Chapter 2

The voices wouldn't stop fighting in my head, and it was giving me a splitting headache.

Just as I was about to get up and head to the bathroom to clear my head, Vicky—who had been lying next to me—suddenly got up and walked out onto the balcony.

The room wasn't large, and the bed was right next to the balcony. So, even though she deliberately lowered her voice on the phone, I could still hear every word she said outside the door.

"Are you sure he's from a wealthy family? He sure doesn't look like it to me."

Who was she talking to? And who told her about my wealthy family background?

The questions kept racing through my head.

In the past, I used to fall asleep the moment my head hit the pillow, so Vicky probably assumed I was already asleep when she made that call and didn't bother hiding the conversation from me.

I held my breath, straining to hear the voice on the other end of the line, but to no avail. I could only hear Vicky's voice.

"You'd better make sure this works, or you could end up losing more than you gain," she said. "I told him I wanted to get married, but he said he didn't have the money for it. It's probably just a test. Are you sure your idea is going to work?"

By then, I had a pretty clear picture of everything. At the very least, that video had been real, and Vicky had indeed found out about my secret wealth and was after my money.

My heart eventually grew cold at that thought.

I could accept that Vicky liked money. I wouldn't have minded spending my money on her. To me, it was a given that I'd shower my girlfriend with the best I could give her.

However, I couldn't accept that she was only dating me to siphon off my wealth and spend it on another man instead.

Eventually, the voice on the balcony stopped abruptly, and Vicky soon returned to the bedroom.

I hurriedly closed my eyes, feigning sleep. I felt her eyes on me for a while, but when she saw I looked sound asleep, she sighed in relief.

After making sure she was fast asleep next to me, I got up and went into the bathroom. But when I came back, I still couldn't fall asleep.

I thought she'd accepted my confession and agreed to date me because I'd won her over with my sincerity. I never imagined that she was only with me for my money.

Over the past three years, I'd put her on a pedestal like she was my god. I'd fallen in love with her at first sight, and I'd made it a point to shower her with everything she liked to win her favor.

I memorized every one of her preferences and catered to her every whim. Even before I inherited my fortune, I scraped together what little I had from my meager allowance to buy her luxury goods.

I was thrilled when she finally agreed to be my girlfriend. I honestly thought Cupid's arrow had finally struck her the way it had struck me, and that we'd finally end up together.

But now, I found out she was nothing but a con artist trying to scam me out of my money in the name of love.

My nose tingled with emotion at the thought, but I refused to let my tears fall.

Now that I knew the truth, it was time for me to wake up. No romance or affection of the sort was worth losing my money over.

And since I now knew that Vicky was only dating me for my money, I wondered what would happen if I just kept up the charade of being poor.

How did she even find out about my true identity? Who exactly had she been contacting?

I decided to keep playing the fool until I finally got to the bottom of things. I didn't sleep a wink all night and just lay in bed with my eyes wide open until the next day.

Vicky and I got up at the crack of dawn to prepare for work. Just before we went our separate ways, she suddenly looked at me with a hesitant expression, as though she had something she wanted to say.

In the past, I would have immediately ambled over to her and fussed, asking what was on her mind. But now, I pretended not to notice, simply waiting for her to approach me.

When she realized I had no intention of asking what she was thinking, she spoke up.

"Colin, don't you think that it's just a hassle to take the subway to work every day? Why don't we buy a car instead?"

I knew full well that this was a test. However, I chose to play dumb and feigned shock, staring at her in utter bewilderment.

"But aren't you usually living paycheck to paycheck every month? How could you possibly afford to buy a car?"