She'll Marry Me Fast, Scam Me Faster

After three years of pursuing Vicky Donovan, she finally accepts my confession and agrees to be my girlfriend. Just as I'm happily envisioning our future together, I suddenly receive an anonymous video on my phone. The video shows a roadside beggar with disheveled hair, sitting by a dumpster and clutching a phone in his hand. He looks very emotionally distraught. "Don't believe Vicky at all! She only agreed to be your girlfriend because she found out you're secretly a millionaire! "She will insist on a whirlwind marriage with you and steal all of your money before making a run for it, spending the rest of her days with her lover and leaving you with a mountain of debt!" Then the beggar finally lifts his hair from his face, exposing his face to me—it's completely identical to mine. "You'll end up like me if you don't take my advice!" After the video ends, it takes me a long time to come to my senses. But just as I'm about to replay the video to see if it's all just a scam, I realize it's gone. While I'm still in a daze, Vicky steps out of the bathroom and wraps her arms around my waist, cooing, "Let's get married, Colin Atkinson." Chapter 1 Marriage? My smile froze on my face. The video kept replaying in my head, and I forced a bitter smile. "Get married? But we've only just started dating," I said. If I hadn't watched that video before my girlfriend, Vicky Donovan, asked me this question, I would probably have been over the moon by now. After all, I'd been pursuing her for years, and she'd brought up the topic of marriage on her own. This was literally everything I'd ever dreamed of. But after watching the video, the word "marriage" suddenly felt more like a death warrant to me, sending a chill straight down my spine. Vicky didn't notice anything amiss. She just snuggled up to me, wrapped her arms around my waist, and cooed, "You've been pursuing me for three years. Don't you think that we already know each other very well by now? "I only didn't accept your feelings before because I was just testing you. Now that you've passed the test, why don't we get married straightaway?" I looked at Vicky in my arms and felt a flicker of hesitation. Could she have really discovered that I was actually from a wealthy background? Indeed, Mom and Dad left me a massive inheritance when they passed away. But my grandfather raised me, and my parents kept a tight rein on my allowance while they were still alive. As a result, I was used to living a frugal life. I lived in a run-down neighborhood in the city, and I wore cheap polyester T-shirts I bought off Zamazon for just a few dollars. Nobody could tell from my appearance alone that I had a wealthy background. Even my best friends didn't know, so how did Vicky find out? At that thought, I decided to test her instead. Thus, I looked at her and feigned a troubled expression, saying, "But Vicky, getting married costs a lot of money. I don't have much on hand at the moment. And I don't want you to have to suffer with me." Vicky lowered her head and chuckled softly. Then she stared at me unblinkingly and said, "I don't care, Colin. I just want to be with you. It's fine if you don't have money. We can always start from scratch." Her expression looked sincere, and I couldn't tell if she was faking it. I felt a little touched. Vicky looked at me as though she genuinely loved me, not like the fraudster who'd scam me out of all my money—as the person in that video claimed. Could the video have been an AI-generated joke someone was pulling on me? Even though I was sure Vicky wasn't the kind of person that video claimed to be, I still couldn't deny that the video looked too real to be fake. And what if it was really telling the truth after all? Wouldn't that mean I'd still end up on the streets like that beggar? I lay on the bed, unable to go to sleep. The video and Vicky's words wouldn't stop replaying in my head. "Let's get married, Colin Atkinson." "She will insist on a whirlwind marriage with you and steal all of your money before making a run for it, spending the rest of her days with her lover and leaving you with a mountain of debt!" Two voices fought in my mind. One urged me to trust Vicky; the other warned me to be wary of her. Chapter 2 The voices wouldn't stop fighting in my head, and it was giving me a splitting headache. Just as I was about to get up and head to the bathroom to clear my head, Vicky—who had been lying next to me—suddenly got up and walked out onto the balcony. The room wasn't large, and the bed was right next to the balcony. So, even though she deliberately lowered her voice on the phone, I could still hear every word she said outside the door. "Are you sure he's from a wealthy family? He sure doesn't look like it to me." Who was she talking to? And who told her about my wealthy family background? The questions kept racing through my head. In the past, I used to fall asleep the moment my head hit the pillow, so Vicky probably assumed I was already asleep when she made that call and didn't bother hiding the conversation from me. I held my breath, straining to hear the voice on the other end of the line, but to no avail. I could only hear Vicky's voice. "You'd better make sure this works, or you could end up losing more than you gain," she said. "I told him I wanted to get married, but he said he didn't have the money for it. It's probably just a test. Are you sure your idea is going to work?" By then, I had a pretty clear picture of everything. At the very least, that