Chapter 4

In the underground club's cross-family youth group chat, Gia posted another photo.

On a white yacht anchored off the coast of Miami, she leaned against the railing in a bikini, an oversized men's dress shirt draped over her shoulders, an obvious attempt at innocent seduction.

The face of the man pressing close to her was pixelated out.

But I instantly recognized the custom cufflink peeking out of the man's shirt sleeve. It bore the Marchesi family crest, exactly the one Julian always wore.

The gangsters in the chat immediately started cheering:

"Miss Gia gracing us with her presence!"

"Damn, she's perfect from head to toe. Who's the lucky guy next to her?"

"Judging by the vibe, that's gotta be our prince, Julian. All hail the boss!"

Sloane had just told me two days ago that the night Gia posted that photo in her slip dress, Julian immediately dispatched a private helicopter to Gia's estate.

He gifted her an entire trunk full of haute couture jewelry and rented out a whole block to set off fireworks for her.

Now, the two of them were officially public.

Julian arrogantly dropped screenshots of underground casino VIP chips with staggering denominations, flooding the chat.

"The young master is always so generous! A talented man and a beautiful woman, a perfect match!"

"The chemistry is off the charts. You two need to get married already!"

"In our circle, only a top-tier babe like Gia is worthy of our boss."

Someone steered the conversation toward me:

"You guys probably don't know, but our boss got played for over a year by some brace-faced ugly girl on the dark web. Her looks almost made him puke. Thankfully, he finally cleansed his palate and traded up for a real prize. Congrats, boss!"

Gia raised an eyebrow and asked: "Oh? What ugly girl are we talking about?"

That person added fuel to the fire, broadcasting the whole story about the dark web account being sold off.

Instantly, the chat filled with foul, unbearable mockery directed at me.

"Holy shit, trash like that actually dared to latch onto our family's young master?"

"A brace-faced hillbilly like that wouldn't even get touched by a dog in real life. She could only hide behind a keyboard, fake her voice, and trick blind men who've never seen a woman before."

"I heard that ugly chick is so desperate she still wants to meet the boss's son. Who knows, maybe she'll sneak into the club party this weekend. We'll all have to gather around and see what this 'prize' looks like up close."

Gia followed up with a giggling emoji: "That girl is probably just starved for attention. It's not her fault she's unlucky with her looks, but pretending to be someone else just to mess with Julian's head is going too far."

Julian replied: "Don't mention her. Just thinking about the year I wasted on her makes me sick. Thank God I have you now."

Julian didn't know I had always lurked in this group using an alternate account.

I had watched every single step of this "new romance" of his with crystal clarity.

Someone else in the chat asked: "Boss, what's the name of that disgusting hillbilly anyway? We might run into her on the streets someday."

Julian sneered and typed out a few letters: "Harper Pierce."

"Pfft, Pierce? Sounds like some bottom-feeder family collecting protection money in the slums. No real power. No wonder she's so cheap and pathetic."

Staring at that line of text, I let out a cold laugh.

The next second, I switched to my main account and logged into the group.

The system permissions flashed a notification: "Harper Pierce" has joined the group chat.

Within seconds, the chat that had been scrolling madly fell into a deathly silence.

But I knew very well that behind their screens, all those gangsters were definitely staring wide-eyed, waiting for a good show.

After about three minutes, Gia sent two messages, paired with pink heart emojis.

"Oh my, Miss Pierce is in the group too. Welcome, welcome!"

"By the way, Harper, there's a cross-family rave at our underground club this weekend. Everyone is bringing a plus-one. Do you want to come play?"

I knew she just wanted me to show up so I could be served as the joke of the night.

I let a smirk play on my lips and casually typed out a single sentence.

"Count me in."