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Eighty-One Counterfeits，The Billionaire's Belated Regret
NovelMaster
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I was the most pathetic kept woman in the high-society circle. My billionaire patron was worth countless fortunes, yet every designer handbag and piece of jewelry he ever gave me was a fake. Even so, ...
章節（5）
第1章
I was the most pathetic kept woman in the high-society circle.
My billionaire patron was worth countless fortunes, yet every designer handbag and piece of jewelry he ever gave me was a fake.
Even so, I stayed devoted to him.
Whenever he got drunk, I was the one who drove out to pick him up. Whenever he needed a date for a gala or a warm body in his bed, I was on call day and night.
Everyone in his circle laughed behind my back:
"A substitute is just a substitute. She can't even tell real luxury from cheap knockoffs."
"She’s probably just holding out for a massive payout. That’s how these gold diggers operate."
"After all, she grew up in an orphanage. Once she managed to climb up the ladder, of course she wouldn't let go."
None of them knew that before I met him, I spent three years working as a personal luxury shopper.
One glance was all it took for me to spot a counterfeit.
By our fifth year together, he had given me exactly eighty-one knockoffs.
Every single time, I faked genuine joy while watching the conflicted expression in his eyes.
In the end, neither of us said a word.
Until recently, when his first love returned from abroad.
He tossed a black card onto the coffee table in front of me.
"Three million dollars. Your severance fee."
"No problem, Mr. Hayes," I answered cleanly and without hesitation.
I let out a long breath of relief. My debt of gratitude was finally paid in full.
Now, I could finally go after my own happiness.
A smirk crossed Austin Hayes's face, looking as though he had known it all along.
"Dropping the act already, Clara?"
I knew this was another test. He desperately wanted to unmask me as the greedy gold digger he always thought I was.
Over the past five years, he had tested me like this far too many times.
I still remembered the first birthday gift he ever gave me five years ago: a diamond tennis bracelet.
The moment I opened the velvet box, I noticed the flaws instantly.
To an untrained eye, it looked flawless, but anyone in the luxury industry could tell it was fake in a heartbeat.
Austin had sat beside me, his eyes glued to my face, waiting for me to throw a fit and demand an explanation on the spot.
Instead, I slipped the bracelet onto my wrist and smiled gently. "It’s beautiful."
His eyes flickered with a complex emotion, but he said nothing.
"What do you mean, Mr. Hayes? Isn't this what you wanted?"
I kept my tone perfectly casual as I slipped the card into my bag.
"I’ll move out today."
With that, I turned around with light steps and began packing my suitcase.
"Already lined up your next sponsor? That was fast."
Austin leaned against the doorframe, his gaze dark and sullen.
Even though I knew my place in his life, hearing those words still felt like a needle pricking my heart. My hands paused over the folded clothes.
"Didn't you bring up the breakup first? What, are you regretting the three million?"
I smoothed out the fabric, packed it neatly into the suitcase, and spoke without looking up.
His face turned completely livid.
"Clara Evans, three million is the most you’ll ever be worth."
Leaving those harsh words behind, he slammed the door and stormed out without looking back.
I stared at the trembling door and let out a soft sigh.
An hour later, wheeling my suitcase behind me, I took one last look at the penthouse where I had lived for five years.
I opened the door and walked out.
I pulled out my phone and sent a message:
"Regarding the marriage you mentioned before—I agree. But I need a favor first."
Back at the small temporary apartment I had rented, just as I was getting ready to rest, my phone suddenly rang.
I glanced at the screen. It was Austin.
My first instinct was to decline the call, but out of sheer habit, I tapped accept.
"Clara, Austin is completely wasted! Come pick him up, hurry!"
The voice on the other end belonged to one of his wealthy buddies.
"Austin and I broke up. You guys can drive him home."
Just as I was about to hang up, the man spoke again, sounding distressed.
"Clara, he's in really bad shape. Just come help him out, please."
"Yeah, Clara, he’s treated you so well over the years. Just do this for him one last time."
I sighed quietly. After five years together, it would be a lie to say I felt absolutely nothing.
Reluctantly, I agreed. "Fine. I’ll be right there."
When I reached the private VIP lounge, I pushed the heavy door open and hurried inside.
Right in the center of the room sat Austin, nursing a drink and looking at me with a half-amused smirk.
He wasn't drunk at all.
I froze in my tracks.
"Haha, I won! Pay up, everyone!"
One of Austin’s friends jumped up in excitement, waving his phone.
"Austin, I told you she couldn't let you go! The second she heard you were sick, she came running!"
His first love, Natalie Vance, was sitting right beside him, wearing a smug, triumphant smile.
"I told you so. Girls like her could never bear to walk away from luxury and wealth."
"At the end of the day, Austin’s the real player here—managing to make even a gold digger fall head over heels," another man scoffed.
My face went pale. I realized I had become their source of entertainment once again.
Scenes like this had played out countless times over the past five years.
I looked at Austin. His face wore that same indifferent, detached expression.
He seemed to thoroughly enjoy the ego boost of being chased and adored.
I clenched my fists in my pockets and took a deep breath.
Looking directly at him, I said calmly, "Mr. Hayes, they might doubt my feelings, but surely you know whether my heart was ever real, don't you?"
Austin let out a careless chuckle.
"Clara, you're a gold digger. Do you really expect me to believe you have a heart?"
It felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over my head.
"You're right, Mr. Hayes. Why would a gold digger have a heart? I only came because I just took three million dollars from you and felt bad turning down the request."
My voice was flat and steady.
Austin’s face instantly darkened.
