My ex-boyfriend had moved on to a rich girl without missing a beat and landed a management trainee offer at the city's top investment bank.
Today, he cornered me in the ground-floor lobby of a premium office tower in the financial district.
His gaze dropped to the worn canvas tote bag in my hand, and his face twisted with disgust.
"Cecily Summers, what is a jobless nobody like you doing outside my office building? Get lost before you embarrass me."
Constance Glass strolled up to me, head to toe in designer logos, and held out a hundred-dollar bill.
"Sweetie, take this and go buy yourself a bubble tea. Don't you think it's a little pathetic, trying to win Clement back with this desperate stalker routine?"
Clement Simmons' brow furrowed. He waved over a security guard without an ounce of hesitation and delivered his ultimatum.
"Take the money and disappear. A top-tier office tower like this is no place for some broke nobody like you."
The white-collar workers milling around the lobby turned to stare, their eyes full of contempt and amusement.
I blinked, genuinely confused.
"Win him back? I'm here to collect rent on the building."
Every office tower in the financial district belonged to the Summers family, the wealthiest family in Riverdale. As the sole daughter, collecting rent on my father's behalf was perfectly normal.
……
The moment the words left my mouth, Clement and Constance burst into unrestrained laughter.
The onlookers joined in, pointing and whispering among themselves.
"Has this woman lost her mind? Collect rent on the whole building? Does she think this is some slum landlord situation?"
"Look at what she's wearing. Not a single designer label. I doubt her entire outfit costs more than a hundred bucks."
Clement stared at me like I'd grown a second head.
"Cecily, did getting dumped by me break something in your brain? Are you delusional now?"
"Two years together, and you couldn't even afford a single piece of name-brand clothing. You wore that no-label thrift store garbage every single day. You ate bread that didn't even come in packaging. And someone like you is here to collect rent?"
"Cecily, a person should know their place. We stopped living in the same world a long time ago."
I looked at that smug face of his, so convinced he'd climbed the social ladder, and let out a cold laugh.
Everything I'd done back then was to protect his fragile ego. Clearly, all that sincerity had been wasted on a dog.
Back then, he'd held my hand, eyes rimmed red, and sworn to me: "Cecily, once I make it big, I'll buy you every designer brand there is. I'll never let you suffer because of me."
"No, wait. All my money is yours. You can buy whatever you want."
And how did that turn out?
After graduation, I wanted to support his entrepreneurial dream, so I had my father pose as an outside investor who "believed in his project" and put up twenty million dollars.
In less than six months, every last cent was gone.
Then he turned around and kicked me to the curb without a second thought for a management trainee offer, crawling straight into Constance Glass's bed.
Whatever. I was here to collect rent. There was no point getting tangled up with these people.
I stepped past them and headed deeper into the lobby.
Constance grabbed my arm when she saw I was still walking.
"Sweetie, if you're having a mental breakdown, you really should see a doctor. Clem just got into a top-tier investment bank. He makes hundreds of dollars a minute now. His time is very valuable. Don't cling to him and drag down his brilliant career."
Clement's face contorted with revulsion. He turned toward the lobby security guards and barked at them.
"What are you standing around for? Throw this crazy woman and her junk out of here!"
"Wait, Clem."
Constance caught his arm.
"She's your ex-girlfriend, after all. You two went through hard times together. Don't have the guards manhandle her. That would just look ugly."
