The Campus Loser’s Billionaire System

Chapter 5

“Dean Anders? Is that really you?”

Dean turned toward the voice and immediately recognized the woman stepping up the grand entrance steps.

It was Mila Evans, Maya Hanson’s blonde, sharp-tongued best friend.

Beside her stood Marcus Polland, her wealthy, middle-aged boyfriend, holding her loosely around the waist.

“Dean, what on earth are you doing here?” Mila asked, her eyes widening in disbelief as she took in his faded sportswear. “Why would someone like you be at the Mapleland Sales Center?”

Mila was accompanying Marcus for a morning of house hunting, dressed to attract attention in beige stockings and a fitted slate-gray pleated skirt. She leaned into Marcus, brazenly allowing him to wrap a hand around her hips.

Dean raised an eyebrow, his expression entirely unbothered. “What’s the issue? Am I not allowed to walk here? Does your family own Mapleland now?”

Dean had never tolerated Mila. She was a hypocritical, status-obsessed instigator, the exact influence that had driven Maya further away from him.

Surprised by his blunt response, Mila’s smile vanished into a scowl. “What is wrong with you? You’ve never dared to speak to me like that before. Are you bitter because Maya dumped you?”

She was visibly taken aback. The Dean she knew was always timid, accommodating, and desperate to please. But the man standing before her now had a cold, distant look in his eyes that she had never seen.

“Bitter?” Dean sneered, his voice dripping with disdain. “Not in the slightest. I’m here to look at properties and buy a house, so if you’re done blocking the entrance, step aside.”

Look at properties?

Marcus Polland burst into a booming, mocking laugh. “Buy a house here? Kid, I’ve heard all about you from Mila. You couldn’t even afford to buy your girlfriend a decent outfit, and you have the nerve to claim you’re buying a property in Mapleland?”

Mila chuckled softly, shaking her head at what she saw as complete delusion.

Marcus’s expression hardened as he pointed a finger directly at Dean’s face. “You’re clearly here to cause trouble. Security! Where the hell is Mapleland’s security?! Get this nuisance out of here immediately!”

Marcus was here today to impress Mila with a lavish property purchase and spend time with her, but dealing with someone he viewed as an eyesore ruined his mood. Having heard endless stories from Mila about Maya’s broke ex-boyfriend, he felt an overwhelming urge to put the kid in his place.

At his shout, a squad of Mapleland security guards hurried over.

“What seems to be the problem, Boss Marcus?” the head guard asked eagerly. “Did some mouthy kid bother you? Let us handle it.”

“Who’d be stupid enough to annoy Boss Marcus?” another guard chimed in.

“Must have lost his mind! Trying to cause trouble for Boss Marcus in Sky City, does he not want to live here anymore?!”

Seven or eight burly guards formed a tight circle, bowing deferentially toward Marcus. Marcus owned a prominent local nightclub and frequently treated the Mapleland security staff to free drinks and high-end dinners, making him a prized VIP in their eyes.

Puffing his chest out at the guards’ deference, Marcus pointed directly at Dean. “It’s this pauper right here. He’s loitering around the main entrance, making ridiculous claims and ruining my house-hunting mood. Throw him out on his rear!”

Dean simply rolled his eyes at the display.

“Ah,” the head guard grunted, looking at Dean with undisguised contempt. “So that’s how it is. A penniless kid coming to make a scene at Mapleland. Get moving! If you make Boss Marcus lose his temper, you won’t like what happens next.”

Mapleland Real Estate served the upper crust of Sky City, people who tossed around hundreds of thousands of dollars without blinking. A broke college student causing a disruption was something neither the guards nor the sales management would tolerate.

“Hold it right there,” Dean said coldly, raising a single hand to check their advance. “Who said I’m here to make a scene? I came here to buy a house. Do yourselves a favor and call your general manager over. I don’t have time to waste arguing with door guards.”

By now, Dean’s patience was wearing thin. He had ten million dollars sitting in his checking account so there was zero reason to cower before a nightclub owner and a few overzealous guards.

Mila’s scowl deepened. “Dean, have you completely lost your mind? Do you even know where you’re standing?! This isn’t some cheap street market where you can throw a tantrum. Do you want to get beaten half to death?!”

Dean met her gaze with deadpan indifference. “I’m not dying anytime soon.”

Mila scoffed loudly, raising her voice so the surrounding crowd could hear. “A single bathroom in these villas costs hundreds of thousands of dollars! Just a bathroom! Are you trying to turn yourself into the biggest laughingstock in Sky City by calling the manager over?”

She sighed dramatically, shaking her head. “I honestly don’t know what goes on in your head. No wonder Maya finally threw you away for Felix. You’re persistent, desperate, and completely embarrassing. No woman will ever respect a man who acts like this.”

In her mind, Dean couldn’t even afford the square footage of a Mapleland utility closet, let alone summon the sales manager to buy a villa.

“And who gave you the authority to question my decisions?” Dean countered, his tone turning dangerously quiet. “Do I look like a child who needs your permission to spend my own money? Why on earth would I need advice from you?”

Ignoring her completely, Dean turned toward the main sales floor and called out sharply, “Where is the manager for the Sky City Landscape Villa division?! Step out, I’m purchasing a property today, cash in full!”

“Who?! Who is paying in full?!”

Dean’s voice echoed clearly across the marble showroom floor, startling a sharp-suited middle-aged man standing near the VIP offices.

In a high-end development like Landscape Villa, anyone claiming they were ready to skip a mortgage and pay the full balance up front was a client no manager could afford to ignore.