Chapter 4Marry Rich? Nah. Get Rich.

It wasn't much, but it was enough to take the edge off an emergency.

Seeing how genuine I was, Julian had pulled me into a hug, his voice cracking with emotion.

"Katie, you're too good to me. Even after everything, you still want to be with me."

I'd knocked my knuckle gently against his forehead and told him he was being ridiculous. I loved him, not his family's money.

So for the next six months, Julian had played the part of a broke man while I worked eighteen-hour days trying to help pay off his family's supposedly massive debt.

He was always anxious, saying he was scared I'd leave him, and he wanted us to take wedding photos together. But real wedding photography cost thousands of dollars, way too expensive for us.

So in the end, we'd agreed to use an AI tool to generate a set of photos with our faces stitched onto some sample images instead.

Later, chasing a thirty-dollar delivery fee, I'd taken a job running an errand out to a remote auction house.

I'd ridden through pouring rain and howling wind in the pitch dark until my scooter's battery died.

I finally made it to the auction house, all gilded and glowing with light.

Security stopped me right at the entrance. My clothes were still dripping with rancid rainwater.

Through the doors, I saw Julian, dressed in a tailored suit, one arm around Debbie's waist, the two of them spinning together in the middle of the dance floor.

In that moment, it felt like my throat had locked shut. I couldn't make a sound.

The guard noticed me staring and couldn't resist a jab.

"Don't bother looking. That's the Sussman family's eldest son and the Bloom family's daughter in there. They're childhood sweethearts, perfectly matched. Not exactly someone like you has any business dreaming about."

I heard myself ask, my voice flat, "Isn't the Sussman family supposed to be bankrupt?"

That only made the guard laugh harder.

"Their grandkids' grandkids could go broke, and the Sussmans still wouldn't be bankrupt."

I nodded weakly and gave a bitter little laugh to myself. "I see."

...

Julian opened his mouth, trying to explain the whole tangled mess of tests and lies to Officer Grey, but in the end, he couldn't get a single word out about what he'd actually done.

It was Debbie who stepped in to turn things back around.

"Officer, doesn't filing a report require actual evidence?

"Julian and I have plenty of proof that she's just throwing a fit. Why don't you ask Katie if she has any proof at all that we extorted her or hurt her on purpose?"

As she spoke, Debbie crossed her arms and looked at me and my phone, shattered on the ground, with pure satisfaction.

That was when a man's voice came from somewhere nearby.

"I have proof. I can confirm everything Katie reported is true."

Debbie turned toward the voice, annoyed, but her expression flipped the instant she saw who it was.

She turned shy and sweet in a heartbeat, hurrying over to loop her arm through his.

"Charlie? Is that really you?"

Charlie Stone's face went cold. He shook her off and kept walking toward us, pulling out his phone to show Officer Grey the footage he'd just recorded.

Julian lunged to stop him, teeth clenched.

"Charlie, our two families go back generations. Are you sure you want to do this?"

Charlie shot him a look of contempt and kept going, handing the video straight to Officer Grey.

"Take a look at this, officer. I happened to be meeting a client at this hotel tonight.

"I ended up witnessing the whole thing from start to finish. I hope it helps you, and this poor woman who's been dragged through all this for nothing."

I looked at him with quiet gratitude.

Beside us, Debbie, unwilling to let it go, tried to grab the phone out of Officer Grey's hand while loudly slandering me.