Chapter 1

The manager, Dan Scott, noticed me standing still after I'd rushed in, so he asked cautiously, "Ms. Upton, aren't you going in?"

I shushed him and said quietly, "They are badmouthing me. Of course I have to know what they say."

Hearing this, Dan broke out in a cold sweat. He didn't know whether to leave me to it or stay with me.

Meanwhile, the people inside kept talking without a care in the world.

My relative, Gina Garner, covered her mouth in shock. "Are you saying that… Stacy has been doing that kind of work all these years?"

My mother, Jenna Hunt, sneered. "We only found out recently. We didn't say anything because it was embarrassing."

Gina asked, "I remember she did well in college. What happened?"

My father, Jasper Upton, exhaled some cigarette smoke and wore a knowing expression. "The money comes easy. We tried talking her out of it, but she won't listen. Taking her money makes us sick, but she keeps bringing it home anyway, hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time."

As he spoke, the expensive watch on his wrist gleamed, making the whole situation feel even more ironic to me.

I'd paid for everything they wore, from head to toe, yet in the end, all they had to say about me was, "She makes money so fast. Who knows how many big shots have slept with her?"

Dad grew more and more brazen, as if he weren't talking about his own daughter, while Mom and my sister, Kayla Upton, made no attempt to stop him.

Meanwhile, a look of embarrassment appeared on Gina's face.

Dan looked at me warily, and I gave him a cold smile. "Mr. Scott, I'll pay double to book this banquet hall. You have half an hour to get them out."

Dan froze for a moment, then nodded respectfully. "Of course. I'll handle it right away."

"I really liked the bar on the top floor the last time I was here. Take me there. Oh, and have the security footage from this floor and the banquet hall pulled up and sent to the bar for me."

Dan wiped his forehead. "That's against our policies…"

I snapped, "Are you going to follow the rules or listen to your boss?"

"Ms. Upton, I'll send the footage to you later."

I nodded, satisfied, and took the lift upstairs.

The owner of this place was my ex-ex-ex-boyfriend. His family was in the restaurant business, and he had been raised in a sheltered environment. When we broke up, he cried like his world was ending. But I still managed to sweet-talk him into staying friends.

I didn't need to sleep with wealthy men to get their money. All I had to do was give them a sweet, loving relationship. Money was the least important thing to them.

Rich men weren't the only ones who got to pick who they dated. I had the right to choose, too. When it came to looks, personality, and charm, I was one in a million.

Too bad my family had looked down on me for as long as I could remember.

Anyway, I was done trying to win them over. I was a grown woman now. I wouldn't be lonely, even without family.