My Broke Billionaire Chapter 1

I’m a B-list actress with a benefactor.

And recently, my benefactor ran into a little trouble.

He was outed as the wrong baby, swapped at birth—a fake heir to a fortune.

The day the news broke, his adoptive parents kicked him out. He had to move in with his biological family.

Seeing him so lost, I couldn’t stand it. In a moment of grand, heartfelt impulse, I threw my arms wide and declared, "Don't worry. I'll take care of you."

Later, after I’d graduated from benefactor-protégée to actual girlfriend, I went with him to meet his parents. That’s when I finally understood what "moving" meant for him.

It meant leaving his adoptive father's mansion in the Hollywood Hills… for his biological parents' sprawling, gated estate in Montecito.

That son of a bitch. He played me.

* * *

I first saw the news about Ethan being switched at birth where everyone sees everything: online. The gossip blogs were ruthless, claiming in breathless, self-assured posts that Ethan Prescott, the "fake heir," had been cast out of the family, left with nothing.

I didn’t believe it. Not at first.

But I waited at home until late, and when Ethan finally walked through the door, the exhaustion was written all over him. He moved like a man carrying an invisible weight, his usual confidence replaced by a hollowed-out look in his eyes.

A cold knot formed in my stomach. I softened my voice. "What's wrong? Rough day?"

He folded onto the couch beside me and leaned his head on my shoulder. It was a gesture of pure vulnerability, a silent plea for support I had never, not once, seen from him before.

"I moved," he said, his voice flat.

Those two words were all the confirmation I needed. The tabloid headlines flashed in my mind.

"Is it true?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper. "What they're saying online... about the mix-up at the hospital?"

"Yeah," he murmured into my shoulder. "I guess my last name is Hayes now."

His voice was so deflated, so unlike him. I could feel the blow this had dealt to his entire world. And who could blame him? The people who had raised you for over two decades suddenly weren't your parents. It was a seismic shift that would shatter anyone.

I gently ran my fingers through his hair, trying to offer some small comfort. "You know," I said, forcing a light tone, "Ethan Hayes has a nice ring to it. Maybe even better than Ethan Prescott."

He managed a weak, fleeting smile. "Maybe."

Seeing him struggle to keep it together, I swallowed the hundred other questions I wanted to ask. It wasn't the time.

"Go get some sleep," I said softly. "Try not to think about it too much."

Ethan nodded and pushed himself up, heading for the bedroom. But after a few steps, he stopped and looked back at me, his eyes full of a raw uncertainty.

"Chloe," he said. "Can you... stay with me?"

"Of course."

I crossed the room in a heartbeat. He took my hand, his fingers lacing tightly with mine, and led me into the bedroom.