Chapter 3
"Claire, are you handing over the ID or not?" Ethan's face was icy as he closed in on me step by step. I clutched my purse tight. "In your dreams."
Emily rushed up and clamped her left hand hard onto my shoulder. I struggled with all my strength, but she shoved me, and I crashed into the wine display behind me.
Glass shattered. I fell hard onto the shards, and blood immediately poured from my calf.
Ethan took the chance to yank at my purse. I snapped back to my senses and held on for dear life, but he gave it a brutal pull. The strap tore clean off, and everything inside spilled across the floor.
"Claire!" Emily shrieked as she ran over. Her voice sounded panicked, but the glee in her eyes was impossible to hide. She crouched beside me and lightly patted my blood-smeared face. "You're really overthinking this. Don't be so sensitive. You're making everyone look bad.
"We need to borrow your ID for a second. We'll give it right back."
She snatched up my wallet and quickly pulled my ID out of it. "Found it." she called out with a grin.
Ethan finally relaxed. Hugging Emily, he looked at me and snorted. "It's just an ID. You acted like we were taking your life. You're so petty and calculating, you seriously need help."
Emily quickly said, "I'll go activate the membership. Everyone wait a second." Then she added brightly, "Buy whatever you want later. Go all out. It's on me."
Cheers and applause erupted around us at once. My vision blurred. The voices around me started sounding like they were underwater, drifting farther and farther away. At last, everything went black, and I passed out completely.
By the time I woke up, Emily was already leading everyone in a full-on shopping frenzy. I had gone to the mall's first-aid room to get my wounds treated. When I came back, I saw Emily marching in with a whole crowd behind her.
She was walking in front, holding my ID in her hand, acting outrageously generous. "Nobody hold back. Tonight, I'm treating the whole place.
"Take that 300 thousand dollar jewelry set. Pack up every one of those bags. Open every bottle of imported wine. I'm in a great mood today. Drinks are on me for the whole place."
The sales staff swarmed around her, bending over backward to serve her.
"Emily, you're amazing!"
"Who says interns are broke? She dropped over a million bucks like it's nothing. She must be some heiress slumming it."
"Some people call themselves CEOs, and they're still not half as generous as an intern." Someone said it extra loudly on purpose, their eyes flicking toward me again and again.
I looked at them coldly. Everyone orbited around Emily while she soaked up being the center of attention.
Ethan picked out a sports car worth over 2.5 million dollars, and he even had his and Emily's names engraved inside it on the spot. As for the others, each of them was carrying more than a dozen shopping bags.
Emily grandly declared, "Nobody leaves until they've spent at least 3 million dollars." The whole crowd erupted in cheers.
"Some people really ought to learn from Emily. So what if you own a company? You work yourself like a dog and still can't beat a rich heir."
"If Emily weren't paying, who'd even bother coming? We're all here because of her."
"If Emily hadn't invited me, I never would've become a partner."
They even tore open everything they'd bought and put it on right away. Ethan had already taken the sports car out for several laps.
I bit down hard. Every last one of these people had made a killing because of me, and now they were all biting the hand that fed them.
Emily shot me a smug little grin. "All right, everybody bought enough yet?" she asked.
Ethan hurriedly told a clerk to put the 5 million dollar watch on his wrist. "Time to pay."
The clerk handed Emily a receipt several feet long, then brought over the card reader. The total came to a little over 150 million dollars. The clerk smiled and said, "You're one of our valued VIP customers, so we'll waive the extra change for you."
Emily shot him a sideways look. "Who are you looking down on? Who asked for a discount? Charge me full price."
The clerk bowed and quickly redid the numbers. "That makes it 170 million dollars even, Ms. Grant. Please swipe your card." 170 million dollars also happened to be the maximum loan they could get using my ID.
Emily inserted the card. Everyone was grinning from ear to ear, throwing me openly taunting looks. Then the next second, the card reader coldly announced, "Insufficient funds. Payment declined."