Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 10

Chapter 1

"If you don't believe me, I'll test her for you later. The sooner you see this gold digger for what she is, the better!"The call ended, and Georgina Lawson's self-assured voice drifted out from the private dining room. Sean Spencer sat across from her, nodding along with complete trust written all over his face.I wanted to see exactly how Georgina planned to 'test' a real socialite like me.When I pushed the door open, Georgina was holding my bag, turning it over and inspecting it from every angle. Her tone was pure condescension."I'm telling you, girls like you really need to stop trying so hard to keep up appearances. The first step to becoming a fake socialite is dressing yourself up to look like something you're not. This bag... It's a rental, right?"I nearly laughed out loud. That bag came straight from the boutique, and it was a limited edition. The amount I had to spend on complementary purchases just to qualify for it was close to 200,000 dollars alone.When I did not

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'

Chapter 3

Then, I left the group chat.That same night, Sean blew up my phone. He demanded to know what I meant by that message and tried to force me to apologize to Georgina.I blocked his number and did not give him another thought. What I did not expect was to find Sean and Georgina waiting outside the hospital for me the next morning.The moment he saw me, Sean hurled a stack of photos at my face, the sharp edges striking my forehead."Jillian! Have you no shame? No wonder you were so eager to break up with me yesterday. Gina saw right through you, and once you realized you couldn't squeeze any more money out of me, you ran straight to the next guy!"Georgina stood to the side with her arms crossed, watching with open satisfaction. "A man pushing 50, and you don't even mind. The things you'll do for money… Truly shameless."The corner of one of the photos sliced across my forehead, and a sharp sting followed instantly. I glanced down at the pictures scattered on the ground.They were

Chapter 4

"Jillian, I need you to take a leave of absence."My nails dug into my palms. I tried to defend myself. "Dr. Crane, that post is fabricated. And right now is a critical period for my career advancement..."The director, Howard Crane, sighed. "You think I don't know it's fake? The hospital switchboard has been flooded with calls since this morning. People are demanding an explanation. As for your evaluation, it will have to wait another five years."Tears stung at the corners of my eyes. I had already waited five years for that evaluation. How much longer could I possibly wait? It was not hard to guess who was behind the post. This was Georgina's style through and through. She wanted to make sure I never recovered from this.I swallowed the bitterness and forced myself to accept it, then walked out of the office.A patient's family member was waiting right outside, face twisted with rage. She raised her hand and slapped me across the face."A doctor with your kind of personal li

Chapter 5

Georgina and Sean both froze in place, staring at the man in front of them in disbelief."Are... Aren't you the Kingsford trade representative? The one on the Forbes list? The richest man in the city? How can you possibly be Jillian's father? You must be in on it together. This is all an act! Jillian, you told him ahead of time and got him to play along, didn't you?"Dad's expression darkened further. His voice was cold. "Do you really think I have nothing better to do than waste my time deceiving two nobodies? What did you people do to my Jill?"My eldest brother, Elliot, walked over to me. The moment he saw the red handprint across my face, his temper snapped.He seized Georgina by the wrist and demanded through gritted teeth, "Was it you? When Jill is at home, we treat her like she's the most precious thing in the world. And you had the nerve to put your hands on her?"The sheer force of his anger sent Georgina scrambling behind Sean for cover. Sean was visibly afraid of the me

Chapter 6

"She fooled me too, back when we were together. She squeezed plenty of money out of me. It's not too late for you to see her true colors. I've already hired a lawyer. We should sue her together. So stop defending her!"The way Sean carried on, you would think I had bled him dry while we were dating.Elliot could not stand hearing anyone badmouth me. He grabbed Sean by the collar and drove his fist into him, one punch after another."You piece of trash! Jill has been well-behaved and thoughtful her entire life. She was always the kid every other parent wished was theirs. And you're saying she was after your money? What you have wouldn't even cover one of her outfits!"Fabian jumped in right after, taking his turn. That left Georgina still working the crowd from the sidelines.I met her eyes and said calmly, "Enough, Georgina. How long are you going to keep turning Sean against me? Those two are my brothers. They're my father's children from his first marriage, which is why we have

Chapter 7

"Then let me spell it out. Jillian has to marry me. She spent so much of my money over the past year. She owes me that much. If she refuses, I'll go public with the whole thing!"I'll tell everyone she burned through all my money and then ran. You rich people care about reputation more than anything, don't you?"Let's see who'd still want Jillian after that! Maybe she'd have no choice but to settle for some nobody. Would you really want that for her? Agreeing to let her marry me is your only option here."Fabian glared at him, seething, and called him shameless.No wonder people always said you should never let a broke man spend money on you. Now, I understood exactly how true that was.Dad could not stand anyone using his children as leverage against him. He was already quietly discussing a hostile takeover of Sean's company with his assistant. However, for my sake, he forced a smile and played along to keep Sean calm."Let's talk this through. How much do you want to leave Jill

Chapter 8

I matched Sean's tone and left no room for negotiation.Just then, my lawyer, Celia Ward, stepped forward with the evidence compiled on the viral post. I threw the proof of who had published it straight at Georgina, along with two formal legal notices."Georgina, the defamatory statements you posted online have caused real damage to my life and my career. My lawyer will be pressing charges! And the cyberbullying and opinion manipulation your studio has been running? I'm handing all of that over to the police as well!"Enjoy prison!"Many of the onlookers at the hospital now understood what had actually happened and came to apologize. But Dr. Crane still did not lift my suspension.His reasoning was that the situation online had blown up too severely. Even if the hospital issued a statement in my defense, there would still be hordes of people online stirring up trouble.I did not complain. I treated it as an unexpected vacation, courtesy of the whole ordeal.Came to think of it,

Chapter 9

I only learned from the news that Sean's little company had already gone bankrupt. From what I heard, Dad had crushed it through forced suppression and a lowball acquisition. Sean did not walk away with a single cent.On top of that, Celia had taken him to court, demanding he repay the 500,000 I had given him during our relationship.I felt nothing but satisfaction. However, he barely stayed quiet for two days before stirring up trouble again.The day before Georgina's trial, police sealed every company under the Norris name. Someone had reported us for suspected tax evasion, and all operations were frozen for inspection. Every project had to halt until the review was complete.Each day those companies stayed shut cost us millions, and the freeze was set to last two weeks.I knew immediately that someone was pulling strings behind the scenes. Sure enough, it did not take long to trace it all back to Sean.Ever since Dad had forced Sean out of his company, Sean had been flooding t

Chapter 10

Back then, Sean had knelt on the ground and slapped himself across the face over and over, swearing he had lost his mind when he embezzled from the company. He begged me to cover the shortfall. He even left the evidence with me as a show of trust.Yet now, he had forgotten all of that.I handed the evidence over to the former shareholders of Spencer & Co. They had been holding a grudge against Sean for a long time. When they learned Sean had embezzled company funds and tanked a multimillion-dollar project because of it, they wasted no time.That very night, they sent people who were not afraid of consequences, and Sean was snatched from right under the police station's nose.Sean vanished for an entire week. No one knew where he was. Some said old enemies had come to collect. Others whispered that he had crossed the Norris family, and the Norrises had already taken care of him for good.Dad and my brothers came to me and asked if I was behind it.I was sorting through documents f

Scanner le code pour lire sur l'application