Empire of Nothing

It started with the video.

Kieran posted it as a joke. "Rich Girl Accepts Ring Pop Proposal" got way more attention than expected.

Like… viral attention.

By Monday morning, everyone at college was talking.

"Did you hear? Nova and Zane are dating!""That proposal was so cute!""Zane actually landed her? Respect."

By lunch, someone had already made an edit of their fake proposal with romantic background music and sparkles. Nova nearly choked on her juice watching it.

Jules was screaming.

Troy was smug. "Called it. You two were basically married already."

Nova groaned. "It was sarcasm!"

But no one listened.

Not even Zane.

He just shrugged. "Could be worse. I could've gone viral for losing to you in Uno."

Zane's mom, Rina?

She lost her entire mind.

She cried. Literally cried.

"My baby has taste! Nova! My daughter-in-law! I'm already planning the wedding."

"Wait, what—"

"Do you want a spring wedding or autumn? And are you open to children's names that start with Z? Zuri? Zane Jr.?"

Nova blinked. "Ma'am, we were joking—"

"Oh honey," Rina said, wiping her tears with a tea towel, "don't ruin this for me."

Back at the mansion?

Silence… for a second.

Then Ryder stood up so fast his chair fell over.

"She's dating that clown?"

Ethan stared at his phone. "It's online."

"Who posted it?"

Max peeked from behind the couch. "Kieran. It has, like, seventy thousand likes."

Darian, who hadn't said a word, stood and walked out.

"Where are you going?" Ethan called.

"To break his jaw," Darian muttered.

Nova, meanwhile?

She was in Zane's kitchen, helping Rina bake cookies when her phone blew up.

17 missed calls. 32 texts. 1 very angry voicemail from Ryder.

Zane peeked at her screen. "You okay?"

She smiled. "They're finally paying attention."

Zane grinned. "Want me to make it worse?"

Nova tilted her head. "How?"

He leaned in, just enough to mess with her, and said, "Kiss me in the next video."

She smirked. "Make it a wedding invitation."