After Dumping the CEO, I Went Back to Being the Billionaire

"Don't touch me." Stella Dawson frowned and slapped Emily Dawson's hand away.

Olivia Hayes sensed the rising tension and quickly tried to defuse the situation. "Stella, we're all classmates here. Can't we just calm down and talk this through?"

"Talk about what? The fact that she's a fraud with zero shame?" Megan Lindley scoffed, rolling her eyes dramatically, her voice rising sharply.

"When she was still playing the Dawson heiress, she acted like she owned this dorm. Now that she's nothing, what's she still putting on airs for? It's disgusting!"

"People like her should just vanish. What goes around comes around!"

Her sharply painted nail was practically jabbing into Stella's face.

Stella's expression hardened, her smile vanishing completely. She despised anyone pointing at her like that.

"Get that disgusting finger out of my face," she said coolly. "Final warning."

Back in her competitive days, if anyone had dared do this, she wouldn't have hesitated to throw a punch.

But Megan clearly didn't get the hint. She kept waving that finger and actually poked Stella's forehead. "Who are you calling disgusting? You lowlife-I'm pointing at you. What are you going to do about it?"

Staring at Megan's smug face, Stella's eyes darkened. In one fluid motion, she seized Megan's hand.

Caught off balance, Megan stumbled forward. Stella let out a cold laugh and brutally bent Megan's finger backward-a sickening crack echoed in the room.

"Ahhh!" Megan screamed as if being tortured.

Stella released her grip. Megan collapsed to the floor, clutching her hand, writhing and sobbing in pain.

"My hand! It hurts so much!"

"Someone call a doctor! I need to go to the hospital!"

Tears streamed down Megan's pale, pain-contorted face.

Emily stood frozen, clutching her sleeves in panic, her eyes wide with shock. "Stella, how could you do this to your roommate? This is going too far! You need to apologize to her right now!"

Stella just shot her a mocking sidelong glance and smirked without uttering a word.

"You're too violent! You can't just break someone's finger like that-do you have any idea how much that hurts?" Emily continued, her voice trembling.

Samantha Tate quietly remained in her corner, silent, but discreetly recorded the entire scene with her phone.

Stella stood with her arms crossed, unmoved, her face cold. "What? You want to be next?"

Emily's words caught in her throat. Her face flushed, and she averted her eyes, thoroughly rattled.

She knew she couldn't win an argument with Stella. She was terrified of ending up like Megan.

Soon, the dorm supervisor and the campus nurse rushed in and took Megan to the infirmary.

Olivia and Emily went with them, while Stella and Samantha were summoned to the principal's office.

Frowning deeply, the principal pressed Samantha for details.

Stella slouched on the office couch, barely paying attention, focused on her phone.

"Well, this is unfortunate. Looks like I'm getting a disciplinary mark on my record."

The group chat exploded immediately.

"Wait, what? Stella, it's only the first day."

"What happened?"

"I hit someone," Stella Dawson typed back, perfectly calm.

A few seconds of silence passed before a reply came. "How bad is it? I mean, come on, rich kids at City U get into fights all the time..."

"I broke my roommate's finger. Probably a step above the usual scuffle."

More silence followed. Stella scratched her nose.

"Is it that serious? I can call the principal and ask him to go easy on you."

"It's fine. The demerit will get expunged eventually anyway. Maybe I can earn some goodwill points," Stella typed quickly. "Or you could send me one of those 'Model Student' commendation banners?"

"Stella Dawson!" the principal barked her name.

Startled, she fumbled and dropped her phone on her leg, then looked up nervously.

"How do you intend to explain your actions?"

"By getting a banner?" The words slipped out before she could stop them.

Seeing the principal's face twist in confusion and anger, she quickly composed herself.

"Wait, no, I mean..." she shook her head. "No explanation, really. Megan Lindley's fingers were just too fragile. I barely used any force..."

"Do you feel no remorse at all?"

"Not a shred. Should I?" she retorted, raising her brows. "She cursed me out first. Told me to drop dead. Said I deserved whatever bad luck came my way. Would it have been better if I'd just cursed back and wished she'd get hit by a truck?"

