She Was Never Broke

I worked in bottle service at a nightclub for four years just to support my boyfriend.

His startup business failed. He told me he owed a fortune to loan sharks, saying that they would cut off his fingers if he failed to pay up.

I gave him every dollar I had saved just to help him clear off his debt.

I even gave him the emerald bracelet my mother had left me before she passed away.

That night, I unintentionally overheard a conversation from one of the private rooms while I was working.

"Preston, your girlfriend never would have given you that bracelet she had been hiding if Mia hadn't suggested we pretend to be debt collectors and assist you with this little show."

Preston Hale laughed smugly before draining the drink in his glass. "It's just an old bracelet. Mia liked it, so I gave it to her."

Then, he leaned back and added, "Now, help me think of another way to test Nora."

So that was the truth.

The love I dedicated for four years was just a test to him. The loan sharks, debt, fear, and desperation—he had orchestrated it all.

I turned, walking out on him and out of the nightclub.

Then, I reached out to my older brother, Adrian Whitmore, with whom I had been fighting for years.

"Adrian," I told him, "I lost. I'll marry the man you arranged for me to meet."

The Bracelet on Her Wrist

I had just hung up on Adrian when I saw Mia Sterling step out of a car.

The emerald bracelet was on her wrist, bright and unmistakable under the streetlights.

A moment later, Preston came out through the back door of the nightclub. The second he saw Mia, he strode over and pulled her into a hug like he had nothing to hide.

Then, he let go and met my eyes.

My bitterness must have been obvious, and so was the resentment I could no longer keep buried.

For once, Preston looked uneasy.

He quickly approached me.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

I ignored him.

My eyes stayed fixed on Mia's wrist.

Preston noticed immediately. His expression did not change as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Nora, Mia really liked that bracelet. She paid a very generous price for it."

Then, he gave my shoulder a light squeeze. "You should thank her."

I thought, 'Thank her? Really?'

Preston had tricked the bracelet out of my hands, so I knew full well that Mia had gotten it for nothing. Yet, they still expected me to thank her.

The lie was so atrocious that it bordered on ridiculous, but his good acting had been so convincing that he had me fooled for four entire years.

Now that I had finally seen Preston for who he really was, I felt almost relieved.

I didn't want to play this game of pretend any longer.

I looked at Mia and said, "I'm sorry, but the bracelet is no longer for sale. Please give it back."

Before I could say anything else, Mia laughed.

Her gaze swept over me from head to toe. When she saw the bottle-service badge pinned to my outfit, the disdain in her eyes became impossible to hide.

"Give it back?" she asked. "Then, what about the money I paid for it? I spent 10 million on this bracelet."

Her smile sharpened. "How many bottles would you have to sell before you could pay that back?"

The price tag was such an absurd number that I almost laughed.

She really had the nerve to say it out loud.

Still, none of that mattered to me. I only wanted my mother's bracelet back. If she wanted to rack up the price, I would just treat this as a lesson and pay the damn money.

I was about to speak when Preston joined in, echoing Mia's accusation as if he had not been the one who lied to me in the first place.

"I already used the money from the bracelet to pay off my debt, and now you want it back?" His eyes flicked over my uniform. "Nora, you work in the service industry. How long would it take you to earn that kind of money?"

So that was what he really thought of me.

He looked down on me just like everyone else did.

When he called me a bottle-service girl, he must have completely forgotten that he'd been mooching off the money I'd earned from the same job he so disdained for the past four years.

I smiled bitterly and told him, "I said I'll pay her back. Tomorrow at the latest. I can write an IOU right now."

Then, I looked back at Mia. "So, can you give me the bracelet?"

They both laughed when they heard that.

Mia laughed the hardest. She leaned so close to Preston that she almost fell against him.

"You're that desperate to get it back?" she asked. "Are you reacting this way because my family, the Sterlings, are in the jewelry business?"