At 3:00 a.m., after removing my makeup, I returned to the dorm the way I had left.
Then I got stuck between the security bars.
While I was trapped halfway in and halfway out, the security guard's flashlight swept toward me.
Terrified, I sucked in my stomach, forced myself through, and fell hard enough to scrape my knee.
The next morning, I limped into class.
Mason stared at my leg and drawled sarcastically, "Well, well. Did our class president go out robbing houses last night? She even tore her pants."
I ignored him and went to the front of the room to collect our class dues.
When it was his turn, he deliberately crumpled his money into a ball and threw it in the trash.
"Get it yourself."
Without changing expression, I bent down, dug the money out of the trash, smoothed it flat, and wrote his name down.
"Thank you for cooperating."
My total lack of shame only seemed to infuriate him more.
"Ella, have you never seen money before? Is there anything you won't do for cash?"
I looked up at him.
"That's right. As long as it's legal, I'll do anything if you pay me."
He snorted and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
As I watched him leave, I was already calculating how much more money I could coax out of my top donor that weekend.
When the weekend arrived, I went to the upscale restaurant in full disguise.
I wore heavy makeup, a borrowed bodycon dress, and four-inch heels.
A waiter led me to a table by the window.
A man in a bespoke suit sat with his back to me.
"Truest Heart?" I called in my sugary livestream voice.
The man turned around.
My fake smile froze instantly.
Mason Blake.
The wealthy heir who waved money in my face by day and made me dig bills out of the trash...
He was the top donor who watched me sway my hips every night and called me his sweet Foxy!
I instinctively tried to run, but my ankle twisted beneath me and I pitched forward.
Mason reacted quickly, catching me and pulling me into his arms.
He stared at my heavily made-up face in awe.
"Foxy? You're even prettier than you are on camera."
He hadn't recognized me.
Then again, even my own mother wouldn't have known me like this. How could he?
I quickly regained my composure.
If he didn't know who I was, then that 15,000 dollars was as good as mine.
I leaned into his arms and traced a circle over his chest with one finger.
"Truest Heart, you're even more handsome than I imagined."
Mason's ears reddened, and he cleared his throat.
"Let's sit down and order."
Seeing how shy he was, I sneered inwardly.
'So arrogant by day, yet such an innocent little simp at night.'
'Mason, you're mine now. Too bad for you.'
I sat opposite him and rested my chin in my hands, gazing at him sweetly.
"Babe, I never expected you to be so young."
Mason actually blushed and coughed to hide his embarrassment.
"Order whatever you want."
"Anything I want?" I blinked my enormous false lashes and grabbed the menu.
This was a French restaurant, so I deliberately picked everything described as "premium," "air-freighted," or "exclusive."
"Three orders of foie gras, two Australian lobsters, the black truffle bisque, and this premium caviar..."
The server's pen was practically smoking as he wrote.
Mason didn't even blink at my outrageous order. He agreed to all of it.
"Foxy, how long have you been livestreaming?" he asked, cutting into the steak that had just arrived and pretending not to care.
"Not long. I'm actually a good girl, but I had to stream to make ends meet. I'm very shy in real life." I tore into a lobster claw and lied through my teeth.
He watched the sauce smear around my mouth, the corner of his lip twitching.
"Then... do you have a boyfriend?" He looked up at me.