Chapter 4

The service elevator deposited Gwendolyn in a sterile, white-tiled corridor in the hotel's basement. She crept out, her heart hammering against her ribs, and found her way to the main lobby. The opulence was staggering-gleaming marble floors, colossal chandeliers, and people dressed in clothes that cost more than her annual income.

She was just about to make a break for the revolving doors when she saw them. Jordi and Colette, emerging from the main bank of elevators. Colette's face was a mask of fury. She kicked a large ceramic planter, her designer heel leaving a scuff mark.

"I can't believe him!" she seethed. "So arrogant. The Pacheco family's money isn't that easy to get."

Gwendolyn ducked behind a massive marble column, her breath catching in her throat. Pacheco. The name clicked with the scene in the hallway. Her hungover brain cobbled together a wild, terrifying theory: the man upstairs wasn't just some escort. He was a kept man, the exclusive property of a wealthy Pacheco matriarch. And she had just spent the night with him.

She was in so much trouble.

She tried to slip away, but two men in dark suits materialized out of nowhere, blocking her path. Before she could panic, an older man with silver hair and impeccable posture, wearing white gloves, approached her.

"Ms. Guerra," he said, his voice a polite, respectful murmur. He bowed slightly.

Gwendolyn flinched. "Look, I already paid," she stammered, thinking they were the rich woman's goons. "I even left a tip."

The driver's lips twitched, but he maintained his professional composure. "Sir insisted that we see you to your destination safely."

Gwendolyn took a stumbling step backward. Her heart hammered a frantic rhythm against her ribs. This is it, she thought, the panic rising like bile in her throat. The rich woman found out. She's sending her people to warn me, or worse, make me disappear. Her eyes darted toward the exit, calculating the distance, but the two suited men subtly shifted, cutting off her escape route.

He gestured towards the main entrance. A doorman was already holding open the back door of a gleaming black Rolls-Royce Phantom.

From across the lobby, Jordi squinted. The girl being escorted by the suited men... her back looked familiar. "Is that...?" he started to say.

"Don't be ridiculous," Colette snapped, yanking on his arm. "You're obsessed. Let's go."

Gwendolyn's mind screamed at her to run, but her legs felt like lead. She was trapped, bundled into the car before she could muster a coherent protest. The door closed with a solid, satisfying thud, sealing her in a world of silent, air-conditioned luxury. The ceiling above her twinkled with tiny lights, a miniature galaxy. The car smelled of rich leather and that same, distinctive cedar scent from the man upstairs.

It all made a sick kind of sense. A top-tier boy toy for a top-tier rich woman would have access to all this. No wonder he was so good. He was a professional.

The car didn't take her to a discreet side street. It glided onto the main drive of Columbia University and pulled to a stop directly in front of the library, the busiest spot on campus.

The silver-haired driver got out, walked around, and opened her door with a flourish.

Gwendolyn stepped out.

She was still wearing the oversized white dress shirt, her legs bare, and on her feet were the sparkling crystal-studded flats. A girl who was known for her thrift-store jeans and perpetually exhausted expression emerged from a half-a-million-dollar car like a princess.

A wave of silence fell over the students milling on the plaza, followed by a ripple of whispers and the unmistakable sight of dozens of phones being raised to take pictures.

"Oh my god."

Chloe, holding a stack of textbooks, stood frozen a few feet away, her morning coffee splattered on the ground at her feet.

"You robbed a bank," Chloe whispered, rushing over and grabbing Gwendolyn's shoulders. "You left last night to get drunk and you came back in a Rolls-Royce. You robbed a goddamn bank."

"It's a long story," Gwendolyn mumbled, her face burning. She pulled Chloe towards their dorm, desperate to escape the stares.

Back at the car, the driver spoke quietly into his phone. "Sir, the young lady has been delivered. High-profile, as requested."

In a boardroom overlooking Wall Street, Damian Pacheco lowered his phone. The chaotic hum of the trading floor was a distant buzz in the background. He swiped his finger across a tablet, pulling up Gwendolyn Guerra's student file. Her photo-a candid shot of her smiling in the campus garden-looked back at him.

A slow, possessive smile spread across his face.

Within ten minutes, the campus gossip forum exploded. The top post, with over a thousand upvotes, read: "Gwendolyn Guerra's New Sugar Daddy? Spotted exiting a Rolls-Royce this morning."