The Pretender and The Prince novel Chapter 1

Ten o’clock at night.

Fresh from her tutoring gig, Ondine Sterling, still in a clown costume, was led into a private suite by a staff member.

Her roommate, Yasmeen, worked part-time at this exclusive club. Her boyfriend had shown up for a surprise visit tonight, so she’d begged Ondine to cover her shift. The job was simple: a group of wealthy heirs and heiresses were throwing a party, and all Ondine had to do was entertain them in costume. For a thousand bucks per ten minutes, plus tips, it was practically free money.

But as Ondine stepped into the room, her heart stopped. She looked up and saw a devastatingly familiar face, and her feet froze to the floor.

“Ellis, aren’t you sick of this ‘playing poor’ game yet? You’ve got girls lining up for you. Why are you so hung up on some broke little thing?”

A smirk played on Ellis Sheppard’s lips. “You wouldn’t get it. All those other girls just want my money. My Ondine is the only one who loves me for me. She works three jobs just so I can eat and dress a little better. You think any of them would do that?”

The man speaking was Ellis, her boyfriend of more than two years. Just ten minutes ago, he had texted her goodnight.

Playing poor?

Ondine’s mind went blank, a roar filling her ears.

Ellis had told her his family only gave him a five-hundred-dollar monthly allowance, barely enough to get by. He said he was so poor he often had to survive on plain rice and free soup from the cafeteria. And just as he’d said, she had taken on three part-time jobs so he could eat better and afford decent clothes. With her light senior year course load, she’d spent her days working at a coffee shop, her evenings waiting tables at a diner, and her weekends tutoring students.

She had almost no time for herself.

She wouldn’t dream of buying a two-hundred-dollar dress for herself, yet she’d gifted him thousand-dollar sneakers without a second thought. She subsisted on the cheapest vegetable platters from the dining hall, but when she took Ellis out on dates, she always treated him to dinners that cost hundreds of dollars, and she was always the one who paid.

Whenever she was exhausted and felt like she couldn't go on, she would think of him.

He’d look at her with such tenderness and say, “Ondine, I love you so much. I want to build a life with you.”

He’d look at her with guilt in his eyes and say, “Ondine, you’re suffering because of me. I promise, when I make it big, I’ll give you the world.”

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