The Moment I Stepped Into His World as the Fake Girlfriend, I Became the Real Prize novel Chapter 7

"Obsessed with his ex..."

Elena muttered to herself, feeling like her luck had bottomed out.

Everything tonight—from running into Sterling to agreeing to play his girlfriend—had been entirely on a whim.

And in the end, she had almost marched straight into the wolf's den, practically signing her own death warrant!

"His name is Xavier, right?"

Elena asked for final confirmation, entirely giving up the fight.

Sterling crushed the tissue in his hand and glared at her wearily. "Elena, don't forget your place. Even if my brother hadn't been dumped and was still changing women like he changed clothes, it doesn't mean he has zero standards. He would never look twice at a woman of your status!"

He paused, adding another warning. "And you are currently my 'girlfriend.' Xavier and I are incredibly close, so he's only going to keep his distance from you. Drop the fantasy!"

Since the kid didn't deny the name, Elena's lingering anxiety fully transformed into deadpan acceptance.

She had only herself to blame. She had dumped the guy so quickly she hadn't bothered to dig into his background.

She honestly never imagined that her Xavier was the Xavier Hawthorne, executive of the Hawthorne empire and this kid's older brother.

If she had known, she would never have taken Sterling up on his offer!

That's right. Xavier was her ex-boyfriend, meaning she was the exact woman Sterling just claimed was the first to ever dump his brother!

"Alright, stop rubbing. You're going to chafe the skin right off."

Elena closed her eyes for a second. Opening them, she watched Sterling still furiously scrubbing his lips and offered a helpless reminder.

"It's your fault!"

The kid glared at her, clearly still raging.

Elena braced herself against the seat, sat up, and flat-out dropped the bomb. "Master Sterling, I'm calling off the deal."

"Excuse me?"

Sterling blinked, convinced he had misheard her.

"Consider tonight's performance a freebie, but you'll need to find a replacement for the rest of it. Your brother didn't get a good look at my face anyway."

Money was great, but freedom was priceless.

While Xavier still hadn't recognized her, Elena just wanted to sever ties cleanly and avoid a total disaster.

"It's not about the money..."

"Half a million."

Elena instantly went quiet. If she rejected that, her heart might actually bleed out.

Xavier was gone, and he wasn't coming back tonight.

She'd be a complete idiot to walk away from half a million dollars, right?

Moving forward, she'd just avoid Xavier and help Sterling land his dream girl as fast as possible!

Besides... looking at the kid's stance, he wasn't going to take no for an answer. Continuing to refuse would just be pushing her luck.

The heir might be a little pure, but he was far from a clueless pushover. Did she really think he'd just let her go?

"Master Sterling, do you pay daily?"

Money talked loudly enough to drown out her need for freedom. Having made her peace with it, she asked sweetly.

Sterling pressed his lips together and scoffed. "Elena, you are unbelievably greedy. I'm surprised you haven't choked on your own appetite yet!"