All Chapters of Piss Off, This Is My Money : Chapter 51
- Chapter 60
154 chapters
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“You can’t decide what’s happening between us based on social media,” Maya suddenly snapped.Then she turned to Jace.“Tell her what she wants to hear,” she said smoothly.“That we’re still together.”The room held its breath.The confidence in her tone made people hesitate. Maya wouldn’t speak like this if there was nothing—right? She wasn’t threatening him. She sounded… certain.Jace didn’t look certain at all.The comments exploded—half defending Maya, half tearing her apart, the rest laughing, betting, calling it scripted.“Tell them, Jace,” Maya pressed, assured.Jace looked at Iris.And in that moment, something shifted.He felt tired. Not angry. Not embarrassed. Just… done.Girls. Drama. Cameras. Power games over his name—it all felt stupid now.Without saying a word, he turned and walked away.A murmur rippled through the room.Iris reacted instantly, moving after him, her security falling in behind her like instinct.Maya stepped forward—but was stopped.The men who had enter
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The time read 9:58 a.m. when Jace got back to his room.Iris—or whatever the fuck her name was—was still standing in front of the door.Of course she was.He didn’t even look at her. He was done. Completely. Girls were a mistake. Always had been. He and James had figured that shit out early—back when they were kids.Rule one: if you don’t want to die faster than necessary, don’t date girls.Rule two: don’t get involved at all.They mess with your head, twist the story, then somehow make you feel guilty for bleeding.He brushed past her, shut the door, and grabbed his laptop.The email.The one his “uncle” said would be sent.He found it instantly—timestamped one hour ago.Great. If he’d known today would spiral like this, he would’ve fucking eaten in here.He clicked the link.A video call.“Shit.”He glanced at his reflection on the black screen—messy, tired, looking like a kid who’d knocked over his parents’ dinner and tried to pretend nothing happened.A tight, unpleasant feeling s
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“It seems she’s serious about him,” one of Maya’s PR team said, voice tight with worry. “Some of the staff we contacted said she hasn’t left his door all day.”“Is she that fucking cheap?” Maya scoffed. Bitterness slammed into her gut.The lost contract only made it worse. She was already in a foul mood—this pushed it into something uglier.“Ma’am,” another voice cut in carefully, “if you can still do something, do it now. We both know Jace isn’t exactly… unbreakable. If Iris keeps this up, he’ll crack sooner or later. And with everything that happened earlier, he’s vulnerable. He might start leaning on her. Emotionally.”“That can’t fucking happen,” Maya muttered.She stared ahead, unfocused. Thoughts racing. There was always a way. There was always a way—if you were willing to get your hands dirty.Or maybe… go back to where it all started.Her lips slowly curved.“Exams are in two months,” she said suddenly. “Let’s throw a party. Something light. ‘Cool the tension’ on campus.”The
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Everyone was buzzing for the party. Official start: 8 p.m., but by 5 p.m., the first arrivals were already squeezing into the hall. Everyone wanted to know—which group was Maya in? Would she be with Jace? The five-hundred-dollar outsider ticket didn’t stop people; it only made the crowd wilder.Cameras, tripods, and smartphones were everywhere. Girls decked out in full glam, short dresses, and sky-high heels were practically vibrating with hope—hope that Jace would end up in their group, hope Maya would provoke him, and maybe—just maybe—he’d spin around and kiss one of them.The thought alone made these girls come out in droves. Who wouldn’t want a moment with a guy like Jace? The danger, the charisma, the charm—it was intoxicating.By 7 p.m., the hall was almost packed. Music thumped through the space, lights bouncing off glittering dresses and polished shoes. Cars kept arriving. The absence of a Rolls Royce? Clear sign—Jace had not arrived yet.“He’ll be here soon,” one girl murmure
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James was fucking crazy—begging him to go to some party just for a girl’s number.The face staring back at him in the mirror wasn’t Jace Prescott. It was the face of a bastard who’d mess with any girl dumb enough to lie about her feelings or think she had a shot.He walked to the door. And, just as expected, some guy was there.“Thank God, sir,” the man breathed, relief all over him. “Miss Iris just left. Should I call her?”“Give me her fucking number,” Jace said, handing over his phone. The man collected it like it was sacred.Jace yanked it back, dialed, swirling his car key on a finger as he stepped into the elevator.“Who is this?” Her voice sounded different, sharper somehow than the girl who’d been chasing him since yesterday. Maybe it was the phone.“Jace—”“Oh my God, Jace!” she screamed. “Turn the car around! Where are you? Are you coming? Which group are you—”“I’ll be in the park. You know my car,” he cut her off and hung up. No green light. No encouragement. He was done.
