Chapter 1: Five Million Reasons to Panic

On the reality show, I braced myself and called my ex-boyfriend:

"Hey, any chance you could spot me five hundred for today?"

On the other end: "You’ve got some nerve."

The next second, a massive transfer notification popped up.

[Your account has received $5,000,000.00. The other party's account ending in 2222...]

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**1**

Live broadcast. Reality TV.

The challenge: call the person pinned to the top of your contacts and ask to borrow money for today’s group activity.

I opened my phone, and the moment I saw the top contact, my heart dropped.

Crap. It’s my ex-boyfriend—and I was the one who dumped him.

I even swore, all dramatic, that I’d never see him again in this lifetime...

My phone screen was projected onto the giant studio display.

His contact name was perfectly clear: "Nick Warren."

My thumb hovered over his name, and suddenly my palms were slick with sweat. Of all people...

The other guests all paused subtly when they saw the name.

[Is that the Warren family’s second son I think it is?]

[Who? Is he a celebrity?]

[He’s like the Elon Musk of New York, only hotter.]

[Way better than a celeb. Real old money. His family’s been rich for generations.]

[He accidentally showed up at a business summit once, and every girl online went crazy over him. Since then, he’s topped the “business world’s most eligible bachelors” list every year.]

[Forget The Bachelor, this is the real drama.]

[Come on, he wouldn’t lower himself to be friends with a shallow starlet like Chelsea Wu.]

[Exactly. Even if it is him, look at Chelsea’s face—she probably tried to climb up and failed, too scared to call and get exposed~]

The comment section was going wild.

The host was loving every second of the drama.

"Viewers are dying to know—is this the Mr. Warren everyone thinks it is?"

I was about to flat-out deny it.

But then Zoe Rowe, the young actress, sashayed over.

"The profile pic does look like him, but we can’t be sure~"

She shot me a look that could cut glass, then plastered on her sweetest pageant smile. Seeing all eyes on her, she did her best fake-surprised routine and covered her mouth.

"Oops, didn’t mean to say that."

"Because the person I’m calling is also him."

"Chelsea, you go first~"

She waved her phone at me, smiling so sweet it could give you cavities.

The camera zoomed in on her top contact: [Nick Jr.]

The host: "Your contact note..."

Zoe scrambled to cover her phone, acting all flustered and shy.

"Oh gosh, I just wrote it randomly."

"If I’d known, I wouldn’t have shown everyone."

Me: ...

My jaw clenched so hard I thought I might chip a tooth, but I just grinned wider. Wow. That kind of childish, ambiguous contact note, but you sure know how to steal the spotlight.

I felt my jaw tighten a little. You could practically hear the collective breath-holding from the audience and the snickering from the crew behind the scenes. The reality show lights felt hotter than ever, baking all my regrets right onto my skin.