I Cashed Out Before He Regretted It

In all his life, Alfie Lawson had never met a woman like Wendy Brown, soft and sweet, yet without ever losing her backbone.

She had worked her way through school to attend this prestigious academy in Vespera. No matter how powerful or wealthy the young men around her were, she never once bowed her head to them.

For Alfie, that kind of stubborn resilience was devastatingly attractive.

I thought about going after him myself and making him fall for me instead, but he had met too many society young ladies to be impressed by another one.

There simply was no substitute for Wendy's particular brand of sweet-but-strong.

I was broke too, but unlike Wendy, I had absolutely no resistance to money. Apparently, that was another thing he didn't like.

As Alfie's study companion, I had a pretty sweet job. But with him an ocean away from his mother and now suffering from selective mutism, I could see my high-paying position slipping through my fingers.

So, I took the initiative and befriended Wendy.

As the only two poor students at the academy, she was much warmer toward me than she was toward the rich kids. But the moment I asked, "Could you just check on Alfie?" she threw her wine in my face.

"I can't believe you're one of his lapdogs, too!" she spat out. "Phoebe, wealthy or not, you should protect your sacred integrity. Why would you debase yourself by sucking up to some spoiled rich kid?"

I wiped the wine off my face without getting angry.

I didn't have Wendy's backbone. I approached her in the first place because of money. After all these years of hustling for a living, I had gotten every kind of dirty look imaginable.

What was some wine going to do?

Unfortunately, Wendy wanted nothing to do with me after that. That was the problem.

The society women who tried to win Alfie over with love couldn't catch his interest. Someone like me, who openly worshipped money, was even less appealing to him.

When Mrs. Lawson said she would pay 100,000 dollars to whoever could get him to speak, she hadn't said anything about how we were supposed to do it.

So, I decided to shock him into talking.

"Hey, remember how you were calling me 'Mommy' in bed last night?"

"I did not!"

Everyone froze. Stunned, Alfie stared at me for a second before lowering his head. Luckily, I had recorded the whole thing.

Mrs. Lawson called me right away. "Pheeb, I knew I was right about you. Sending you to Vespera with him was absolutely the right decision.

"Keep it up. I'll give you 100,000 dollars for every additional sentence Alfie says. And if you can cure his selective mutism, I'll give you ten million dollars."

My eyes lit up instantly. The moment I saw the extra 100,000 dollars in my account, I kissed my phone again and again.

After my outrageous comment that got Alfie to speak, word quickly spread through our circle.

Soon, wealthy families started coming to me for help. Whether their precious son was depressed or had selective mutism, they wanted me to come over and "treat" them.

As it turned out, my method worked remarkably well.

The moment I said something filthy, even the most withdrawn young heirs would blush and blurt out, "I did not!"

So, I happily collected their parents' generous payments while enduring the stunned looks of everyone around me, the embarrassed faces of their parents, and the mortified expressions of their spoiled sons.