Chapter 3

Hearing those words made Zeke feel as if every last bit of strength had been sucked out of him.

So while he'd been running himself ragged, trying to scrape together money, so broke he'd had to take on almost three jobs a day, Ruth had been showering Calvin with luxury goods—so many that one house couldn't even hold them all, and she'd had to buy a second villa just to store the gifts.

What a joke. What an absolute joke.

Zeke didn't want to think about it anymore. His hands shook as he marked the order as delivered, set the bag down, and turned to leave.

An angry shout exploded behind him. "Hey! Delivery guy! Who said you could leave?"

Calvin grabbed the bag and pulled out the box of condoms. "Why the hell did you buy mint flavor? I clearly wrote that I wanted strawberry. You can forget about your tip!"

Zeke felt like someone was slicing his heart open with a dull knife. He said in a low voice, "Sorry. That was the last box the store had."

He didn't dare ask about the tip anymore and turned to leave, but Calvin grabbed his arm and wouldn't let go. "Who said you could leave? I'm gonna complain about you!"

Ruth stepped out from the back, a flicker of surprise and pleasure in her eyes before she grabbed Zeke by the wrist. "I knew you were jealous, Zeke. I can't believe you actually disguised yourself as a delivery guy just to stalk me. That's so not like you."

Zeke yanked his hand back, his voice icy. "You've got it wrong. I'm just doing my job."

"Your job?" She frowned so hard a crease formed between her brows. "I give you more than enough spending money every month. Why would you need to be out here making deliveries? Apologize properly for what happened last time, and I'll go home with you."

Calvin instantly looked alarmed, but Ruth's eyes stayed locked on Zeke.

Zeke sneered to himself, finding it all ironic. 300 dollars a month for living expenses wasn't even enough to cover Margaret's medicine. Ruth was worth billions, yet she thought 300 dollars was more than enough.

"My being a delivery guy has nothing to do with you. If we're done here, I need to get to my next order," he said.

He turned to go, only for Ruth to clamp down hard on his wrist again. "Who said you could leave? Didn't you hear what Calvin just said? You bought the wrong flavor."

Calvin immediately chimed in, sounding smug, "Yeah. Ruth and I only like strawberry. Since you messed up, go buy it again. Otherwise, we're filing a complaint."

Zeke's breath hitched, a note of pleading slipping into his voice. "Please don't. I'll go buy more for you. Just… don't file a complaint…"

He desperately needed this money. To pay for Margaret's treatment, he'd been doing deliveries nonstop for two whole months. He'd finally clawed his way to the top of the monthly rankings, and he was on track to get the full bonus for the best delivery rider—8,000 dollars in total.

A complaint or a negative rating would cost him the bonus.

Ruth's lips curled into a vicious smile when she saw him begging so pathetically. "Fine. Keep buying condoms until we're satisfied, or we're definitely filing that complaint."

Swallowing the pain in his chest, Zeke turned and ran out. He went all over town, hitting one convenience store after another, buying every flavor of condom he could find.

The moment he stepped back into the villa, he was hit by an obscene scene. Ruth was wrapped around Calvin and kissing him like she couldn't get enough. Their hands were all over each other.

When she caught sight of Zeke out of the corner of her eye, her face twisted in annoyance at being interrupted. "Get the hell out!"

Zeke bit down hard on his lower lip and set the plastic bag on the floor. "They're all in here. Please leave me a five-star rating."

Then, he bolted like he was running for his life as Ruth's heavy breathing grew louder behind him.

Outside the villa, the sky was a hazy gray. He didn't dare waste time and got right back to making deliveries.

The whole day, Zeke was on edge, anxiously waiting for that one crucial rating. By nightfall, when he refreshed the app, he saw a brand-new one-star review.

His heart almost stopped. A second later, Calvin's call came in. "Enjoying that bad review, Zeke?"

"Why…" Zeke's voice cracked. He was on the verge of breaking down. "I bought everything you asked for. Why have you done this to me?"

Calvin chuckled on the other end. "Because buying them was pointless. Ruth said we don't need condoms anymore because she wants to have my baby. You showing up with a whole bag of them just killed the mood. If I didn't give you a bad review for that, who do you think should've gotten it?"