Chapter 2

Five thousand dollars. Just enough to buy pain medication and prolong my miserable existence for another two weeks.

The excruciating spasm I had suppressed in my stomach finally erupted. Clamping a hand over my mouth, I stumbled blindly out of the restaurant and collapsed into the curbside bushes.

"Ugh—"

The food I had forced down surged up with a rush of stomach acid.

My throat burned like acid fire, and hot tears streamed uncontrollably down my face.

Even after my stomach was entirely empty, violent dry heaves wracked my ribs.

Under the dim yellow streetlight, I collapsed on the dirt, staring at the terrifying pool of crimson beneath me.

With trembling fingers, I wiped my chin, staining my knuckles red.

I couldn't tell if it was the ghost pepper sauce I had just swallowed, or fresh blood heaved up from my rotting stomach lining.

Because I hadn't made a scene at dinner, Ethan was visibly in a great mood.

The next morning, my phone chimed again: "[PayPal transfer received: $2,000]".

Right after, a barely-used designer handbag was tossed onto my sofa.

"You behaved well last night. Consider this a reward."

Ethan adjusted his tie in the mirror, his tone dripping with condescending charity.

"Ms. Montgomery got bored of this bag. It looks practically new, so I brought it home for you. There's a networking dinner tonight. Carry it with you and don't embarrass me."

I slung the luxury strap over my shoulder, silently calculating how much it would fetch on Poshmark and whether I could swap it with a cheap knockoff to fool him.

"Sure. Thanks."

As long as it kept me alive, I would gladly sift through garbage.

Seeing that I accepted the hand-me-down without protest, Ethan's tense shoulders relaxed.

He walked over, wrapped his arms around me from behind, and rested his chin in the crook of my neck.

"Summer, I know you feel slighted taking used things. But bowing my head to Victoria right now is all for our future. You're my only harbor, the only person around whom I feel human. Bear with it a little longer. Once I make it to the top, I'll pay you back double for everything."

I stood motionless in his embrace.

He had no idea that I had no future left.

The evening party was hosted in a private luxury club.

The moment we walked into the VIP suite, a wave of opulence hit us.

Victoria sat at the head of the leather lounge, holding a slim Virginia Slim cigarette between manicured fingers, her gaze lazy and sharp.

Ethan instantly morphed into a spineless sycophant. He hurried forward, hunching over to light her cigarette with a silver lighter, then pointed at me.

"Ms. Montgomery, this is my flatmate, Summer. She begged to come see high society, so I brought her along to fill the room."

"A flatmate."

To prove his undivided devotion to his sugar-patron, his former love had been demoted to a roommate he couldn't even claim.

Victoria exhaled a plume of thin gray smoke, her eyes sweeping over the bag on my shoulder.

"Oh? Isn't that the bag I threw out last month? Really, Ethan, why do you keep hauling trash into your apartment?"

Laughter erupted around the lounge.

Ethan's face stiffened, but he quickly plastered on a sycophantic grin. "You're right as always, Ms. Montgomery. Just recycling junk."

I stood in the corner, clutching the strap tightly, maintaining a blank, numb expression.

A few rounds of drinks in, a greasy businessman named Barnes, desperate to curry favor with Victoria, poured a full tumbler of 150-proof straight bourbon and shoved it in Ethan's face.

"Ethan, Ms. Montgomery has paved your whole path. Show us your loyalty. Down this whole glass in one shot!"

It was a massive tumbler.

Ethan was notoriously lightweight; that much high-proof liquor would send him straight into alcohol poisoning.

Panic flashed across his face as he instinctively looked to Victoria for a lifeline.

Victoria didn't even blink. She merely pointed a languid finger toward me, her smile dripping with malice.

"Ethan has client pitches tomorrow morning. Getting blackout drunk will ruin business. Look at his little flatmate over there, just standing like a wooden mannequin with her knockoff bag."

Her voice turned icy, laced with amusement.

"Since she eats his food and carries his hand-me-downs, taking a bullet for him with one drink isn't too much to ask, is it?"