Exposed as Gold Digger for Four Rich Heirs

At the university awards ceremony, the campus belle, Vanessa Byer, puts the bank transfers I've received from the four Sterling brothers on full display, totaling eight million dollars in just one year. The entire auditorium erupts. She hangs a sign reading "Campus Gold Digger of the Year" around my neck, then has her friends scatter fake money across the floor and throw a dog leash at me. "You love money so much, don't you? Get on your knees and crawl like a dog. Whatever you manage to pick up, I'll have the Sterlings pay you that much." I don't budge. Vanessa clips the leash to the collar around my neck and kicks me in the back of the knee. "Who are you trying to fool with that innocent act? I bet you spend plenty of time on your knees when you're earning money in the Sterling brothers' beds." She grinds her heel into my hand and waves her phone in my face with a smug smile. "I've already sent Mr. Sterling a list of every dollar you've taken. Once he gets here, we'll see if a leech like you can even walk out of this place on your own two feet." I stare at the total on the big screen and rub my forehead. Hold on. Those four brats have only given me eight million dollars between them all year. If Gary Sterling finds out, I have a feeling they'll be the ones getting an earful. Chapter 1 Before I could figure out what was going on, Vanessa Byer yanked the leash tight. The metal collar dug into my throat, forcing me to bend over. The audience laughed even harder. "Come on, Vanessa! Make her bark!" "Eight million dollars? I'd be someone's dog for that kind of money!" Someone shoved his way to the front, phone held high. The title of the livestream on the university's gossip page had already changed. It read, "Exposed! Broke College Student Plays All Four Sterling Brothers, Rakes In Eight Million Dollars a Year." I looked straight into the camera. "Make sure you get all of this." The guy filming hesitated. "What?" "The dog collar she put on me, and the part where she kicked me—I want it all on camera for when I press charges." The auditorium went quiet for a moment. Vanessa's smile faltered, but she quickly recovered and dug the toe of her shoe into my fingers. "You're seriously threatening to press charges? How about you explain why Adrian Sterling sends you 100 thousand dollars every month?" She clicked the remote. A screenshot of our text messages appeared on the big screen. Adrian texted, "Did you get the money?" I replied, "That's it? 100 thousand dollars? What am I supposed to do with that, buy lunch?" Next was a photo of a black credit card Blake Sterling had sent me. "Buy whatever you want. Don't worry about the bill." The third screenshot was from Caleb Sterling. "The apartment's in your name now. The door code is your birthday." The last one was the most ridiculous. At two in the morning, Dylan Sterling had sent me 500 thousand dollars. "I'm sorry, Your Highness. I screwed up. Just take the money, okay? And please don't tell on me tomorrow." The auditorium erupted. Vanessa was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes. "Wow. Four guys still aren't enough for you? And you've even got the Sterling brothers playing master and servant?" I was speechless for a moment. If Dylan knew the entire university was reading his pathetic attempts to beg for mercy, he would probably want to put a dog collar on himself. But everyone else took my silence as an admission of guilt. Carter Bennett, who was in charge of the awards ceremony, came onto the stage looking furious. "Emily Dawson, did you receive all this money?" "Yes." "And the apartment, the credit card, and the cars? Did the Sterling brothers give you those too?" "More or less." Carter's expression darkened. "Until we can determine where all these gifts and payments came from, you're suspended from consideration for the Top Ten Students Award." I pointed to the dog collar around my neck. "And what about Vanessa? She put a dog collar on me and humiliated me in front of everyone. Are you just going to ignore that?" Vanessa immediately teared up. "Mr. Bennett, I just couldn't stand by and watch her take advantage of those four guys. If I hadn't exposed her today, how much longer would she have kept fooling them?" Carter sighed. "She may have gone a little too far, but she meant well. You should worry about your own behavior before pointing fingers at anyone else." I almost laughed. Apparently, if someone sent a person enough money, putting a dog collar on another human being was practically a public service. Vanessa snatched the dorm key card from my wrist. "She's got eight million sitting in her bank account already. I bet she's hiding even more stuff she conned out of them in her dorm." She held the key card up to the camera. "Well, I'm going to do the Sterling brothers a favor and get their stuff back. Let's see how much this gold digger's been hiding in her room." Chapter 2 Vanessa headed straight for my dorm with a group of student council members. On the way, she had one of them drag me along by the leash. Every time I slowed down, the collar dug into my neck, leaving a red mark. Students pulled out their phones as we passed. Some even whistled at me. "Hey, sugar mama! How about cutting me in on that eight million? How do you find time for all four Sterling brothers? You got them on a rotating schedule or something?" Vanessa glanced back at me with a sickeningly sweet smile. "Hear that? The whole university knows what a slut you are now." When we reached my dorm room, I grabbed the door handle. "The student council doesn't have the authority to search my room." She pulled a form for a search authorization from her bag. She'd filed the complaint herself. She was also the investigator. And, as it turned