Chapter 1

Right in the middle of the couch sat a balding man in his 50s. He had a beer belly, wore a loud floral shirt, and had a thermal flask clutched in his hand.

There was no universe in which he counted as a male escort.

Jessica Lark was so mad her voice cracked. "Lori, you took two million from Ethan to come fool around, and this is what you picked?"

I immediately took offense.

"What do you mean, 'this'? He's the most expensive one here."

Ethan Fuller, my boyfriend, had walked in looking ready to murder someone. He faltered, his gaze flitting between the balding man and me. He said, "I'm sure Lori had her reasons for spending my money."

Jessica nearly exploded. "She came to a bar and hired some old guy, and you're still making excuses for her?"

I rolled my eyes. "Who hired an old guy? I spent two million to come to this bar's top floor because I wanted to get into their so-called Supreme Wealth Club."

Jessica sneered. "Wealth club? Do you even understand finance?"

Of course I didn't.

Still, Ethan's company was about to go public, and I'd been doing some research in secret. Other companies had big institutions backing their IPO, but he didn't.

How was that okay? If his net worth grew too slowly, who was I supposed to mooch off?

I'd heard the bar's top floor only hosted clients worth at least a hundred million. In my head, two million to get into a room full of rich people was a bargain… except something had gone wrong that night.

Not a single rich person had shown up, aside from this balding guy. My heart had practically been bleeding from the waste. In fact, I'd been grilling him to get the two million in bottle service refunded.

The balding guy suddenly chuckled. "Ethan Fuller? The young man from Universo Tech?"

Ethan froze. "You know me?"

The man fished a crumpled business card out of his pocket.

Jessica glanced at it, and her face went as white as a sheet. "B-Bernard Lodge?"

I'd never heard the name. Ethan, on the other hand, snapped to attention.

Bernard Lodge was the founder of Zephyr Capital. He'd retired five years earlier and rarely appeared in public anymore. And as luck would have it, the final cornerstone investment Ethan needed before taking his company public was supposed to come from Zephyr Capital.

Jessica's lips were trembling. "Mr. Lodge, what are you doing here?"

Bernard snorted. "My son owns this place. I came for a drink, but I spent the whole night being chased around by this young lady demanding a refund and threatening to file a complaint."

I immediately held out my hand. "So are you refunding me or not?"

He burst out laughing. "No. But I can take a look at that young man's business plan."

Ethan's eyes reddened. "Lori, you pretended you were here to splurge, but you were actually trying to find investors for me, weren't you?"

I went quiet for a beat. The truth was, I just figured that if his IPO failed, my 20 million would go down with it.

He pulled me into his arms. "Babe, I swear I won't let you down."

I opened my mouth, then closed it again.

Forget it. As long as he was happy.

Bernard was intrigued now. Right then and there, he invested 500 million dollars in Ethan.

By the next day, the company's valuation had tripled.

Jessica was so furious that she smashed her phone. Still, she wasn't done. She contacted Ethan's parents, Arnold Fuller and Monica Bronson.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fuller, if you don't come back soon, that gold digger is gonna bleed Ethan dry!"