She Imitated My Life to Steal My Love

"Scarlet may not come from a wealthy family like yours, but she's better than all of you born with silver spoons in your mouths. Coming from a small town and still getting into the same university—don’t you see how hard she’s worked..."

Listening to him go on and on about "poverty" and watching him defend Scarlet so righteously made me feel sick.

If my family hadn’t sponsored him, he’d still be stuck in that remote village, turning screws in a factory.

If I hadn’t begged my parents to give him an extra living allowance, if I hadn’t bought him luxury items, how could he have ever pretended to come from a well-off family, looking all polished and refined?

But Ethan wasn’t grateful at all. He resented the scent of money on me.

Worse, he knowingly used my family’s money to help Scarlet—the same girl who was scheming to replace me.

Recalling the nauseating image of him embracing Scarlet in my past life, I took out my phone and immediately messaged my parents.

Starting today, the company will cut all funding to Ethan.

Let him and Scarlet enjoy life as a "hardworking part-time couple."

Noticing I was still on my phone, Ethan grew even more agitated.

"Celeste Marlowe, don’t you think you’ve done anything wrong?"

"I, Ethan, can’t accept a girl as domineering and unreasonable as you. If you know you’re wrong, then apologize to Scarlet right now and make it up to her, or else I..."

"What are you going to do?" I asked coldly.

Ethan thought I was afraid, and raised his voice.

"If you don’t apologize, I’ll break up with you!"

In the past, just hearing the words “break up” would have made me cave instantly.

After all, he saved me from those gangsters two years ago. I’d always obeyed him out of gratitude for that.

But after experiencing a strange and untimely death in my previous life, I was no longer a girl who saw nothing but love.

"Then break up," I said without hesitation.

Lifting my gaze from the phone screen to his face, I continued,

"Fine, we’ll break up. Since you’re so offended by my money, you must not value it at all. In that case, return the 300,000 dollars I spent on you over the years. Transfer it back—now."

He stiffened at first when I mentioned breaking up, but when I brought up money, he suddenly relaxed.

He thought I was just bluffing—acting out of emotion, playing hard to get.

After all, I’d always been generous to him. There was no way I’d really ask for my money back.

Putting on an act, he said,

"Fine, I’ll return it. I don’t need your money anyway."

But Scarlet, who had used that money to imitate me, was immediately upset.

"No! Brother Ethan, you can’t give her anything! You’re dating—why should she take money back from you?!"

"And didn’t you spend money on her when you were together? Probably even more than she did on you! She’s asking for 300,000? You'd better tally everything so she doesn’t take advantage."

Ethan knew exactly how much he’d spent. He felt guilty, but kept pretending to be noble.

"It’s alright, Scarlet. Celeste’s my girlfriend. If she wants it, I’ll give it to her."

He even winked at me while speaking, as if asking me to let it slide—again.

In the past, I would’ve stayed silent for the sake of his pride.

But this time, I opened the gift record on my phone.

"You gave me a rose in May 2023, a silver earring in August, and a ceramic bowl in October. That’s everything I received in three years. The total value? Maybe 500 dollars…"

Then I looked up at him again.

"Ethan, do you want me to list in front of our classmates exactly how you used my money? Or should I send the payment log to the class group chat for everyone to see?"

Ethan froze on the spot, scanning my face for even the slightest hesitation.