video had been real, and Vicky had indeed found out about my secret wealth and was after my money. My heart eventually grew cold at that thought. I could accept that Vicky liked money. I wouldn't have minded spending my money on her. To me, it was a given that I'd shower my girlfriend with the best I could give her. However, I couldn't accept that she was only dating me to siphon off my wealth and spend it on another man instead. Eventually, the voice on the balcony stopped abruptly, and Vicky soon returned to the bedroom. I hurriedly closed my eyes, feigning sleep. I felt her eyes on me for a while, but when she saw I looked sound asleep, she sighed in relief. After making sure she was fast asleep next to me, I got up and went into the bathroom. But when I came back, I still couldn't fall asleep. I thought she'd accepted my confession and agreed to date me because I'd won her over with my sincerity. I never imagined that she was only with me for my money. Over the past three years, I'd put her on a pedestal like she was my god. I'd fallen in love with her at first sight, and I'd made it a point to shower her with everything she liked to win her favor. I memorized every one of her preferences and catered to her every whim. Even before I inherited my fortune, I scraped together what little I had from my meager allowance to buy her luxury goods. I was thrilled when she finally agreed to be my girlfriend. I honestly thought Cupid's arrow had finally struck her the way it had struck me, and that we'd finally end up together. But now, I found out she was nothing but a con artist trying to scam me out of my money in the name of love. My nose tingled with emotion at the thought, but I refused to let my tears fall. Now that I knew the truth, it was time for me to wake up. No romance or affection of the sort was worth losing my money over. And since I now knew that Vicky was only dating me for my money, I wondered what would happen if I just kept up the charade of being poor. How did she even find out about my true identity? Who exactly had she been contacting? I decided to keep playing the fool until I finally got to the bottom of things. I didn't sleep a wink all night and just lay in bed with my eyes wide open until the next day. Vicky and I got up at the crack of dawn to prepare for work. Just before we went our separate ways, she suddenly looked at me with a hesitant expression, as though she had something she wanted to say. In the past, I would have immediately ambled over to her and fussed, asking what was on her mind. But now, I pretended not to notice, simply waiting for her to approach me. When she realized I had no intention of asking what she was thinking, she spoke up. "Colin, don't you think that it's just a hassle to take the subway to work every day? Why don't we buy a car instead?" I knew full well that this was a test. However, I chose to play dumb and feigned shock, staring at her in utter bewilderment. "But aren't you usually living paycheck to paycheck every month? How could you possibly afford to buy a car?" Chapter 3 Vicky and I had only just graduated from college and started working about a year ago. My entire salary went toward our living expenses, while Vicky spent all of hers on clothes and bags for herself. So, we were both essentially living paycheck to paycheck. Vicky's smile froze the moment she heard what I said. There was a long pause before she finally explained, "I meant for you to buy the car, not me. We're getting married soon anyway. Why are we still drawing such a firm line between what's yours and mine?" I found it amusing as she tried to force her smile. We weren't even married yet, and she already had her eye on my money. Still, I kept a straight face and fully committed to the persona of a poor man with no extra money on the side. "But Vicky, I really don't have any money for a car. Maybe we can consider taking out a loan instead, if you insist." Vicky's expression turned ice-cold when she saw I was serious and not just pulling her leg. She seemed to have lost all patience for the charade and snapped, "Just forget about it if you can't afford it." Then she turned on her heels and left without even waiting for my reaction. She kept texting on her phone as she stormed off, as though she were complaining to someone else. I couldn't help chuckling aloud when I saw her in her fit of temper. So she couldn't even keep up her act over such a small blow? But this was just barely the tip of the iceberg. I had no intention of revealing the truth to her until I finally found out who Vicky's secret lover was. He must have been the one telling her I was from a wealthy family, which meant he knew me quite well. But for now, her accomplice remained in the shadows, while he already knew who I was. I couldn't relax or feel at ease until I finally dragged them into the light. Later on, I even called Vicky at lunch to ask her to wire me some money for lunch, further cementing my "broke" persona. But to my surprise, she agreed at once and sent the money over, replying in a pleasant, agreeable tone—unlike her cold self earlier that morning. It seemed whoever it was must have said something to her. But how could that person be so certain about my true identity? Wasn't he even a bit worried he might have gotten it wrong, which would mean it was all for nothing? And so, I thought I'd test just how confident Vicky was about my real identity. For the next month, I kept finding excuses to ask Vicky for money to buy things. Each time, she