Chapter 1

At two in the morning, a message suddenly popped up in the company's WhatsApp group:

"Two days ago, she was playing the innocent sweet girl right in front of me. Today, she hopped straight into the passenger seat of a multi-million-dollar luxury car."

"Do girls these days have any self-respect left at all?"

The chat blew up instantly. Everyone began asking who it was.

Instead of naming names, he played the mystery card, spitting venom:

"Some girls really have it easy, don't they? Flash a fake smile, spread their legs, and boom, a designer bag!"

"The rest of us bust our asses working nine-to-five, barely affording a corner deli sandwich for lunch. Meanwhile, she's being wined and dined at five-star restaurants every single day without spending a dime."

"I seriously don't get it. What's wrong with honest hard work? Why throw yourself at some old geezer who's old enough to be your father? Doesn't she feel sick to her stomach?"

Finally, he posted an infuriated voice note:

"To that gold digger: I know you're reading this."

"I did my homework. That old bastard has a wife and kids. Don't sell your soul to be a side piece just for a few stupid bags!"

I couldn't stand the nonsense any longer, so I typed a calm reply:

"Spreading baseless claims without proof is defamation. Watch your mouth."

The next second, he tagged me directly.

"@Stella Vance, I tried to save you some dignity, but you just had to out yourself, didn't you?"

"I'm talking about you, you disgusting homewrecker!"

I froze. He was talking about me?!

Staring at my screen, I literally laughed out of sheer fury.

That "old geezer old enough to be her father"... was literally my biological dad.

Messages kept flooding the chat like crazy.

Ethan Miller wasn't holding back on the insults.

"Cat got your tongue? You were so vocal a second ago!"

"Guilty conscience kicking in, huh?"

"How does it feel being a rich man's sugar baby?"

"What's it like sleeping with a walking corpse? Fun, isn't it?"

......

Staring at the vile garbage on the screen, my vision went dark with rage. I almost lost my temper and typed a string of curses.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Do I even know you?"

The company WhatsApp was set up by HR for general work announcements, so most people used nicknames.

I genuinely had no clue who was behind the screen.

"Oh, playing the clueless virgin again? If you don't know me, why did you send me your private photos?"

Now I was completely baffled.

I had zero memory of this guy!

I had only been at this company for a little over a month. Aside from keeping my head down and working on my project, I barely socialized at all.

Besides, I had a fiancé. I naturally kept my distance from male colleagues.

Sending private photos to some random guy at work? That was something I would never do in a million years.

"Did you mistake me for someone else?"

I weighed my words carefully before hitting send.

He replied almost instantly.

"Mistake you? Quit acting! It's you, and you know it!"

"Stella Vance!"

My mind went completely blank. My fingers trembled with anger.

Just then, my phone vibrated.

A direct message on SnapChat from Chloe Adams.

She had joined the company on the exact same day as me.

"Wow, Stella, I had no idea you were this kind of girl~"

"You always seemed so quiet and modest, but who knew you had a thing for sugar daddies?"

"How do you even hook up with men that rich?"

"Drop some tips, will you?"

I took a deep breath and fired back rapidly:

"Don't bother. Billionaires have standards, and you wouldn't make the cut."

"Besides, I've known billionaires since the literal second I was born."

She spat out an insult calling me a fake bitch and went silent.

Ignoring her petty jealousy, I tagged Ethan Miller directly in the main chat.

"Who are you? What gifts did I supposedly take from you? When was I ever a side piece?"

"Do you realize that what you're doing right now is illegal defamation?"

"You have twenty-four hours to issue a public apology. Otherwise, we'll settle this at the police station."

The next morning, the moment I walked into the office, my manager, Brenda Carter, stormed over in a panic.

She pulled up last night's chat logs, her face dark as a thundercloud.

She slammed her phone down onto my desk and aggressively poked my shoulder.

"I didn't check the chat for one single night, and you go and stir up this kind of mess!"

"Let me ask you straight. Do you even want this job anymore?"

First the disgusting slander, now this unprovoked hostility. No matter how patient I usually was, my tolerance had run out.

"Me stir up a mess?"

"I'm the victim here! I don't even know who that guy is! He's..."

"He's Ethan Miller! Richard Miller's son!"

Brenda cut me off impatiently.

"Do you realize who you're dealing with now?"

"Go into that chat right now and apologize to Ethan."

I frowned, completely lost.

"Who is Ethan Miller?"

I wasn't trying to act superior. That name genuinely did not exist in my memory.

Seeing my blank expression, Brenda threw her hands up in frustration.

"Will you stop playing dumb already?!"

"If you don't know him, why the hell did you send him your pictures?"

Right on cue, new notifications popped up in the WhatsApp group.

Ethan Miller was playing the wounded martyr.

"When I buy drinks for my bros, they actually hang out and shoot the breeze with me!"

"I took our precious Stella out for dinner, and she had the nerve to call me broke!"

Chloe Adams immediately jumped in to back him up.

"Well, duh! Her standards are way too high for normal guys now!"

"She only goes for men old enough to be her grandpa!"

With those two setting the tone, colleagues, some familiar and some total strangers, started piling on.

"Why isn't Stella saying anything?"

"Honestly, I'd love to ask her, aren't you scared of getting beat up by the man's wife?"

"Why would she be scared? Look at the age of the guys she goes for. Their wives are probably in retirement homes. Can they even lift a hand?"

Beside me, Brenda noticed my silence and pushed harder.

"Hurry up! Send Ethan a proper, humble apology right now."

"Otherwise, you can kiss this job goodbye!"