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Some girls immediately started calculating the price of everything Jace was wearing—the jacket, the shades, the boots. A few gave up instantly on their fantasy of catching his attention. That blushing, joke-cracking guy from earlier? Now, a distant, untouchable dream.Jace circled the car and opened the door.Out stepped a girl who was every guy’s fantasy wrapped in one. The dress, the sunglasses, the confidence—it made the crowd lose their damn minds.“Are you two dating now?”“Jace, tell us about Maya!”“Is she just another date??”Inside, Maya sulked—but she plastered on a perfect smile. No way anyone, not even Jace, was going to see her falter. She maneuvered through the crowd, forcing herself to ignore Jace holding Iris’ hand like it was nothing—like they’d known each other their whole lives.The crowd went silent, cameras raised, all vying for the perfect angle and the cleanest soundbite.“Hi, Iris,” Maya said, her voice smooth. “So nice to see you here. Didn’t expect you’d come
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Maya and her crew slipped off the dance floor. The hall was a mess—wasted bodies scattered everywhere, barely room to take two steps without stepping on someone.Exactly as Maya planned.10 p.m. The hall doors were locked, the music dropped to a low hum. Perfect.She returned to the table. Jace hadn’t moved since he arrived. Truth or dare was about to begin. With most people wasted, chaos was guaranteed.“You two still shy of each other?” a slightly drunk girl flopped onto the seat beside Jace. “You didn’t even take her to dance.”“Someone bring the bottle over,” the white-haired guy called.“If you’re not comfortable with truth or dare, Jace, speak now,” another warned.“Might trigger trauma from the freshman party,” someone mocked.“I’m in. And let me make it clear—don’t think of messing with me about money,” Jace said, sitting upright. Time to reclaim this night. Rewrite history.A girl, holding her liquor well, rolled the bottle. It spun across the table… landing squarely between
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A chill ran across the whole room. The music in the hall was barely audible now, reduced to some distant, useless noise that no one was really hearing anymore. The couple of people who stood around recording couldn’t even react. It all looked unreal, like a badly scripted movie that suddenly decided to turn serious.No one knew what to believe again. Maybe he was still in on this quietly behind the scenes with Maya? Because why—why would he slap the white-haired guy like that? Who the hell does that?Or maybe Maya had some beef with the basketball guy for the past couple of days… maybe that was why this whole thing was happening. Maybe this was all just another twisted plan.The white-haired guy stood up, just as shocked as the others at Jace’s audacity.“You’re fucking drunk?” the guy asked, standing up. But it was more embarrassing that even with the dangerous rage carved on his face, he still didn’t compare to Jace’s height.“You fucking slapped me?” he asked again, like his brain
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Maya stood up from the sofa. Five of them were in the room, including Daryl. He was looking down, shoulders slumped, filled with shame—but not a single ounce of remorse for what he had done. The only thing that truly hurt him was the fact that he had broken down in front of the camera. Not the chaos. Not the danger. The exposure.“It’s all fucked,” Daryl muttered, still not daring to raise his head. “Wasn’t thinking. Should have…” He let out a ragged breath. “Should have waited until we met outside the school, with no cameras or something. But… we can work out something else, right? We should be able to.”He risked a glance at Maya.“You messed up. Do you know what everyone on the socials are screaming about right now?” one of them asked, voice tight with anger.“I’m sorry, guys,” Daryl said, then looked back at Maya. “Do you have any idea of what we can do? I’m really—” He swallowed hard, throat dry.“I don’t need your help again. Violence and my name are not something you find side
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Jace had managed to escape the stupid party unhurt. He didn’t know if Iris was hurt—really, he didn’t give a damn if she had lost her head and it was a headless body that had followed him into the car. Well… maybe that wasn’t the case, because he could still hear her panting faintly beside him.And because he wasn’t about to fucking ask her if she was okay, he turned on the music and cranked the volume higher. Louder. Enough to drown out everything. No girl was ever getting close to his heart again. Ever.The fucking damn party—he would’ve regretted the whole shit if not for the fact that he had put fucking Daryl in his place. A bunch of kids organizing parties when they couldn’t even clean up their own mess. Pathetic.His phone vibrated against the fucking console.He picked it up, half-expecting it to be James. That bastard would definitely have jokes lined up already, ready to laugh his lungs out.But it was a strange number.He didn’t bother turning the music down before answering