7
I picked up my phone and dialed my father.
“Hi, Dad. I need a little bit of cash for something here. Could you send over, say, five million?”
I paused, listening. “Mhm, I’m fine. Love you, Dad.”
The classroom erupted in laughter.
“Is she for real? Freda, have you lost your mind? Do you have any concept of what five million dollars is?”
“You’ve been reading too many romance novels. You think you’re the daughter of some CEO? Who did you actually call, your sugar daddy?”
“Five million! I could sell you to a trafficking ring to have your kidneys and eyes harvested, and you wouldn’t even fetch a hundred grand.”
Only Jessica stood silent, her eyes wide with frantic excitement, her shoulders trembling. She clutched her own phone, practically trying to crawl into the screen.
But the jackpot she was expecting never came. Instead, a wave of gasps and shouts erupted from the students crowded around my desk.
“One, two, three, four, five, six… there are SEVEN zeroes! Am I seeing this right?!”
“Oh my God, I think I’m going to faint! I’ve never seen so much money in my life!”
“No way, Freda! Were you serious? Are you really an heiress? Why didn’t you say anything before?”
Across the room, Jessica was frozen, a statue of disbelief, her pupils trembling.
Ethan shoved his way through the crowd and snatched the phone from my hand. When he saw the balance–a clean $5,000,000.00 -he went pale and staggered back, grabbing a desk for support.
“My name is Freda Sterling. My father is Robert Sterling,” I announced calmly. “Google him. You’ll see how many companies he owns. Or you can call his corporate office to verify my identity. This amount of money is nothing to the Sterling Group. I was only
of mone trying to keep a low profile to avoid unnecessary trouble, but I see that’s caused a huge misunderstanding.”
I smiled and walked toward Jessica, step by step, until I was looking directly into her eyes. “Now it’s your turn, my dear roommate. You’re the one who’s been claiming to be an heiress. So, why don’t you show us your bank balance? Your transaction history?”
She finally snapped out of her trance, spinning around and frantically trying to shove her phone into her pocket. She moved too quickly. The phone slipped from her grasp and clattered to the floor. A boy lunged for it.
“Whoa, Jessica, what are all these messages from debt collectors? You took out predatory loans?!” he yelled, holding the phone up like a trophy. “A hundred thousand dollars! So it was all an act! You’re the gold–digging, vain pauper!”
The classroom exploded. Students swarmed her, ignoring her protests, and started scrolling through her phone. The more they looked, the worse it got. They found messages from her parents, complaining about their own poverty and demanding she get a job to pay for her younger brother’s tuition. Her parents only sent her thirty dollars a month, along with a string of instructions. [That roommate of yours, the Sterling girl, isn’t she rich? You need to get on her good side, get her to help you out, borrow some money from her.]
Il hear there are a lot of rich people in college. You’d better find yourself a rich boyfriend, and do it fast before all the good ones are
12.16
Chapter 2
taken.]
[You stupid girl, what the hell have you been doing?! Debt collectors are calling our house! You’re a curse! How dare you take out a hundred–thousand–dollar loan? Why don’t you just die?!]
If you need money so badly, go sell
[You bitch! I should have never given birth to you! You’re useless, you just waste our yourself! There are plenty of old men who would pay for a girl your age! We’re too scared to even leave the house now, so get to it!]
laste scares to
Listen to me, your brother is the only thing that matters in this family. If anythi
to serve your brother!]
If
I’ll skin you alive. You were born
Jessica completely broke. She let out a gut–wrenching, animalistic scream and fled the room, her ey
madness.
Ethan, finally realizing the system had failed, squeezed his eyes shut in humiliation. He composed himself Freda, I have to admit, you’ve won. I never thought you’d go this far just to get my attention.”
He looked at me with a pained expression. “You were just jealous that I was with Jessica, weren’t million to me, and I’ll be willing to give you a chance.”
- 3.
The murmuring in the room quieted. I stared at him, my expression a mixture of pity and disgust.
Even now, he thought I was in love with him?
you
with a
terrifying, vacant
walked toward me.”
Fine. Transfer that five
But no perfect facade
the hatred I felt for him
I’ll admit, during orientation, he was charming. It was hard not to be a little infatuated with a face like his. can hide a heart as black and greedy as his. The flicker of attraction I once felt was nothing compared
now.
“Well? What are you waiting for?” he said coldly, leaning in and lowering his voice. “And another thing. fired? That was my father. I want you to go to him, apologize, and then promote him to a mana position in your family’s know that driver you got
company. Do that, and I’ll forgive you.”
He straightened up, his voice ringing with false nobility. “And let me be clear, Freda. Even if I agree to to do anything. My dignity can’t be bought with your dirty money!”
with you, don’t expect me
He seemed genuinely moved by his own heroic speech, as if he were a great martyr sacrificing himself for his family and for love.
I raised my hand and slapped him across the face, so hard his head snapped to the side.
“Ethan, what kind of rotten trash do you think you are that I’d ever want you? Every word out of your mouth makes me Get lost.”
