Chapter 1

At the class reunion, someone couldn't resist mocking me.

"Elena, I heard you're working as a maid now?"

"That's really surprising. Back then, you were the top student in our class, and the prettiest."

"What a twist of fate!"

A male classmate chuckled with ill intent, then turned to Alistair Montgomery, his face full of flattery. "But Alistair's doing great now. You dumped him back then because he was poor, remember? And now he's made it big."

"Oh, right, heard that Alistair and Olivia are getting married. Congratulations to you both."

Alistair froze for a moment, then forced an awkward smile.

I kept my head down and continued eating, ignoring them.

Suddenly, Olivia Hayes placed a plate of salad in front of me, her voice soft and sweet. "Elena, eat a little more today. You probably don't get food this good regularly, do you?"

Alistair finally couldn't hold back anymore. He looked at me with concern. "Are you okay?"

I thought for a moment, then answered honestly, "Not really."

After all, I was working as a maid for four big shots at the same time, and somehow, all four of them fell in love with me.

Right now, they were arguing nonstop in a WhatsApp group over who would pick me up later.

And I was racking my brain, trying to figure out how to calm them down.

*****

When the mood turned tense after my words, I hurried to explain, "I'm not talking about that."

Rupert Fairchild, the guy who'd been mocking me, shot me a look. "Elena, no need to explain. We all know how you feel. Anyone who missed out on a guy like Alistair is definitely going to regret it.

"But hey, you can't blame anyone else. You went for money over love, right?"

I was getting seriously annoyed by his snide remarks, so I fired back at him, "Are we even close? We haven't spoken a single time since graduation.

"Instead of poking your nose into my business, maybe you should worry about your car payments, mortgage, and personal loans.

"What's wrong with being a maid? My maid gig pays me nearly 30k a month. Can you even compete with that?"

Rupert was caught off guard, his face turning beet red.

I wasn't making anything up. Being a maid for rich families got paid over 6 thousand a month each, so with four clients, I was pulling in almost 25 thousand every month.

I knew exactly why Rupert had it out for me.

He wasn't sticking up for Alistair at all. He was just holding a grudge because I shot him down back in school, and he was still not over it.

Now that he thought I had fallen on hard times, he just couldn't resist kicking me.

"Oh, come on, I've never heard of a maid earning 25 grand a month," Rupert yelled. "Elena, you don't even bother making your lies believable, do you?"

Rupert's angry shout jolted me out of my thoughts, and a few others chimed in, snickering with obvious disdain.

Alistair Montgomery slammed his glass down, shooting Rupert a warning glare.

Rupert shrank back, his mouth snapping shut with a sulky look.

Alistair took a deep breath and looked at me. "Elena, if you ever run into any trouble, you can always come to me. We go way back. If you ever need anything, I've got your back."

His words threw me off for a moment.

Out of my twenty-seven years on this planet, Alistair had been in my life for nearly twenty.

We met when we were just three, caught feelings for each other at seventeen, and made it official at eighteen.

At twenty-two, I initiated the breakup.

Just like a scene straight out of a drama, it was pouring rain that night, and Alistair stood beneath my dorm, pleading with me again and again. "Elena, I know I was wrong. Please, can you give me one more chance?

"I promise I'll do everything I can to make it up to you. Whatever you want, I'll fight for it with everything I've got. Please, don't leave me. I can't go on without you."

Alistair stood there, soaked through and rigid in the storm, all night long.

The next day, rumors started flying all over campus.

"Did you hear? The campus belle from the business department just dumped her childhood sweetheart."

"Yeah, I heard Elena ditched him because he was broke. Some people are even saying she's gotten herself a sugar daddy."

I'd just started hearing the rumors, but before I even had a chance to clear things up, graduation hit, and everyone scattered.

In the end, the whole thing just faded away.

Suddenly, I felt a chilly, almost hostile gaze on me. I instinctively turned and met Olivia Hayes's eyes.

Olivia immediately masked her expression, flashing a warm, friendly smile.

"That's right, Elena. If you ever run into any trouble, you should come to Alistair and me. As his fiancée, I'll do my best to help you," she said.

Olivia deliberately stressed herself as Alistair's fiancée, in case I might not catch her meaning.

I shot her a wry smile, a little baffled. "So, is that it? You two really want to see me struggle?"

Alistair frowned, clearly not approving. "Elena, stop pretending you're fine."

When Alistair's attention turned to me, Olivia looked visibly flustered.

With a practiced flick of her hand, Olivia brushed her hair behind her ear, just so the emerald bracelet on her wrist would catch everyone's eye.

One of the girls gasped, hand over her mouth, "Olivia, that bracelet looks top-notch. It must've cost a fortune."

Olivia gave a modest little wave.

"Oh, it's nothing. It's not about how expensive it is. But this bracelet means a lot to me," she said.

Just then, one of the girls, sharp-eyed as ever, spotted something unusual about the bracelet.

She hesitated, then finally spoke up, "Did Elena wear that exact bracelet before?"

Suddenly, the whole room went dead quiet as every single person turned to stare at me.