Chapter 1

1: 1

When I went to pick up my ticket at the airport heading back to campus after summer break, the screen flagged an error.

I was about to call over a staff member when my boyfriend, Steve Vance, stopped me and told me he'd given my ticket away to a junior classmate, Judy Swanson.

"She's running a fever. A flight will be easier on her, so just take the train this time. I'll see you back at school."

I thought I'd misheard. "Steve, I booked that ticket. And the train from New York to Los Angeles takes more than twenty hours. You want me to take the train?"

Something guilty flickered in his eyes. "Why do you have to be so calculating about it? Judy isn't feeling well. The train would be miserable for her."

Judy leaned against Steve's shoulder, eyes red, looking weak and frail. "Steve, since Pamela doesn't want to give it up, I'll take the train instead."

Steve pulled her in close and glared at me. "Pamela Barnes, I've already switched the ticket. Throw all the fits you want, you're not getting on that plane today."

I stared hard at Steve. Right now there was only Judy in his eyes.

He didn't care about me, his girlfriend, at all. Fine. Then I didn't want him either.

I pulled out my phone and made a call. "Send a private jet for me. And cancel Steve Vance's campus scholarship."

..........

Steve burst out laughing. "Pamela, are you okay? You think you're in a movie? Some kind of rich heiress?"

Judy chimed in from the side. "And canceling Steve's scholarship? That scholarship was set up by the Barnes Group specifically for students with outstanding grades and character. You think that just because your last name is Barnes, you're actually one of the Barnes family?"

"Besides, Steve got an internship at Barnes Group before he even graduated. That's what happens when they groom you as real talent."

I gave a cold smile. What they didn't know was that I was the Barnes heiress. It was because of me that Steve, who never came close to qualifying for the scholarship, had been slipped in as an exception.

And his internship was because of me too.

I couldn't be bothered to argue. I just pulled up my payment QR code. "Since you took my ticket, pay me back for it. Two seats, twenty-two thousand total."

Steve's face went ugly. "You're actually asking me for money? Are you insane? I'm your boyfriend."

He still remembered he was my boyfriend. And he'd still handed my ticket to someone else.

"As of today, you're not."

"Now pay me back."

He stared at me in disbelief. "What is this supposed to mean? You're breaking up with me?"

I nodded. "That's right. We're done. So please pay me back..." I let out a cold laugh. "Or is it that you can't afford two plane tickets?"

Steve's face darkened further. He gritted his teeth and pointed at me. "Don't try to scare me with a breakup. And since when is a plane ticket that expensive? Twenty-plus thousand, why don't you just go rob someone?"

I opened the payment record. "Both of those are business class, and I paid extra to grab them. This is the receipt. See for yourself."

He stared hard at my phone, his expression stiffening. Judy's eyes reddened, the picture of someone terribly wronged. "We may not have as much money as you, but we have our pride. You can't humiliate us like this."

I tilted my head and shoved the QR code right in front of her. "Since you've got so much pride, then pay for your own ticket."

Her eyes went wide with hurt, her shoulders trembling. "I don't have any money."

Steve pulled her protectively into his arms. "It's just money. I'll pay you back once my scholarship comes through. I won't let you bully Judy."

The boarding announcement came over the speakers just then, and Steve took Judy by the hand and walked toward the gate.

And a message came in from my dad. "The jet has been dispatched. You can board in twenty minutes."