"So yeah, sorry I ran out of patience. Guess I have a low tolerance for that kind of garbage."

Her blunt, icy tone left the principal speechless-and clearly made him give up on extracting an apology.

In the end, Stella received a formal demerit, and the incident was publicized across the entire campus.

The official notice about the fight spread like wildfire.

City University had barely started the semester and already had a major incident. The principal was making an example of her.

A pure scare tactic.

From that day on, everyone on campus knew the name Stella Dawson.

The arts department had officially produced an infamous "violent maniac" who broke her roommate's finger. The gossip was relentless.

But Stella didn't lose a minute of sleep over it.

She'd been through far worse-this was nothing in comparison.

Heartless, vicious, even unhinged-she'd been called all those things before.

Being labeled a violent bully? Child's play.

Since her second year of specialized training under her mentor, her temper had grown progressively shorter.

She simply refused to be wronged.

Later that evening, after leaving the study hall and returning to the dorm, only Olivia Hayes bothered to acknowledge her.

"Hey... you're back, Stella," Olivia said, her tone noticeably cooler than before.

Stella gave a brief nod, her expression unreadable.

She never cared for social cliques. She never had many friends to begin with. Even when someone got close, the connection usually faded quickly.

Situations like Olivia's barely registered on her radar.

The dorm was eerily quiet. Just before lights out, her phone buzzed several times.

It was a call from Mr. Sterling.

Stella glanced down and answered, already moving toward the balcony for privacy.

But the ringtone clearly irritated Samantha, who was lying in bed and rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. "Seriously? Do you ever consider the time before taking a call? Are you trying to wake the dead?"

Ever since Stella's status as the Dawson heiress was exposed as a fraud, Samantha's arrogance had reached new heights-she spoke to Stella as if she were a servant in her own household.

But honestly, Stella couldn't care less what Samantha was posturing about. She stepped onto the balcony and closed the door behind her.

"Grandpa Sterling, why are you calling so late?"

"You blocked my number, child. How could I possibly sleep soundly knowing that?"

"My previous phone had some issues... I haven't had the chance to send you the new number yet."

"Hmph. What about that girl shouting just now-was she giving you trouble?"

Mr. Sterling, a military man in his youth, didn't have the best temper-especially when it came to protecting those he considered family.

He hadn't missed Samantha's little outburst.

Stella chuckled softly. "It's nothing I can't handle. Please don't worry about it."

"You must tell me next time! It might be late, but I'm wide awake and ready to stand up for you. A brat with no manners like that... Tell me who her parents are, and I'll have a word with them."

A wave of warmth spread through Stella's chest.

Mr. Sterling always had her back.

"Grandpa, it's really fine. You have to have a little faith in me."

"You're too soft-hearted, that's your problem. People think they can walk all over you."

He grumbled on, and Stella listened quietly, playing the part of the dutiful granddaughter.

Still, a flicker of doubt crossed her mind-would he still see her as the victim if he knew about the school's punishment?

They chatted a while longer, mostly him asking about her day, what she'd eaten for dinner. eventually steering the conversation toward Alexander, which he broached indirectly. Before she could deflect, he quickly changed the subject and insisted she come to the home that weekend.

"You both must be there. Do this for me, alright?"

With that, he hung up.

Stella stared at her phone, her lips twitching into a helpless smile. She hadn't even gotten a chance to refuse.

Right on cue, another call came in.

This time it was Kevin, ready to brief her on the latest company updates.

...

At Sterling Group.

Alexander finally set down his documents. It was pitch black outside.

He wasn't going home-just planned to crash in the company's lounge for the night.

Recalling the day's events, he pulled out his phone and tried Stella's number again.

No surprise-still blocked.

With a sigh, he hung up and dialed Jack instead.

"Mr. Sterling," Jack answered, sounding short of breath and heavy with exhaustion.

He'd been pulling overtime with Alexander and now sounded on the verge of collapse.

"I need you to get me ten new phones. Each with a different number," Alexander said coldly. "Don't use yours-she's already blocked that one."

Jack was stunned into silence for a moment before asking, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Just go! Now!" he snapped, his patience clearly gone.