out, she'd approved the search too—three steps, all handled by one person. Talk about efficiency. Carter had followed us there. "Emily, just cooperate. If you've done nothing wrong, the university will clear your name." "And who's going to pay if you damage my stuff?" Vanessa waved her phone at me. "Why should we care if stolen goods get damaged?" She swiped the key card, opened the door, and went straight for my closet. She moved like she already knew exactly where everything was. The moment she opened the closet, a men's suit came into view. The crowd immediately started hooting. Vanessa yanked it out and tossed it into a cardboard box. "Adrian's." Next, she dug Blake's black credit card out of a drawer. On my desk was a watch Caleb had given me, and beside my bed sat the spare key to Dylan's sports car. With every discovery, the insults from the hallway got louder. "Wow, she really did get her claws into all four of them!" "She's not just a gold digger. She's got the whole Sterling family on the hook!" Vanessa shoved the black card against my cheek. "So this is what you get for sleeping with four different guys. How do you even sleep at night?" I turned my face away. "Watch your mouth." "What? You can sleep around, but you can't stand being called out for it?" She yanked open my nightstand drawer. Inside were four envelopes. Each had the same message written on it—"Here's to a long and happy life, Princess." Vanessa held them up to the camera and burst out laughing. "You're only 19, and you've already got men wishing you a long life? Guess you'll need plenty of time to spend all that money you're squeezing out of them!" She ripped open the envelopes. There was no money inside, just four handwritten IOUs. Vanessa glanced at them, then tore them to shreds. "Garbage." My expression went cold. Those were apology notes the four brats had been forced to write after skipping a family dinner. And they didn't owe me money—they each owed me a birthday together. I was about to pick up the scraps when Vanessa spotted the rosewood box tucked away at the bottom of my closet. Her eyes lit up. "Ooh, what's this? A little keepsake from one of your boyfriends?" I stepped in front of her immediately. "Don't touch it." Vanessa saw the look on my face, and her grin widened. She shoved me aside and flipped the lid open. Inside was an old pendant. The stone was cloudy, and its edges were slightly worn. An old-fashioned letter S was engraved on the back. Vanessa picked it up and turned it over in her hand. "Let me guess. You're going to tell me this is some priceless Sterling family heirloom?" I held out my hand. "Put it back." "You want it back?" She dangled the pendant out the window. "Get on your knees and call me 'Your Highness' three times. Then maybe I'll give it back." I stared at her. "If you break that, you'll be sorry." "Oh, please. It's some cheap flea-market junk. What could possibly happen?" She laughed and opened her fingers. The pendant dropped from the third floor, and a sharp crack echoed from below. For a second, my mind went blank. Vanessa merely brushed off her hands, looking pleased with herself. "Quit acting like you're some rich heiress. Cheap junk belongs in the trash." She leaned in and lowered her voice. "If you're that attached to it, go downstairs and pick up the pieces. You're already wearing a dog collar. Why not crawl over there and give the whole university a show?" Chapter 3 The pendant had shattered into three pieces. I crouched beside the flower bed and picked up the fragments one by one. It was the only thing I had left of my father. When I was born, he'd tied it around my neck himself and told me it would keep me safe. So much for that. And now, the entire Sterling family was about to have a collective heart attack. My roommate, Hannah Parker, pushed through the crowd and rushed over. "Emily, your neck's bleeding!" She tried to take off the dog collar, but a student council member shoved her away. Meanwhile, Vanessa was outside the dorm building, ordering people around as they set up a table to display the "stolen goods". My belongings were laid out in four rows, each labeled with the name of a Sterling brother. The black credit card, the watch, the apartment keys, and even my own sports car were all being treated as evidence that I'd been sleeping with men for money. A long red carpet stretched across the courtyard, with a dog bowl waiting at the far end. It was stuffed with fake cash. Vanessa grabbed a microphone. "The four Sterling brothers will be here this afternoon to collect their things. Until then, Emily has to crawl the entire length of this carpet on her hands and knees." Someone immediately started a poll on the university's gossip page. The top comment read, "Eight million dollars to watch her crawl? She's getting off easy." Hannah was trembling with anger. "We need to call the cops." "Already did," I said. I'd sent an emergency alert from my smartwatch while they searched my room. But until the police got here, I would have to play along. Besides, I wanted to see how far Vanessa was willing to go. She came over and kicked apart the pieces of the pendant I'd just put back together. "Quit stalling. Get on your knees." I stayed where I was. Vanessa gave two student council members a look. They grabbed me by the shoulders, one on each side. Hannah rushed over to stop them, but someone shoved her to the ground. Her palm scraped against the steps, and blood immediately welled up. I sprang to my feet. "Leave her out of this!" Vanessa stepped in front of Hannah. "Want me to leave her alone? Fine. Then crawl." She tightened the dog collar again and kicked me in the back of the knee. I dropped hard onto the red carpet. The crowd erupted in cheers, and fake bills rained down around