But this time, Josie had put real effort into revising her paper, even adding insights from her previous life. There was no reason it wouldn’t get accepted now.

When she submitted it, she’d handpicked the right editor. She knew exactly who would fast-track her submission the moment it landed on their desk.

Josie couldn’t help but smile.

Once this paper was published, it would completely block any chance for Natalie to make a comeback.

On top of that, she would receive a nice sum in royalties. This made her grin from ear to ear.

If nothing went wrong, she’d be getting at least 1700 dollars.

After filling out the info, she slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed to the lab.

She planned to stop by the cafeteria on the way to grab some pastries her teammates loved as a little pre-celebration.

They were about to reach the preliminaries in the competition. None of them dared to slack off lately.

As far as Josie was concerned, the plagiarism issue was finally over.

Natalie hadn’t paid the price she deserved, but overall, Josie was pretty satisfied with how things turned out.

However, not everyone was pleased, especially David.

David blurted out, “What? You’re saying there’s already a similar paper out there, and now mine not only looks like plagiarism?

“My arguments aren’t even as original or thorough as theirs?”

He had never been questioned like this before. He shot up from his chair, and his hand holding the phone was actually trembling.

He said, “Mr. Curtis, you and I go way back. This really isn’t something to joke about.

“Sure, it’s my student’s paper, but I can guarantee she didn’t plagiarize anyone!”

David took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

Aiken Curtis chuckled. “Funny you should say that.

“Turns out the person who submitted the other paper is also a student at your school. Her advisor’s name is Delilah Wilcourt. Does that ring a bell?”

David slumped heavily into his chair, his mouth opening and closing, but for a long moment, not a single word came out.

It was like he’d just taken a hard slap to the face.

He’d been so sure that with his support, once this paper got published, Natalie would crush Josie beneath her feet.

He never expected things to turn out like this.

David thought, ‘How could some broke country girl like Josie pull off something like this to get back at me?

‘No way. This has to be Delilah’s idea.

‘So she’s still holding a grudge after all these years. She finally couldn’t keep it bottled up, right?

‘Does she think she can use Josie to turn the tables on me? Not a chance in hell.’

David felt his competitive streak fully awakened. He hadn’t felt this kind of fire in ages.

David said, “Mr. Curtis, I won’t give you a hard time. If my paper can’t be published, so be it.

“Just let me know which issue that other paper is in. I want to see it for myself.”

“Alright, I’ll send you the details in a bit,” Aiken replied before hanging up.

As he hung up, Aiken couldn’t help but think, ‘No wonder the submission landed right in the chief editor’s private inbox.

So Professor Lawson is mixed up in all this, huh?

‘I always thought all this scheming and backstabbing was just for the corporate world, but who knew college campuses had so many twists and turns too!‘

Now this is interesting!”

Three days later, David finally saw Josie’s paper in the journal. The content and research methods were clearly more advanced than the techniques Natalie had mentioned.

Some of the argumentation methods, in particular, were so sophisticated and polished that they were nothing like what the Josie he remembered could have produced.

This only made David even more certain that the paper had been reworked by Delilah.

It was an underhanded tactic on her part, all for the sake of humiliating him.

Leo had just passed away, and yet she was already doing something so shameless.

David felt that this was truly disgraceful. He had nothing but contempt for people like her.

At that moment, he felt even more relieved that he hadn’t married anyone from the Reedshaw family back then.

If he had, his reputation would have been completely ruined by people like them sooner or later.

David called Aiden over. “Don’t delay apologizing to Josie any longer. We lost this round.”

“Did Aiken turn down the paper? Should I go back and try to come up with something else?” Aiden asked. The frustration was clear in his voice.

He’d originally planned to wait until the paper got published, then give Josie a real hard time.

Right when she was at her lowest, they would swoop in and apologize.

This way, they would look all high and mighty while also giving Josie a not-so-subtle warning.

However, the paper turned out to be rejected for publication. Aiden just couldn’t accept it.