Chapter 1

The room fell silent.

They stared at me with strange expressions, then burst out laughing.

"Oh, my God, my stomach hurts from laughing! This woman is much more interesting than the women you've been with before."

"Layla, you've got some nerve! Starbinks lemonade? I'm dying. Tyler's offering to keep you, and all you want is a cheap glass of lemonade?"

"This woman is something else. I'm laughing so hard I'm tearing up!"

They doubled over, laughing so hard that some of them collapsed onto the couch.

I was flabbergasted.

In my world, lemonade was a symbol of wealth and status. It was outrageously expensive.

Our currency system consisted of dollars, dimes, cents, mills, microdollars, and nanodollars.

My monthly salary was just 0.3 mills, equivalent to 300 microdollars.

A glass of lemonade cost four dollars. I would have had to save for ages without spending a cent to afford one. After all, 1,000 mills were worth only one cent.

My boss, Jacob Cavill, was a wealthy CEO who earned 100 dollars a year. Even he had to keep topping up his lemonade with water, and he couldn't bear to throw the empty bottle away.

Only the richest person in the world could afford to finish a glass and toss it straight into the trash.

For someone like me who earned just 0.3 mills a month, a four-dollar lemonade was an unattainable luxury.

This world really was paradise! Even lemonade was cheap here.

If I could earn money in this world and spend it back home, wouldn't I be living the high life?

I wasn't even sure if I could return. After all, before transmigrating, I'd already been sent flying by a speeding truck.

Nadia Lachey looked me up and down, her eyes full of disdain.

"I've met plenty of scheming gold diggers like you," she spat. "You start by pretending you don't care about money, then slowly get close to Tyler until you finally get what you're after. I know all the tricks.

"If you're going to put on an act, you might as well see it through." She turned to Tyler Farrell. "We'll find out how sincere she is by whether she's willing to do whatever it takes to pray for your safety."

Tyler studied me for a long moment before giving a slight nod. "Fine."

They took me to the foot of a mountain, and Nadia pointed toward the summit.

"The most notable chapel is at the top. There are thousands of steps, and you have to kneel and pray at every single one for your prayers to work. Go on."

I looked at the endless staircase and could feel my heart tremble.

Then, Nadia sneered. "If you come back with a rosary, I'll have Tyler give you 200 dollars."

My eyes lit up.

Even Jacob earned only 100 dollars a year. If I could get 200 dollars just by putting up with a little hardship, I was definitely in.

I began climbing, dropping to my knees at every step to pray.

Nadia rolled her eyes. "I want to see how long she can keep up this act!"

Tyler, however, continued watching me closely. The others set up tents near the foot of the mountain and started a barbecue.

Nadia scoffed. "Gold diggers never suffer for long. Just wait. She'll come crying back in no time, saying, 'Tyler, my knees hurt so much!'"

Her teasing expression made several of the men laugh until they doubled over. They started betting on how many minutes it would take before I begged to quit.

But an hour passed, and I was still climbing the steps, kneeling and praying at each one. My vision was filled with stars, and my head was spinning. I was barely holding on through sheer willpower.

Tyler stood up and headed up the mountain to carry me down, but Nadia stopped him.

"Tyler, don't let your guard down," she chided.

One of Tyler's friends, Henry Foster, looked troubled.

"It's been an hour. Isn't that enough?" he asked. "Her knees are covered in blood, and her forehead is injured too."

"We're both women, so I know gold diggers like her inside out," Nadia said, snickering. "She's pretending to be weak on purpose to make you feel sorry for her.

"Women like her are cunning. If you don't teach them how to behave, they'll cause trouble once they're with you. Have you forgotten how spoiled and demanding those other women were?"

Tyler decided she had a point and sat back down.

…

The world spun around me in an endless blur.

My knees had gone completely numb, and I could barely feel my arms or legs.