Chapter 5: Live for the Audience

Trent nearly tripped over his own expensive loafers as he skidded to a halt a few feet away from Jude.

If his father found out he had openly mocked a top-tier VIP residing in the Obsidian Grand’s Presidential Suite, the Belmont family would cut him off before dinner.

He needed to fix this, and he needed to fix it right now.

"Mr. Lawson, please," Trent gasped, reaching into his blazer pocket.

He pulled out a customized, gold-plated cigar case and flipped it open with trembling fingers, extending it outward.

"I... I was completely out of line back there. I didn’t know who you were. Please, have a Cuban. On me. Let me make this right."

Jude looked at the heir, then down at the expensive cigars.

A day ago, a guy like Trent wouldn’t have even looked in Jude’s direction unless it was to demand he wash his tires. Now, he was bowing like a frightened servant.

"I don’t smoke," Jude said flatly, not making a single move to take the offering.

Trent awkwardly retracted the case. "Right. Of course. N-Not smoking is the way to go. Health is wealth, right? Haha..."

Chloe came rushing out of the boutique, her face flushed red.

"Jude, you need to tell me what is going on right now," Chloe demanded. "Were you lying to me this whole time? Were you hiding money from me? Is this some kind of sick test?"

Jude looked at her, his expression detached. He felt absolutely nothing. The heartbreak that had consumed him yesterday was entirely gone, replaced by an untouchable calm.

"I didn’t lie to you, Chloe," Jude said mildly. "I was exactly as broke as you thought I was yesterday."

Chloe’s eyes darted frantically. "Then how? How did you just drop half a million dollars? How are you staying at the Obsidian?"

"Things change," Jude replied, checking his watch. "I realized my potential was being wasted scrubbing rims. In fact, I’m putting together the capital to purchase a controlling stake in Zenith Motors by the end of the month."

Chloe felt like all the oxygen had been sucked out of the air.

Buy Zenith Motors? The high-end dealership where they had both worked? The dealership where the general manager had fired him yesterday?

The scale of the social leap Jude was describing was incomprehensible.

A sleek, black Maybach town car pulled up to the curb. The driver stepped out and opened the rear door for Jude, bowing respectfully.

Jude didn’t say another word. He stepped into the plush interior.

Chloe stood frozen on the pavement, watching the taillights disappear.

The regret in her gut was so intense it made her nauseous.

She slowly turned to Trent, reaching out to grab his arm for comfort. "Trent, I—"

Trent slapped her hand away.

"Don’t touch me," Trent hissed, his eyes wide. "You told me he was a nobody! You made me insult a man who could probably buy my father’s company and liquidate it for fun!"

"I didn’t know!" Chloe cried, tears welling in her eyes. "You heard him, he was broke yesterday! And you’re the one who called him trash!"

"Because you set him up as a joke!" Trent roared, running a hand through his hair. "If my family loses the Obsidian contract over this, my father will destroy me. And I swear, I will destroy you."

Without waiting for a response, Trent turned on his heel and stormed down the avenue, pulling his phone out to call his crisis management team.

Chloe was left standing alone on the sidewalk, the bags of her recent shopping spree suddenly feeling like lead weights.

She had tried to trade up. Instead, she had lost everything...

***

The ride in the Maybach was smooth. Jude drafted a text to the concierge desk at the Obsidian Grand, instructing them to receive the shipment of bespoke suits from Aurelius and hang them in his suite’s master closet.

The concierge replied in less than thirty seconds: *Consider it done, Mr. Lawson. Shall we prepare a light lunch for your return?*

Jude smiled, typing back a quick refusal.

He had the driver drop him off near the Sapphire Promenade, an upscale outdoor plaza lined with artisan cafes, high-end boutiques, and beautiful fountains.

The weather was perfect, and Jude just wanted to enjoy the simple pleasure of walking around without the crushing anxiety of checking his bank balance every five minutes.

He grabbed an iced coffee from a nearby artisan stand and leaned against a railing near the central fountain, watching the crowds of people walk by.

Just a few yards away, a young woman was holding a phone attached to a gimbal, speaking animatedly into the camera.

She was dressed in a provocative outfit... a cropped top that left little to the imagination, and a tight skirt.

Her name was Lexi, and she was a live streamer known for "loyalty tests."

"Alright, chat, do I look good?" Lexi whispered into her microphone, giggling as the comments on her screen flew by at lightspeed. "Today we’re playing a fun little game. We are going to find a guy who is out with his girlfriend, and I’m going to pretend to faint. Let’s see if these so-called ’loyal’ boyfriends can resist catching me. Nothing like a little drama to spice up a Tuesday afternoon, right?"

The internet loved trainwrecks, and Lexi’s viewer count was rapidly climbing.

She scanned the plaza, her eyes darting around like a hawk looking for prey.

She quickly locked onto a young, ordinary-looking couple walking near the fountain. The guy was wearing a graphic t-shirt and glasses, and his girlfriend was holding onto his arm, chatting happily about a movie.

Lexi smirked.

She adjusted her top to make it sit a little lower, took a deep breath, and walked directly into their path.

As she passed the boyfriend, Lexi let out a dramatic, breathy gasp and suddenly collapsed sideways, throwing her weight against the guy’s chest.

"Oh!" the glasses-wearing guy yelped, dropping his shopping bag to catch her.

Lexi slumped against him.

She looked up at him through her lashes, ensuring he had a view down her top.

"I’m so, so sorry," Lexi murmured in a sickeningly sweet voice. "I just got so dizzy all of a sudden. I think my blood sugar is low. Could you maybe hold me for a second?"

The guy’s face turned bright red. He stammered. "U-Uh, yeah. Sure. Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?"

His girlfriend, standing right next to him, looked like she was about to explode.

"Excuse me!" the girlfriend snapped, grabbing her boyfriend’s shoulder. "She can sit on the bench! You don’t need to hold her like that! Let go of her!"

The guy stepped back, looking incredibly guilty, which only made his girlfriend angrier.

"Are you serious right now?" she yelled. "You’re drooling over her! I told you I wanted to go to the jewelry store earlier and you said we were in a rush, but you have time to hold a random girl in the middle of the street?"

"Babe, she was falling," the guy pleaded, sweating. "I was just helping."

"If you want me to believe that, you can buy me that necklace I asked for right now!" the girlfriend demanded, crossing her arms.

"The necklace is two grand!" the guy cried.

"Then I guess we’re done!"

As the couple devolved into a screaming match, eventually storming off toward the jewelry stores, Lexi stepped back into the shadows and laughed quietly into her microphone.

"Oh my god, chat, did you see that?" Lexi giggled, watching a flurry of donations pop up on her screen.

"They are literally about to break up over a simple stumble. Men are so easy. Thank you for the fifty dollars, User99!"

Lexi flipped her hair over her shoulder, thrilled by the spike in her engagement metrics.

"Okay, that was fun, but let’s up the stakes. Let’s find someone with some actual money. If I can get a rich guy to embarrass himself on stream, we’ll go viral for sure."

Lexi turned her camera toward the plaza entrance, scanning the crowd.

Her eyes suddenly locked onto Jude.

He was leaning against the railing, casually sipping his coffee. But what caught Lexi’s eye wasn’t Jude himself... it was the imposing Maybach town car parked at the curb behind him, and the uniformed driver who was respectfully waiting near the door for him.

Lexi’s eyes lit up with excitement. *Jackpot.*