And while Daniel hadn’t laid his hands on me directly, he was complicit.

Daniel and I had met while studying abroad in the UK. We fell in love, and I had stronger academic achievements than him. I could have stayed overseas with a promising career.

But for love, I returned to the United States with him, and we both applied for teaching positions at the university.

At first, everything seemed fine.

Until I discovered Daniel’s affair with Vanessa, then still a senior student.

Vanessa was lazy, never attending classes, spending her days partying. With her father protecting her, no professor dared fail her.

But she wanted more—graduation, a faculty position.

To make it happen, she needed forged transcripts and a polished thesis.

The easiest path was stealing an unpublished paper.

She set her sights on mine—freshly completed but not yet submitted.

When I confronted her, she wielded her father’s authority to intimidate me.

I refused to yield and threatened to report her academic fraud.

That was when Richard Miller strangled me in his office.

And together, they buried me under the athletic field.