Chapter 3

Over the next few days, Julian deliberately kept his distance from me.

He even reassigned the chores that originally belonged to me over to the butler.

Whenever the butler looked at me, his face was a mix of flattering respect and petty resentment.

He brought over a tall glass of organic milk.

"Mr. Sterling says the staff look too scrawny, as if the Sterling estate can't afford to feed its workers."

"You are required to drink this milk, Nina. You in particular. Drink it, and then finish this imported A5 Wagyu ribeye."

The butler also claimed that Julian found my lack of a college degree embarrassing—saying it would humiliate him if people knew his personal maid was uneducated.

So, he hired top-tier private tutors to give me cram sessions.

He even signed me up to retake my college entrance exams.

Every word out of his mouth screamed that he hated my guts and couldn't stand me.

Yet every single thing he actually did felt like...

Stop.

Don't be delusional.

My goal is crystal clear.

Survive, pay off the debt, and run like hell.

Fleeting, romantic illusions are luxuries a girl like me can never afford.

I pressed a hand against my racing heart.

Then, I furiously knocked out ten practice SAT exam booklets.

I had just packed up my test papers when the heavy double doors of the foyer slammed open.

A drop-dead gorgeous woman strutted in wearing head-to-toe Chanel Haute Couture, trailed by seven or eight personal assistants, each carrying a dozen luxury shopping bags.

She slid off her oversized designer sunglasses, sank onto the plush sofa, and arched an eyebrow at me.

"So you're the personal maid Julian keeps around?"

She looked me up and down with blatant disgust.

"Instead of doing your job, all you do is plot how to seduce him so you can climb into high society?"

Chloe Sterling snatched the test papers straight out of my hands, letting out a mocking scoff.

"You haven't even gone to college, and you actually have the nerve to pull this stunt?"

She slapped the stack of papers right across my face.

I didn't say a word. I just knelt down, reaching to pick them up.

Suddenly, a sharp stiletto stamped down hard onto the back of my hand.

Chloe gestured to one of her maids.

"Get over here."

She twisted her heel deliberately, grinding into my skin.

"Since you owe money to the Sterlings, you better do some real work for once."

"Here. Wash her feet."

The razor-sharp stiletto felt like it was drilling straight through my flesh.

The pain made my breath hitch in my throat.

She wore a triumphant smirk, waiting to watch me break down in humiliation.

Washing another maid's feet was indeed degrading.

But I was poor. Dirt poor. At this point in my life, did I even have the luxury of human dignity?

Besides, Chloe was the Sterling family's legitimate heiress.

Julian was the adopted son. Even though he held all the real power in the Sterling empire now, he had always indulged his spoiled sister.

I was just a lowly maid. I had zero right to say no.

Chloe shot a look at her assistant.

The maid kicked off her designer sneakers and swung her bare foot right toward my chest to kick me down.

I lost my balance, tumbling backward.

Instinctively, my hand flailed to grab onto anything nearby—only for a strong, warm palm to catch my wrist mid-air.

A rich scent of cedar and smoky wood enveloped my senses.

"Chloe Sterling, is this the kind of manners you were raised with?"

"How dare you lay a finger on my person?"

My heart skipped a violent beat.

A tangled rush of terrifying relief and panic flooded through me.

I can't feel this way.

I shouldn't feel this way.

I only came here to clear a debt.

To force down the wild fluttering in my chest, I desperately forced myself to recall stupid internet memes.

*Say no more, King! Take the entire tri-state area, it's all yours!*

I failed to notice the sudden, complicated glimmer that flashed across Julian's eyes.

The maid scrambled to her feet, shaking with terror.

"I-I'm so sorry, Mr. Sterling..."

Julian's voice was arctic.

"Get the hell out."

Chloe leaned back against the sofa cushions, eyeing him coldly.

"Julian, I was just telling the help to give a foot rub. Why are you so worked up? Or are you taking it personally?"

"Everything you have was given to you by my father. If he hadn't pitied you and adopted you off the streets, you would have died in a ditch years ago."

"What makes you any different from these servants? Did you really think that just because I call you 'brother', you're actually a real Sterling?"

Julian's face darkened instantly.

He pulled out a titanium black card and whipped it straight across Chloe's cheek.

"Is that enough money for you?"

"Take what you want, and shut your damn mouth."