Chapter 3

Ferrin paints were the very definition of luxury. Ordinary small-time artists could never afford them.

With one word, Sophia asked for a hundred boxes.

I lounged back and watched my notifications blow up. Sure enough, after a few hours, I got a message from Edward.

Edward demanded, "Joanna, why did you freeze my bank card?

"I really need money right now. Even if you're pissed at me, you can't just do this..."

I didn't even bother to answer. I just blocked his number without a second thought.

Honestly, the money he made from selling his paintings was more than enough to buy a hundred boxes of Ferrin paints.

But just to show off, he gave all his bank cards to Sophia and let her splurge as much as she wanted.

Then he kept coming to me for cash, living pretty comfortably.

Now that I'd cut him off, the money he had left was probably only enough for those hundred boxes of paint.

I really wanted to see if he'd be willing to spend it.

I immediately called my bestie, Chloe Quinn, to fill her in about the breakup.

We vented for a bit about that jerk, and Chloe invited me to relax at her newly invested racing club.

She laughed, "Trust me, these racers have no shortage of hotties. Maybe it's time for you to switch things up."

I couldn't help but smile and accept her invitation.

After spending so much time with Edward, all my free time pretty much went into helping him paint. Looking back, I realize I missed out on a lot of fun stuff I could have done.

I partied hard for a whole week before I finally remembered that I still had some stuff at the apartment that needed to be brought back to the villa.

I picked a time to head back, and the moment I opened the door, the place was packed with people.

Edward, Sophia, and a whole bunch of his friends were there.

He used to be so paranoid that his friends would find out he was living with me that he never let them come over.

As I looked around, all I could feel was disappointment. He really wasn't worth it.

He sure didn't waste any time.

All traces of our relationship vanished. Even the photo of us on the shelf had been swapped out for a solo portrait of Sophia.

"What are you doing here?" Edward blurted out before I could even say a word.

He jumped up, looking completely flustered as he stared at me.

"Dude, you're so lucky. You have Sophia, and now another hot chick at your place?" one of his friends joked.

His friends started hyping him up, while Sophia pursed her lips in annoyance and turned to Edward.

Sophia frowned, "Who is she? And why does she have a key to your apartment?"

His apartment?

I let out another quiet laugh.

"Well, she's just my landlord," Edward fumbled, eyes darting. "The lock broke yesterday, so I asked her to come by and check it out."

Edward gave me a nervous look and pulled me outside, his voice dropping to a whisper.

He muttered, "One of my students has a birthday today, so I invited some friends over to celebrate.

"I thought you hadn't been around lately, so I just didn't think to mention it.

"There are a lot of people here right now. Maybe you should head back to the office for now. I'll explain everything once this is over, okay?"

I just snorted, swept past Edward, and strode right into the living room. I looked straight at the crowd and said, "I'm his landlord. The lease is up today at noon, so I'm here to do the final inspection before he has to move out."

"You!" Edward was fuming.

"Come on, Edward. You didn't even tell us the lease was ending," one of his friends griped, clearly put out.

"There's less than two hours left until noon. I thought we could chill here all day," another complained.

"No, it's not that. I just..." Edward stammered, scrambling for words.

"Oh? Mr. Chase, you haven't told your friends that you already made reservations at the Celestial Grand Hotel?" I said.

Seeing Edward's face go green, I jumped in smoothly to cover for him.

I added, "Mr. Chase actually mentioned to me yesterday that he just wanted to give you all a nice surprise, so he had you come over to hang out for a bit first.

"But if I misunderstood and you guys didn't actually book anything at the Celestial Grand Hotel, I can totally let you stay another day. No hurry on my end."

The Celestia Grand Hotel was the top five-star hotel in town. The bill per person started at five figures, and that was before adding any entertainment costs.