All Chapters of Piss Off, This Is My Money : Chapter 81
- Chapter 90
154 chapters
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Maya knew she had to restrategize.She had no idea how she was going to do that yet, but her PR team had basically ambushed her that evening with the worst possible news: engagement on her page had dropped by two percent. Two. Percent.That was the last thing she wanted to hear.It almost felt like Jace controlled her page. As if she wasn’t the one with the ideas, the one creating the content, the one dragging everything together piece by piece while they sat behind screens and sent “suggestions.”“Ma’am, we’ve gathered a bunch of ideas that can pull the engagement back to at least one percent of what dropped—”“Screw that.”Maya ended the call with her virtual assistant immediately.She already had an idea. One that wouldn’t crawl engagement back like a beggar—but would shove it up by at least ten percent. She hadn’t dragged Jace’s father onto her screen today for nothing. The whole point had been to make Jace spiral, to make him lose his mind and do something reckless—something she
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Then—slowly—her eyes adjusted to the light.She looked up.And right in front of her stood fucking Maverick.Her voice disappeared for a second.“Did I scare you?”The slap landed before the sentence finished.Then another.Then one more.Maverick hit the floor hard.“What the hell were you thinking?” Maya screamed, already turning toward the camera.It was still recording.Still fucking live.The comments were going insane.Her stomach dropped.She rushed forward and cut the feed immediately, hands shaking as the screen went black. Almost instantly, members of the house staff came running in.But instead of shock—They looked… disappointed.That threw her off.“I was going to propose to you,” Maverick managed from the floor, his voice strained, eyes darting to the staff. “A surprise. A can-you-be-my-girlfriend thing.”One of them spoke quickly, almost defensively.“You said we should go with the best plan.”Maya turned slowly.“What did I say?” she asked, genuinely confused now.“On
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When you’ve been fucking filmed for more than five months straight, and you suddenly meet new people you weirdly sync with, paranoia doesn’t ask for permission. It just shows up.That was the exact reason Jace picked up Paxton’s phone the moment the guy went to the toilet.He wasn’t surprised when he checked the call log and saw a familiar number staring back at him.Maya.He didn’t even need to dial it to know.And it didn’t take long—not long at all—to figure out that Paxton had played him. Again. Let him sit there like an idiot while the same shit unfolded behind his back.Fucking foolish.Paxton walked out of the restroom, casual, loose, like nothing had happened. He strolled over.“Had a big fat shit,” he said, grinning, like ten minutes ago Jace would’ve laughed at how disgusting the joke was.But not now.Not fucking now.“Man… you okay?” Paxton asked, concern painted on his face so badly it almost hurt to look at. An act. All of it to fool Jace. “You had a call with Maya on m
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Jace felt like absolute crap—but he’d die before admitting that to himself.The moment he’d seen Paxton stand there and lie cleanly to the security guards earlier, he should’ve told the bastard to go fuck himself. Walked away. End of story.But no.He was a cool bastard.Like, objectively cool. Even he knew it. Always giving people second chances. Always letting them redeem themselves. He could already bet no one else in this world was as cool as him—and honestly, that was a flex in a world where everyone was busy screwing each other over for the dumbest reasons imaginable.As Jace drove toward Paxton’s father’s house, he decided—very reasonably—that he had a gentle, clean soul.And damn it, if everyone were as cool as him, the world would be a much better place.He pulled into the parking lot, parked smoothly, and popped a piece of gum into his mouth. Chewed. Blew a bubble effortlessly as he stepped out of the car.Cool people did that.Slowly—deliberately—he got out, wearing the aur
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Paxton’s phone rang.He almost ignored it.But if he didn’t pick up after the third call, his nanny would report him missing to the police. It wasn’t paranoia. It had happened more than twice already.“Hey, dear,” she said the moment he answered. “Where are you? A tall man came by earlier and spoke to your father. I don’t know what they discussed, but your father was smiling afterward.”She paused. “You know how rare that is. You should be worried. The man said his name was… Jace. Pres—Prescott?”“Shit.”Paxton ended the call immediately.He turned to Maya. “Can you track where Jace is right now?”“Why should I—”“This is all your fucking fault,” Paxton snapped. “So you’re going to do exactly what I ask.”He held her gaze for more than two seconds.Maya didn’t blink—but she backed down. She always did.Without another word, she pulled out her phone, sent a quick message to her team nearby, then leaned forward and murmured something to the driver.The car changed direction.Paxton hiss
