Chapter 6

Elise lifted her eyes to find his, only to see Merrick staring at his phone instead.

The ringing stopped, then started again.

Before the third automatic hang-up, Merrick answered.

The soundproofing was too good; she couldn’t hear a single word from the other end.

Yet in just a few seconds, something in him shifted.

The heat in his eyes vanished, stripped away in an instant, and he pulled back from her completely.

Elise caught his hand. “Merrick…”

“Get some rest.” His voice was cold, emotionless.

His zipper slid back up.

Merrick turned and walked out without a moment’s hesitation.

The door slammed shut behind him.

A bitter curve tugged at Elise’s lips.

He never returned, not even when daylight flooded the windows.

And then several more days passed without a trace of him.

With less than three months left before the independent exams, Elise threw herself into studying.

Compared to transferring to a new school that involved learning the campus, adjusting to new teachers, and figuring out the social dynamics, self-study suited her far better.

Inside the document folder Desmond gave her were years of Crown City exam papers, digital lessons from top high school teachers, and stacks of study materials.

With Merrick gone, Elise took over the entire penthouse.

The TV streamed lessons.

The study, sofa, coffee table, dining table—every surface was covered with practice papers.

Her mind raced every day; she clung desperately to this chance to rewrite her fate.

One morning, the doorbell jolted her awake.

When she opened the door, an exquisitely dressed woman stood on the threshold.

Elise needed only one glance to know that this woman had to be the rumored Selena.

And she was right.

Selena spoke first. “Hello, I’m Selena Shaw. Merrick’s future sister-in-law.”

Elise replied honestly, “He’s not home.”

Selena’s smile didn’t falter. “I came specifically to see you, Miss Jones.”

Hearing the hostility beneath the politeness, Elise didn’t shrink back. She stepped aside to let her in and crouched by the shoe cabinet to find disposable slippers for her guest.

Selena let out a soft, derisive laugh. “Don’t trouble yourself. I don’t wear disposables. Merrick didn’t tell you?”

She deliberately paused before adding, “You’re wearing my slippers.”

It was a pointed little reminder, implying Elise was sitting in a place that didn’t belong to her.

Elise lowered her gaze, hiding the chill in her eyes, then looked back at her with an innocent expression.

“Merrick didn’t mention it. He just knelt down and put them on my feet himself. If you like them so much, Miss Shaw, I can take them off and give them to you.”

She finished speaking and slipped on Merrick’s charcoal-gray house slippers instead.

Selena’s brows tightened even further. “Merrick is particular about cleanliness. I’d advise you not to touch his things casually.”

Elise’s patience snapped. “Funny, he didn’t seem bothered when he was kissing my toes.”

The blunt line shut Selena up instantly.

Too tired to care what Selena chose to wear—this wasn’t her home anyway—Elise turned and changed into a fresh outfit.

The once-neat living room was now so cluttered with test papers that there wasn’t even a place left to sit.

Seeing Elise walk out of Merrick’s bedroom, Selena pulled a long face, her grip tightening around her handbag.

He’d actually let this woman make a mess of his place and even allowed her to live in the master bedroom.

Elise gathered the scattered test papers in the living room with a few quick motions.

“Miss Jones, you’re nearly twenty, right?”

Selena’s gaze drifted over her from head to toe, cool and unmistakably condescending.

“So you’re planning to sit for the exams again?” she added, her tone edged with mockery.

“Yes.”

Elise answered casually, unaffected by the disdain laced through her words.

A glance at the clock made her sigh. “Miss Shaw, please get to the point.”

She still had piles of practice sets waiting.

She truly didn’t have the time to entertain pointless chatter.

Selena sneered. “Name your price. How much for you to leave Merrick?

“Let me remind you, Merrick is a Grant. He’s not someone just anyone can cling to.”

Ever since Margaret mentioned Merrick had brought home a woman, and a woman he seemed entangled with, Selena felt as if something of hers had been stolen.

The hostility in her eyes made that clear enough.

These people really were amusing.

Everything was status, class, and hierarchy.

Elise caught the subtle angle of Selena’s phone, clearly recording her, but she pretended not to notice.

Her lips curved. “Then according to Miss Shaw’s esteemed judgment, what price should I be asking for?”

Selena’s eyes flashed with disdain. “Two hundred thousand dollars is more than enough to keep you comfortable for most of your life.”

How could a penniless girl from Borderfall dare reach for Crown City’s brightest star?

She was a nobody stretching far beyond her league.

Elise raised her head with feigned surprise, then looked at her with open disappointment. “So, in your eyes, Merrick is worth only two hundred thousand dollars?”

Her voice steadied, firm and protective. “To me, he’s priceless.

“Miss Shaw, I’ll say this plainly. I won’t leave him unless he asks me himself.”

As for whether this penthouse had cameras installed somewhere, Merrick had never told her.

But every so often, Elise couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her from behind, a prickling awareness between her shoulder blades, as if a camera hid somewhere just out of sight.

“Miss Shaw, I need to study. Please leave.”

Elise rose, dismissing her outright, giving Selena no courtesy at all.

Selena clearly hadn’t expected her to turn down the offer.

Her eyes narrowed, contempt sharpening.

“All this fuss… just to squeeze out more money, isn’t it?”

“Four hundred thousand dollars. How about that? It’s a lot quicker than retaking your exams and scraping by on a couple thousand a month afterward.”

“Greedy little thing, aren’t you? Six hundred thousand dollars. Go back to your dusty little Borderfall town.”

“Eight hundred thousand dollars. Elise, learn when enough is enough.”

“One million. Final offer. Any higher, and you won’t see a single cent.”

From the moment Selena began naming numbers, Elise stared at her without expression, her disgust slowly rising to the surface.

“Please leave.”

Her calm dismissal struck straight at Selena’s pride.

Selena’s voice snapped into a harsh sneer. “Elise, you’re just a diversion. He won’t fight with me over you, and he certainly won’t defy his mother for a plaything. Be smart. Take the money and get out.”

When the door slammed shut, Elise stood in the living room with her fists clenched.

As she bowed her head, a single tear hit the carpet.

A plaything? She would never be a plaything.

She’d always been someone who planned ahead, and that tear was the pledge she offered Merrick.

Elise dabbed at the corner of her eyes, wiping away tears that had long since dried, playing the part just in case a hidden camera really existed.

If Merrick ever reviewed the footage, this scene would be enough to show her supposed “sincerity.”

Then she slipped back into her intense study routine.

The moment she stepped outside, Selena forwarded the video to her people, and by the time she reached the top floor of Grantwell Group, the edited version had already arrived on her phone.

Merrick hated being monitored; there were no cameras in his home, and she refused to let another woman take even a fraction of his attention.

She passed through every checkpoint without obstruction and walked straight into the CEO’s office.

The instant the door opened, she put on a delicate, wounded expression. “Merrick, this is the woman you’re taken with? Her class is far too low.”

Merrick’s brows tightened. “Who told you to go to my home?”

“Mrs. Grant cares about you.”

Margaret hadn’t said it outright, but Selena had understood her meaning.

She held up her phone. “Listen to her. In her eyes, you’re worth only two hundred thousand dollars. Are you really going to side with a gold digger over your own mother?”

The video, deliberately clipped and rearranged, made it appear as if Elise had been the one greedily naming prices.

He watched it in silence.

When the video concluded, his handsome face remained composed, offering neither the loyalty he once showed Selena nor any intention of sending Elise away.

Swallowing her anger, Selena softened her voice. “Merrick, you’re punishing me for choosing your older brother, aren’t you?”