gritted her teeth, forced a smile, nodded along, and wired the money to me. But the more she did this, the more curious I was about the person behind the scenes. … "Colin… When are we getting married?" This was the tenth time this month Vicky had brought up the subject of marriage with me. In fact, the more frequently I asked her for money, the more often she said she wanted to marry me. I wondered whether she was in a rush to get married, or whether it was her lover. "But I can't provide you with the best life at the moment. Are you sure that you still want to marry me?" I asked, feigning hesitation. Seeing this, Vicky immediately raised her hand to her chest and swore, "I love you for you, Colin. I don't love you for your money." Really? She might have had the nerve to say it, but I wasn't about to believe her. I sneered inwardly. If I hadn't known the truth, I probably would have fallen for her brilliant acting hook, line, and sinker by now. Still, since she was so eager to marry me, I decided to fulfill her wish. "Alright. We'll get married since you're so eager to marry me." I only hoped she could handle the consequences after this. Vicky could hardly wait to make things official the moment she heard me agree. I pulled all the strings I could and managed to get a fake marriage certificate. However, she was so overcome with the joy of "marrying" me that she didn't even notice it was fake. "Colin! Now that we're husband and wife, there shouldn't be any more secrets between us, right?" she said. She was already trying to pry all the information out of me the moment we got "married", huh? Vicky looked completely sincere, but I understood exactly what she was implying. She was nudging me to reveal my identity as a wealthy heir. Chapter 4 I took a deep breath and looked at Vicky with the utmost seriousness. "Fine. I'll be honest with you. But I didn't intentionally keep this a secret from you, Vicky. I just didn't really know how to bring it up." Vicky's face lit up with excitement. Her gaze burned into me as she urged me to continue speaking. "The truth is, I come from a wealthy family, and I used to be rich." She exclaimed immediately, though I could see she was trying her best to keep the corners of her mouth from curling upward. Instead, she feigned shock and gave me a playful, mock-reproachful look. "Why didn't you just tell me sooner?" Her tone was thick with barely concealed delight. I sighed and feigned a look of helpless resignation on my face, saying, "I just wanted to keep it low-profile. My parents did leave me quite a bit of money after they passed away." Vicky couldn't hold back her smile anymore. She grabbed my arm, her face beaming with excitement as she exclaimed, "Okay, okay! I get it, Colin. You just didn't want to flaunt your wealth. "So, exactly how much did your parents leave you?" I looked at her ecstatic expression and found it amusing. I asked, "Why are you so happy just learning that I came from a wealthy background? Do you just love my money more than you love me?" Her smile immediately froze. She suddenly realized she'd been too brazen and open about her delight, so she quickly adjusted her expression, replacing it with a gentler, more tender smile to avoid arousing my suspicion. "Of course I married you for you, Colin. I didn't even know that you were a wealthy heir before I married you, after all. "I'm just really happy for you. There's no need for you to work so hard anymore now that you're rich!" She leaned toward me as she spoke, batting her eyelashes. Anyone would think we were a lovey-dovey couple in the honeymoon stage of our relationship, but I knew she was just masking her true intentions behind her sweet talk. I knew full well she was only humoring me because she believed I was rich. The moment she believed I was broke, she'd turn on me in an instant. I frowned lightly and looked at her with feigned affection in my eyes. "Would you still love me even if I had no money?" She nodded at once, professing her devotion. "Of course!" I pretended to look relieved. "Thank God. That's good to hear." She hooked her arms affectionately around mine and said, "Since you're rich, Colin, shall we just go and purchase a car now? That way, it'll be much more comfortable for us to go to work. "Oh, and we should get a bigger place—maybe a house. This apartment is just too small for the both of us. "There's also this dress I saw in the boutique that I really love but couldn't bring myself to buy it…" She continued rattling on, fantasizing about her ideal life. Every word was a prompt for me to foot the bill for her, yet she was completely oblivious to the coldness forming in my eyes. "So, what do you think, Colin?" She turned to me, puzzled, when she realized I hadn't responded in a long while. I sighed, pretending to be troubled, and replied, "It's true that my parents left me a huge inheritance. However…" I pretended to hesitate, and Vicky grew anxious. "What is it?" I let out another sigh and slowly said, "I've spent it all. I'm also in six million dollars of debt now." Vicky stared at me in complete disbelief. She'd even forgotten about her facade completely. Ever since I realized Vicky was absolutely certain of my status as a secret wealthy heir, I knew she wouldn't believe me if I insisted otherwise. So, I might as well just admit it. Rather than denying my status as a wealthy heir, it would be more convincing to tell her I'd squandered my inheritance. "Vicky, you said you'd still love me even if I had no money, didn't you?"