Chapter 2

The next afternoon, Caleb sent a car for me. It wasn't a taxi, it was a black Rolls-Royce with a driver who opened my door. He took me to a private cabana by the casino' s most exclusive pool, a place where the entry fee alone was more than my weekly paycheck.

Caleb wasn't there yet. But Tara was, lounging with two of her friends. They didn' t see me approach. I ducked behind a row of thick, leafy plants, my phone already in my hand, the record button pressed.

Tara' s voice was triumphant. "He' s actually doing it. He' s going to turn that little gutter rat into his pet project."

"A whole year, Tara? Are you sure he' ll last that long?" one of her friends asked, laughing.

"Of course he will," Tara said. "The bet is too good. If he can take that waitress, shower her with luxury, make her believe he loves her, and then dump her on the one-year anniversary, leaving her completely broken... my father will personally greenlight the Scott family' s merger. Caleb gets what he wants, and I get to watch her crash and burn. It' s perfect."

My blood ran cold, but my hand holding the phone remained perfectly steady. I heard every word. The plan was crueler than I could have imagined. They didn't just want to humiliate me; they wanted to destroy me, to lift me up so high just to watch me fall, ensuring I could never go back to my old life.

"She' ll be so used to the penthouse and the diamonds, she' ll probably throw herself off a bridge when he kicks her out," Tara added with a vicious giggle.

I stopped the recording and slipped the phone back into my pocket. My heart was pounding, not with fear, but with a cold, hard resolve. This wasn't just a game anymore. This was war.

Just then, Caleb arrived. He saw me standing near the entrance to the cabana.

"Jennifer. You' re early," he said, his smile charming and completely fake.

I forced a shy, overwhelmed expression onto my face. "It' s... a lot to take in."

"You' ll get used to it," he said, taking my arm and leading me toward the cabana, right toward the vipers' nest. "Tara, girls. Look who' s here."

Tara' s face was a mask of polite surprise, her eyes filled with poison. "Well, well. Caleb, you work fast."

I played my part. I looked down, feigning nervousness. I let Caleb do all the talking. They thought they were the predators, and I was the prey. They had no idea I had just recorded their entire plan. They saw a low-class waitress. I saw a year-long, all-expenses-paid scholarship to the world of the rich and powerful. They saw me as their project. I saw them as my first investors.