Chapter 4

That was the exact moment Sadie realized that if the man standing in front of her actually bothered to clean up, he wasn't any less striking than her precious assistant.

I pulled her card right out of my wallet. "This is the card you gave me. You said that as long as I didn't bug you, I could do whatever I wanted, and I could buy whatever I wanted. Isn't that what you said? Or are you regretting it now and planning to take it back?"

Sadie locked her stubborn, glaring gaze on me. "I mean what I say. The word regret doesn't even exist in my dictionary!"

"Good!"

I grabbed a bottle of Glenfiddich off the bar and smashed it straight down onto the marble table, sending a sharp, deafening crash ringing through the air.

The nightclub went dead silent in a split second, everyone's heads snapping toward us at the deafening smash.

Splattering alcohol soaked straight into Sadie's expensive stockings and designer heels. Right as shock washed over her face, I hopped right up onto the table, hoisting that black card high in the air.

"Listen up, everyone!

"Tonight's tab is on me!"

The bass dropped, heavy EDM blasted from the speakers, and the crowd erupted into wave after wave of wild cheers. Before I knew it, people were lifting me onto their shoulders, passing me around, and tossing me high into the air.

Through the flashing strobe lights and the thumping music, Sadie stared at me with a look of pure, unreadable complexity.

…

The next morning while Sadie was right in the middle of a corporate board meeting, her phone started buzzing with a relentless streak of notification alerts.

She glanced down casually, but the second her eyes swept over a dozen consecutive text messages, her eyelid started twitching violently.

[Dear customer, a POS transaction of $15 million was charged to your card ending in 8888.]

[Dear customer, a POS transaction of $20 million was charged to your card ending in 8888.]

[Dear customer, a POS transaction of $50 million was charged to your card ending in 8888.]

[Dear customer, a POS transaction of…]

She completely forgot about the meeting, frantically pulling out her phone to dial my number.

The second the call connected, Sadie launched into a furious tirade. "What the hell are you playing at, Ryder?

"How the hell did you manage to spend over eighty million in five minutes? What are you even buying?!"

"Oh, please! Is Madame CEO crying over a little cash?"

Before I could spit out another word, Sadie disconnected the call.

In my past life, when she handed me that black card, I treated it like the ultimate insult, a total desecration of what we had. I refused to touch a single penny of it, which meant when I died, I literally had thirty bucks to my name.

In my past life, I bled myself dry for her, and not only did I never get a single genuine smile in return, but I literally threw away my life to save hers.

So, in this life, I wasn't about to shortchange myself anymore. What did they call a man who lived off a woman? A kept man? After two lifetimes of backbreaking work and literal death, they could call me whatever they wanted.

This time, my life would be different!

My friend, who ran a cash-out service, held the POS terminal out toward me with a grin. "Bro, keep swiping?"

I checked my account balance, gritted my teeth, and nodded. "Keep going! Let's make it an even hundred million!"

That night, when I tore into the parking garage with the roaring engine of my brand-new Dodge Charger Hellcat, knowing a hundred million was sitting comfortably in my account put me in an unbeatable mood.

Sadie cared about her precious public image more than her own life. Even if she panicked and tried to claw that card back now, a hundred million was more than enough to fund my lifestyle for the rest of my days.

I unlocked the front door and stepped into the villa. Sadie was sprawled out on the living room couch, a warm, damp towel draped completely over her face.