My Roommate Called My Dad My Sugar Daddy? Oops, There Goes Her Fellowship Chapter 05

My Roommate Called My Dad My Sugar Daddy? Oops, There Goes Her Fellowship Chapter 05

“Because he is my father, Gordon Shaw.”

My father stood and handed his driver’s license to the committee for verification.

Ryan put the full hotel security footage on the screen.

In the footage, my parents and my brother walked into the hotel with me.

My mother had her arm through mine.

My brother was carrying the cake.

Inside the private dining room, the cake read: [Congratulations, Nora.]

Claire had cropped out my mother, my brother, the cake, and the congratulatory sign, leaving only the moment my father and I sat facing each other.

The room was silent.

I looked at Claire.

“You said you couldn’t see clearly.”

“But the footage shows the door to that room opened three times, and my mother and my brother both appeared in the doorway.”

“You filmed for at least two minutes.”

“Did you truly miss them, or did you deliberately leave them out?”

Claire paled.

“I was far away and I didn’t notice.”

My father suddenly looked at her and frowned.

“Your name is Claire Hensley?”

Claire’s fingers went still.

She looked up.

“Sir, do you know me?”

My father did not answer her immediately. He turned to the committee instead.

“There is something everyone here needs to know.”

“I’ve met this student before.”

Claire’s expression changed instantly.

My father continued.

“Last month, one of my business associates brought her to a dinner meeting.”

“She was introduced as an intern assistant at his company.”

“But I remember her clearly. She was seated beside him, not with the staff.”

Claire’s voice tightened.

“You’ve mistaken me for someone else.”

My father took out his phone.

“Whether I’m mistaken or not, one call will settle it.”

The call connected, and he put it on speaker.

“Mr. Vance, I have a question for you.”

“Claire Hensley. Is she the student assistant you brought to that dinner?”

Two seconds of silence followed.

“Mr. Shaw, why are you asking about her?”

My father’s voice went cold.

“She’s at a hearing in my daughter’s department right now.”

“Last night, she left a hotel floor reserved under your name, photographed my daughter having dinner with me, and then accused her of concealing a financial relationship that could affect the fellowship decision.”

The line went completely silent.

Those few seconds of silence told everyone in the room what he was trying not to say.

The color slowly drained from Claire’s face.

Preston Vance finally spoke in a strained voice.

“Claire has done some temporary hosting work for me.”

“Her family has been struggling financially, so I have helped her occasionally.”

The financial aid officer looked up at once.

“Helped her how?”

Vance seemed to realize he had said too much and gave a strained laugh.

“I mean the part-time pay.”

My father asked, “Does part-time work normally require staying in a suite you reserved?”

Silence answered him.

Every expression around the table hardened.

Claire stood. Her voice remained low, but her composure was beginning to crack.

“This is my private life.”

“I admit that I know Mr. Vance, but that has nothing to do with Nora’s situation.”

She almost made me laugh.

“You had no concern for my privacy when you photographed my father and me.”

“You claimed my private life affected the fellowship the moment you thought it could hurt me.”

“Now that the questions are about you, suddenly they are irrelevant?”

Claire turned a cold look on me.

“Nora, don’t change the subject.”

Ryan slid a set of documents to the faculty.

“The subject is perfectly clear.”

“When Ms. Hensley applied for the university’s highest level of need-based aid, she declared that she had no regular income and received no substantial outside support.”

“But she has now acknowledged receiving money or other support from the owner of an outside company.”

“Hotel security footage shows her leaving a floor reserved under that man’s name shortly before she photographed Nora Shaw.”

“That creates grounds to review both her financial-aid disclosures and the motive behind her complaint.”