You Called Me Poor I Call You Bankrupt Chapter 2

That afternoon, I took a ride home. I placed the black card my parents had given me into a military-grade, biometric safe. The kind of thing that could take a stray bullet and not even dent. My iris was the only key. Cracking it would be harder than breaking into Fort Knox.

Once the real card was secure, I took out the replica I’d had made. It was a perfect copy, visually indistinguishable from the real thing. But it was just a piece of plastic. It couldn’t withdraw a dime, couldn’t even accept a deposit. It was a dud.

Just as I finished, my phone buzzed. It was Ryder, for the third time.

“Ethan, where are you, man? Everyone’s waiting for you!”

Then his voice dropped. “Ashley says if you don’t show, she’s done with you.”

Hearing him use her first name so casually didn’t stir a single thing in me. Not anymore.

In high school, I really had been hung up on Ashley for three years. I’d even applied to the same universities as her. But she’d never said yes, and never said no. A classic string-along. That’s why seeing her leap into Ryder’s arms in my past life was a sickening kind of clarity. She wasn’t unavailable; she was just fishing for the highest bidder.

It was Ashley who had insisted I go on that shopping trip last time. I’d caved, wanting to be near her, and Ryder had used it to set his trap.

That poisoned water? I later learned she had been the one to mix it, a twisted gesture to prove her loyalty to Ryder.

A woman that hollow didn't deserve a second thought.

The frantic voice on the phone was still buzzing. I mumbled an affirmation and had my driver drop me at the mall.

When Ryder saw the car, a sleek, custom Maybach, his eyes widened, a flash of pure greed in them. But he quickly masked it, throwing an arm over my shoulder like we were best buds.

“There he is! We were about to send out a search party. Come on.”

The other students, seeing me finally arrive, didn’t bother hiding their annoyance.

“What took you so long, Ethan? Did you really have to make every single one of us wait?”

“Who do you think you are, making us waste our time?”

I scanned their faces impassively, my gaze finally landing on Ashley. Her pretty features were twisted into a look of impatience.

“And you showed up in that? It looks like you got it from a thrift store. You could have at least tried.”

I glanced down at my outfit, a simple athletic set. The t-shirt alone, a private commission from a top designer, was worth fifty thousand dollars. The fabric was a proprietary blend, cool and comfortable even in the sweltering late-summer heat.

A contemptuous laugh escaped my lips. “You wouldn’t recognize quality if it slapped you in the face. This shirt alone could buy your life.”

My words were sharp, and they hit their mark. Ashley’s eyes instantly welled with tears.

Ryder stepped in, playing the peacemaker. “Hey, hey, come on. We’re all classmates here. No need for things to get ugly.” He clapped his hands together. “Let’s go pick out some gifts! Anything under a hundred grand is fair game!”

A chorus of cheers erupted.

“Ryder, you’re the man!”

“Yeah, not like some people who pretend to be rich but are just faking it. So pathetic.”

I knew they were talking about me, but I just smiled as I watched them stampede into the designer stores.

The show was just beginning.

I was dying to see how Ryder would handle the final act without my money.