Chapter 2

I had assumed Sean was just easily swayed but that he still had some basic ability to judge for himself. We had been together for nearly a year. How could he not know what kind of person I was?

Reality was a harsh wake-up call.

I frowned, equally frustrated. "Sean, who's your girlfriend here? She says one thing and you just believe her? If that's how it is, I don't see any point in finishing this dinner."

I stood up and grabbed my bag to leave, but Georgina flashed that hollow smile of hers again. "What's the rush? Don't tell me the lease on that sports car downstairs is about to expire and you need an excuse to go return it?"

That was the last straw. I turned on her. "What makes you so sure my car is a rental?"

Georgina rubbed Sean's back soothingly with one hand while offering up her explanation with a fake smile. "These little tricks of yours are child's play for a fraud buster like me. I can see right through them. Sean already told me you two met through a fender bender. Isn't that the oldest trick in the fake socialite playbook?"

After she finished rattling off her string of thinly veiled accusations, she pivoted with a laugh, playing innocent. "Oh, Sean, there I go again with my occupational hazard. You're not going to doubt your own girlfriend over what I said, are you?"

Sean grabbed her hand and looked at her with nothing but gratitude. "Gina, I should be thanking you for helping me see this gold digger for what she really is!

"Jillian, what's with that look? She's doing me a favor by warning me! And here I thought you were some kind of heiress. Turns out you're just a vain, money-grubbing nobody! You don't even deserve me!"

I let out a scoff and beat him to the punch before he could say it first. "Fine. Then let's break up."

…

Dad was already waiting for me downstairs. When he saw me come out alone, he immediately asked what had happened.

I forced a smile. "It's nothing, Dad. No need to go up. Let's just go home."

The plan had been to tell Sean the truth today, that I was the daughter of the richest man in the city. I was going to introduce him to my father so his company would have someone to lean on down the road.

He was the one who threw that opportunity away.

On the drive home, the group chat would not stop buzzing. I opened it and realized what had happened.

Georgina had created a group chat with Sean and his circle of friends, and accidentally added me to it. She was going off about her 'assessment' of me.

[Sean, she's definitely a fake socialite who's after your money. Did you see how angry she got tonight when I called her out at the table?]

[I just looked up the car she drove here in, and sure enough, it's registered under some 50-year-old man's name. It's not even hers!]

[You'd be better off with someone down-to-earth. Someone like me, who's never cared about flashy luxury nonsense.]

I looked at the name of the car's registered owner and could not help but marvel at her stupidity. Had she not noticed that the man and I shared the same last name? The more ridiculous part was that Sean and his friends were eating right out of her hand, every single one of them furious on his behalf.

[She's literally just a gold digger! She finished draining the last guy and moved on to our boy Sean!]

[Sean, think about how much you spent on her this past year. You need to find a way to get it all back!]

Sean was the most worked up of all.

[If it weren't for Gina, I never would've known her true colors!]

[Don't worry, I'm going to find a way to get back everything I gave her!]

The chat was blowing up, but I was already bored. I sent a single reply: [Watching all of you get played by Georgina is honestly entertaining.]