Chapter 1
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For the 99th time, Kelvin Ingram, heir to a fortune, confessed his love to Susan Nicholson, the undisputed queen of our high school. And for the 99th time, she rejected him.
Without missing a beat, he shoved the bouquet of roses and his black card into my hands–the same hands that were busy rummaging through a trash can.
A helicopter showered petals across the sky, and Kelvin pinned me against a wall, his breath hot against my cheek.
“Hey, little stray, how’d you like to be my princess?”
Not far away, Susan flashed a triumphant smirk, and I saw it. Still, with tuition overdue and my future hanging by a thread, I took the roses and the black card he offered.
From that moment on, my life became a lavish blur of private tutors, designer clothes, and endless parties, with money spent as if it were going out of style.
On the night of my 18th birthday, Kelvin traced his finger along my collarbone, his voice low and intoxicating.
“Babe, how about we film a video? Something to remember our first time together?”
I knew then–this was the real reason behind our so–called romance.
My father had abandoned Susan’s mother, his mistress, and that was why Susan hated me. She wanted me ruined, dragged down, never to rise again.
But this time, I simply waved my plane ticket and Harvard acceptance letter in her face.
“Your bed’s soft, and the black card has an insane limit.
“But my future means everything. So, bye!”
***
Inside the mansion, the party raged on.
Susan twirled her strawberry–print panties around her finger before dropping them into Kelvin’s palm
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“Babe, this is your reward,” she whispered, breathing into his car.
“Just get another video of Natasha, and next time, the reward will be me.”
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Kelvin, cigarette dangling from his lips, lifted her chin, his voice rough and sexy.
“Relax, babe. I just tossed some cash at that girl, and now she believes I’m in love with her. She’s agreed to do it with me on her 18th birthday.”
“Her birthday? That’s tomorrow!”
Susan’s eyes lit up. She wrapped her arms around Kelvin’s neck and pressed a fierce kiss to his cheek.
“Don’t go all the way. If you actually sleep with her, I’m done with you!”
Kelvin let out a wicked chuckle, his hand gliding along her waist.
“Don’t worry. She’ll let me film it. Even if I told her to crawl down the street naked, she’d do it without question.”
Laughter erupted around the room.
“I thought she’d rather pick through trash than sell herself. Guess money really does talk.”
“A pure and innocent girl turning wild and reckless–now that’s going to be epic!”
I stood quietly outside the door, smiling to myself.
These rich kids would never understand how hard life was when one was poor.
Digging for scraps in dumpsters, sleeping under bridges, drinking dirty water from a park
fountain.
Scavenging for expired bread outside bakeries, licking every crumb from the bag.
I had done all of those things by the time I was 12. Now I was 18, swiping Kelvin’s limitless black card without batting an eye.
Dignity. That was a luxury I could never afford.
Inside, laughter and conversation carried on.
Suddenly, someone teased Susan, “Sue, now that Kel is with Natasha, just as you wanted, aren’t you worried he’ll actually fall for her?”
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Kelvin hurled a pillow at the man, grinning. “Get real. I only love Sue.”
Truth was, I didn’t care who Kelvin loved.
I only cared about his money.
The irony? My family was loaded.
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My mom was a top–notch lawyer with a gambling problem. My dad was a famous businessman with a habit of cheating.
But their daughter–me–couldn’t even afford a pack of pads.
Neither of them cared about me. I was just a pawn in their marriage.
Without Kelvin, I’d still be stuck in a hopeless life.
And all of this happened because of Susan’s deep–seated hatred. She was bent on using Kelvin to completely ruin me.
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