me. Vanessa pinned my calf beneath her shoe and kicked the dog bowl in front of me. "Go on. Pick it up. You're so good at getting money out of men, aren't you? Crawl all the way to the end, then pick up the bowl with your teeth." I pressed my palms against the ground, my knees aching so badly they were starting to go numb. Just then, her phone rang inside her jacket pocket. The caller ID said "Gary Sterling". Vanessa's eyes lit up, and she made a point of putting the call on speaker. "Mr. Sterling! Did you see the bank statements I sent you?" A brief silence followed on the other end. "Where's Emily?" "Right here in front of me." Vanessa gave me a smug look. "I've already rounded up everything she scammed out of your four grandsons. She's on her knees right now, thinking about what she's done." The elderly man's breathing grew noticeably heavier. "Who made her kneel?" Vanessa smiled even wider. "I did. Someone that greedy needs to be taught a lesson, don't you think?" Silence fell on the other end again. A long moment passed before Gary finally spoke. "Tell her to stay right there. I'm sending all four of my grandsons over." He hung up, and the crowd cheered. Vanessa bent down and patted my cheek. "Hear that? The Sterling brothers are coming to deal with you themselves." She shoved the end of the leash toward my mouth. "Better start practicing. Wouldn't want you forgetting how to act like a dog when they get here." Chapter 4 Half an hour later, a commotion broke out at the edge of the courtyard. The four Sterling brothers were here. Vanessa immediately told the student council members to turn on all their cameras. She forced me to kneel at the end of the red carpet and set the dog bowl full of fake cash in front of me. "Keep your mouth shut when they get here. If you try to talk your way out of this, I'll tell them all about the other guys you've been sleeping with." I looked past her toward the crowd. Adrian was leading the way, with Blake, Caleb, and Dylan close behind. They'd been on campus meeting with alums on behalf of the Sterling Foundation and had rushed over after getting a call from home. The moment they appeared, students started screaming. Vanessa quickly smoothed her hair, grabbed the cardboard box full of "stolen goods", and hurried over to meet them. "Adrian! I'm so glad you're here. I've finally exposed Emily Dawson for the gold digger she is. She hasn't just been spending your money. She's also got Blake's black card, Caleb's apartment, and Dylan's sports car." Adrian didn't take the box. He looked right past Vanessa, his eyes settling on me. The moment he saw the dog collar around my neck, he stopped in his tracks. Blake noticed my swollen knees too. "Who did that?" Vanessa apparently thought he was asking who'd arranged the whole thing, because she immediately took credit. "Me! She refused to kneel at first, so I had a couple of people give her a little help." Blake's jaw tightened. Vanessa didn't seem to notice. She turned to Caleb and handed him the broken pieces of my pendant. "Oh, and she tried to pass this cheap piece of junk off as a Sterling family heirloom. I already smashed it, so you don't have to worry about it." Caleb stared at the broken pendant in his hand as the color slowly drained from his face. "You smashed this?" "Yeah." Vanessa laughed dismissively. "It's just some cheap junk she got for sleeping around. What was I supposed to do, keep it?" Dylan suddenly stepped forward, but Adrian threw out an arm to stop him. The longer the brothers stayed silent, the more convinced Vanessa became that they were furious with me. She turned back toward the crowd and raised her microphone. "Emily took advantage of these four guys and scammed them out of eight million dollars! She acts like she's already part of the Sterling family, and she even makes them call her 'Your Highness'! "She actually had the nerve to say that all the money they've given her was their way of paying their respects!" The crowd erupted in boos. Vanessa grabbed the dog leash and held the other end out to Adrian. "Adrian, why don't you make her crawl down this red carpet yourself? Maybe that'll finally teach her where she stands. She needs to understand that she's nothing compared to the Sterling family." Adrian finally reached out and took the leash. The crowd went wild. Some people started shouting for me to crawl. Others aimed their phones at my face, waiting to capture the moment the Sterling brothers humiliated me in front of everyone. Vanessa came over and gave me a look of fake sympathy. "Bit late for regrets now, isn't it? Did you really think sleeping with a few rich guys meant you could push the Sterling family around?" I ignored her. I just watched as Adrian walked toward me. He didn't tug on the leash. Instead, he crouched down and carefully unfastened the metal collar around my neck. Then he took off the sign that read "Campus Gold Digger of the Year" and helped me to my feet. The courtyard slowly went quiet. Vanessa frowned. "Adrian, you've got it wrong. She's a gold digger!" Adrian tossed the leash into the dog bowl. He looked down at my injured knees, then spoke so quietly I could barely hear him. "I'm sorry." Vanessa immediately cut in. "Why are you apologizing to her? She's been scamming all four of you!" Adrian ignored her. He turned to his three brothers, who were still standing a short distance away. "What are you waiting for?" Blake was the first to come over. Caleb joined him, carefully holding the broken pieces of the pendant in both hands. Dylan's eyes were already red-rimmed. The four Sterling brothers, who usually acted like they owned the place, stood in a neat row before me as the entire university watched. Then they all bowed their heads at the same time. "Hello, Great-Aunt Emily."