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Jace raised a brow as if Paxton were some disgusting piece of trash on the floor.“I’m not here to beg or apologize again,” Paxton blurted, more flustered than he expected. “If you’re going to keep being a dick after I told you shit I’ve never told anyone, then… fuck it. Go fuck yourself. Even. My dad’s a predator—sees anyone around as a prey he has to pounce on.”Jace’s eyes didn’t flinch. His voice was calm, deadpan.“Genes have some fucking sense of humor, don’t you think?” he said, eyes locking onto Paxton like a predator assessing an ant.Paxton swallowed hard. “I came to warn you.”“Now that you’re here, you should fucking start your duty,” Jace said lazily, like he hadn’t heard a word Paxton said.Paxton glanced around, just to be sure Jace was actually talking to him.“I asked your father to save you,” Jace continued, voice flat. “But he thinks you’re not worth his time. And honestly? I’d think the same if you were my seed too.”“If you wanted that to hurt,” Paxton muttered, j
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And for no fucking reason, Jace felt like crap the moment he got back to the hotel.The fact that Paxton could make him feel this way—just by existing—was all the proof Jace needed: this guy was pure dark energy, a walking storm of bad vibes. Someone you shouldn’t be caught dead with. Someone you could murder just to do the universe a favor.And just when he thought the day couldn’t get worse, his phone rang. His father.With nothing better to do, Jace answered. Better to endure this call than sit in silence, replaying all the ways he could’ve ended Paxton hours ago.“Hey, son,” his father said the moment the line connected.“How the fuck are you?” Jace asked, pleasantries first, suspicion second.“I just got the news a few minutes ago about what Maya did to you. I haven’t been on the phone much—didn’t know you were going through all that mess,” his father said.Finally. Someone in the universe on the same page.“I’m a man,” Jace said, and felt his head almost nod in approval at the w
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“Why do you want to follow me to the gym?” Iris’s brother asked as he reached for his car door. “It’s not like you suddenly got interested in getting fit, huh?” “Please,” Iris pouted, lips trembling like she was two seconds away from crying. “You know people must not see you hanging around,” he reminded her patiently. “They’ll take pictures, and it’ll turn into chaos for you.” “I know,” she nodded quickly. “But I can’t stay home alone.” “Oh, Iris,” he sighed. “I got you a teddy twice your size just two hours ago.” “I don’t care,” she said softly. “Please. Just let me watch you.” He stared at her for a second, already defeated. With a shrug, he opened the car door. “On one condition though,” he said, raising a hand before she could climb in. “And that is…?” she asked eagerly. “You’re not allowed to talk to anyone. You’ll sit in some corner where I can see you. The whole time.” “Okay,” she nodded immediately. “I just don’t want to be home alone. Please.” He chuckled
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Left with her thoughts and her iPad, Iris knew the most reasonable thing to do right now was to dive into some plan for her online brand. But Jace’s thoughts kept creeping into her head.She couldn’t shake them off. With a sigh, she stood up, dropped her iPad, and decided to walk around. A little movement would surely distract her from Jace… or so she hoped.Everything was going fine, and she was already starting to forget about him, when she caught a snippet of whispered conversation.“He came in some chopper,” someone was saying to a friend on the treadmill.“Never expected him to look this tall.”“Yeah, he’s here to cool off the drama with that creepy girlfriend of his.”“Lowkey feel sorry for him.”Different people could have been the subject of their gossip, but Iris’ brain decided it already knew everything. Before she realized what she was doing, she was walking toward the two guys.“Hi… Are you perhaps talking about Jace Prescott?” she asked.The two of them froze and looked a
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She couldn’t bring herself to follow him.And at the same time, she couldn’t stop crying.It would be an absolute disaster if anyone saw her like this. One photo, one whisper—and by tomorrow, rumors would be everywhere. Her face, her name, twisted online. She wiped her tears quickly, hands shaking, and reached for her iPad.Her fingers barely worked as she called her brother.He came running the moment he heard her voice.“Iris…” he muttered when he saw her, shock written all over his face.He crossed the distance in two steps and pulled her into his arms. He didn’t ask questions. Just held her, patting her back gently while she cried into his chest, like everything she’d been holding in finally gave way.A few minutes later, they were parked in front of an ice cream store.Chocolate. Always chocolate.He sat with her in the back seat while she ate, quiet, slow. She was still a baby, really—one that could still be calmed by ice cream and silence.They stayed that way for a while.Then