to talk her out of it."

"She wouldn’t listen, and on top of that, she thought Aiden was trying to sabotage her. She insisted on taking part, so Aiden figured if she really wants to go, let her. It’ll be a good lesson for her."

Natalie kept an eye on Gavin’s reaction. He frowned, and she started to worry that he might be feeling sorry for Josie.

Hoping to head off any sympathy, Natalie quickly added, "Gavin, Aiden’s really upset about this. He said only by letting her go through some hardship will she remember how everyone used to look out for her. So please don’t go soft and try to help her, okay?"

"Help her with what?" Gavin clicked his tongue. He was secretly hoping for the worst for Josie. The worse things got for her, the better for him. That way, he’d have a shot at getting his money back.

But the fact that Josie ignored even Aiden’s advice meant she was probably ready to cut ties with all of them. He thought, "If she got angry enough, would she expose the fact that I borrowed money from her? After all, she has the evidence. It seems I’ll need to figure out how to delete those files before Josie could threaten me."

Natalie, seeing that she had achieved her goal, didn’t say anything more. Once Gavin had his money, he wasn’t going to argue.

They both got back to their work, each lost in their own thoughts.

Josie was focused on writing her new plan. Once she finished, she realized the lights in the dorm were on, but when she looked around, no one was there.

After posting the plan in the group chat, she was about to grab a bite to eat. But as soon as she picked up her phone, she saw messages in the dorm group chat.

There was a message from Adeline: "[I got stuck in a meeting with the professor tonight and won’t have time to go to the cafeteria. Can someone please grab a pasta for me and bring it back to the dorm?]"

Then a voice message from Allison: "[I’m still at the hospital and don’t know when I’ll be back. Can someone check with Zoey and Josie?]"

Josie glanced at the time—these messages were sent an hour ago. She felt a bit embarrassed. "How have I missed the notifications?"

Then she noticed—she had muted the group.

It all came back to her. When they first joined the dorm, the group chat had been lively, with dozens of messages flying in every day.