Chapter 1She Runs the World on Money

I was the heiress of the world's richest family, and my one obsession was breaking into show business.

Three years in, and I was still nobody.

So to build up some buzz, I threw a fortune into joining a new show. It was a survival competition that had the whole internet glued to its livestream.

Except the freshly minted "innocent flower" on the cast had declared herself a survival expert and seemed determined to make me her foil at every turn.

Not only did she team up with my archnemesis and announce she was taking me on, she made a show of struggling to rig traps and catch fish right in front of me, then roasted them over a fire she'd started by hand.

After all that effort, she turned to the camera and, with exaggerated caution, said to me, "Harper McAvoy, you're staring at me so pitifully. You're not hoping we'll hand over the fish, are you?

"But we worked so hard for this one..."

Between her survival skills and the contrast with her sweet image, she had the whole internet cheering for her.

I raised a hand to block the blazing sun and pointed the other at the fat, golden fish in my rival's hands.

"I'll pay a hundred thousand dollars. Hand it over."

"You got it, Harper!" My rival didn't hesitate for a second and dropped the fragrant, roasted fish straight into my hands.

* * *

Outside the set, a huge screen displayed the livestream's scrolling comments.

The comments went dead silent for a solid three seconds before picking back up.

[Whoa, what just happened?]

[Gina, are you out of your mind? There's no way this washed-up nobody actually has a hundred thousand dollars.]

[Gina, aren't you supposed to be Harper's archnemesis? Why do you look so happy?]

[My poor Suzanne, just standing there staring, tears streaming down her face.]

I looked over at Suzanne Fraser. Her eyes were red-rimmed, like someone had wronged her.

Was she upset because my archnemesis Gina Eastwood had just made a hundred thousand dollars off me?

I felt a little bad, so I said to her, "You're Suzanne, right? I'll give you a hundred thousand dollars if you debone this fish for me."

Instead, her eyes turned even redder. Tears welled up and spilled over, and she ran off crying.

The comments started scrolling even faster, every single one of them tearing into me.

[Harper McAvoy, you think being rich makes you untouchable? Suzanne has eight backers watching her back!]

[Try humiliating Suzanne with your money again and see what happens to you!]

I had no idea why Suzanne had burst into tears and run off, so I asked Gina about it.

Gina pulled on the gloves she always carried with her, then got to deboning the fish for me while murmuring a warning under her breath.

"Harper, you might not know this, but Suzanne has eight powerful men backing her."

"Leon Robbins, Freddy Jones, Phil Pattison, Cyrus Tilman..." She rattled off all eight names in one breath. "Every one of them is a heavyweight in his own field.

"Leon's company, Robbins Group, is supposedly second only to the McAvoy family itself. He's the hottest rising star in the business world right now.

"And Cyrus, he's still young, but he's already swept every major acting award there is. The entertainment company under his name is packed with breakout stars..."

Huh?

Second only to the McAvoy family? Since when?

And why did all those names sound so familiar?

The netizens couldn't believe Gina was actually deboning fish for me.

They erupted, accusing her of breaking character; some even doubted we were really archenemies at all.

We had been, once.

Then I'd simply bought her loyalty.

Gina tried to talk some sense into me. "We used to be rivals, sure, but seeing as you've been paying me so well...

"Take some advice from me. I have a lot of experience in this industry. Try not to humiliate Suzanne with your money anymore. Humiliate me instead."

I'm the type who listens to good advice, especially from someone who'd been in the business longer than me. Gina was more established than I was.

So I took her advice and stopped using money to boss Suzanne around.

When I got thirsty, I "humiliated" Gina into boiling me water instead.

When I got hungry, I "humiliated" someone else into hunting and fishing for me.

When I got tired, I had someone find me a place to sit.

Money could solve pretty much anything, so none of it was ever really a problem.

Suzanne, meanwhile, did every single thing herself.

The whole internet had officially decided we were opposites for comparison.

The camera swung back to me, and the insults poured in.

[Big deal, you've got some money. You're still a talentless hack who bought her way onto the show.]

[So what if she bought her way in? She's still a washed-up nobody. Nobody can even find her old projects online.]

[Now that you mention it, Harper McAvoy played a bunch of side roles in big productions back when she was starting out. Guess that explains it.]

[All looks, no brains. A total bimbo.]

This was actually my first time on a variety show.

I'd always liked throwing money around like this back when I was working on film sets too.

Everyone knew I had money. But nobody knew I was the heiress of the richest family in the world.