Without another glance at him, I turned on my heel to leave.
"Take one step out that door, and I’m cutting off every penny to that orphanage."
第2章
Austin’s icy voice cut through the air from behind me.
A jolt of cold dread ran down my spine, freezing my feet in place.
I turned around and stared at him in utter disbelief.
"What did you just say?"
I never imagined he would stoop so low as to use the orphanage to threaten me. That place was my only weakness.
It felt as though I was seeing the real him for the very first time in five years.
He slowly adjusted his cufflinks, then looked up at me with cold indifference.
"You heard me. If you walk out tonight, I pull my funding tomorrow. Every piece of equipment, every donated supply gets taken back."
My feet were rooted to the floor. In the end, I had no choice but to leave with him.
On the ride back, Austin seemed to want to say something to break the heavy silence.
I wasn't in the mood to listen. I kept my head turned toward the window, watching the city lights blur past into streaks of neon.
Gradually, those blurry lights shifted into the hopeful smiles of the children and the warm, weary face of Director Sarah.
I was an orphan. That shelter had raised me from childhood.
Director Sarah was the kindest person I had ever known in this world.
In the beginning, I had stayed by his side and taken care of him purely out of gratitude for his generous donations to the shelter.
And now, that very gratitude had become the leash he used to control me.
When we stepped into the penthouse, Austin noticed the tidy, untouched rooms.
He didn't say anything, but he rubbed his nose.
He only ever rubbed his nose when he was trying to suppress his temper.
"Sleep in the guest room."
I let out a quiet sigh of relief, nodded, and walked toward the guest room.
Thankfully, I hadn't kept many personal belongings here over the years, so he hadn't noticed that my bags were already packed.
"You’re coming with me to a gala tomorrow night," he suddenly called out.
"Mr. Hayes, you should just take Natalie. We broke up."
Austin’s face twisted in anger. He grabbed my wrist and slammed me against the wall, his grip like iron.
"Know your place. Stop saying things that piss me off."
I fought back with all my strength, twisting my wrist out of his grasp.
"This is the last time, Mr. Hayes. Even in business, making a bad deal once is enough."
Without waiting for his reaction, I turned and shut the bedroom door behind me.
The next evening, before heading to the event, I noticed the dress Austin had prepared for me.
Another white dress. The exact style Natalie Vance always favored.
I reminded myself that this was the final time. I put on the unfamiliar dress and fastened the fake designer necklace he had bought me.
On the way to the venue, Austin took a phone call, and his expression shifted abruptly.
"I need to pick someone up. Get out here and find your own way."
He hung up, turned to me, and spoke in a tone that brooked no argument.
I looked at the floor-length gown, my four-inch designer heels, and the rushing highway traffic outside, hesitating.
"Hurry up!" Austin snapped impatiently.
The moment my feet touched the asphalt, before I could even steady myself, he hit the gas and sped away.
We were on an elevated expressway; getting an Uber out here was practically impossible.
Walking in those heels was agonizing, so I took them off and carried them, walking barefoot along the emergency shoulder toward the distant exit.
Inside the grand ballroom, high-society elites mingled under shimmering chandeliers, clinking champagne flutes.
I found an inconspicuous corner and slipped into a chair. The skin on both of my heels was torn raw and bleeding.
A few minutes later, the entire room went quiet, and all eyes turned toward the entrance.
Austin walked in.
At his side was Natalie Vance.
So the person he had rushed off to pick up was her.
第3章
My fingers curled tightly into fists. I should have known.
Now that his dream girl was back, there was no room left for a stand-in like me.
"Natalie's back, so Clara is completely out of the picture."
"She was only ever a temporary replacement anyway. If Natalie hadn't moved overseas, Clara would never have had a chance."
"No family background, no pedigree—just a gold digger. How did she even last five years?"
"Exactly. Just a plaything to keep him entertained when he was bored."
Listening to the venomous whispers around me, my heart remained surprisingly calm.
I glanced over at Austin. He merely frowned, then turned around to ask a waiter for a warm drink for Natalie.
"Please don't say that, everyone. Clara stayed by Austin's side for five years; she worked hard too," Natalie said, stepping forward with an angelic, gentle smile.
"It's just that Austin is a sentimental man, so he's always treated me a little differently."
Natalie cast a fleeting glance my way, her fingers lightly brushing against the diamond necklace at her throat.
"When I was living abroad, Austin had bespoke gifts delivered to my door every single week. And the moment I came back, he bought this necklace for me at an exclusive auction."
As soon as she finished speaking, the surrounding guests turned toward me with mocking sneers.
"Isn't that the rare piece Mr. Hayes bid millions on without batting an eye? True love really is unmatched."
Suddenly, as if discovering something shocking, Natalie gasped and pointed at my neck.
"Oh dear, Clara... why are you wearing a replica? Aren't you intentionally trying to embarrass Austin in front of everyone?"
"Well, what do you expect? A gold digger only deserves knockoffs," someone in the crowd chimed in with a laugh.
I let out a cold laugh, reached up, unclasped the necklace, and threw it right at Austin's chest.
"Embarrassed? Wasn't this replica handpicked by you, Mr. Hayes?"
"Are you suddenly feeling ashamed now?"
Not bothering to look at the stunned faces around me, I turned and walked away.
I stepped out onto the breezy terrace to catch my breath.
The moment I reached the railing, a hand violently seized my wrist.
The grip was so tight it felt like my bones were about to shatter.
I glared up at Austin in fury.
"Clara Evans, you knew all along that every gift I gave you was fake, didn't you?"
Austin loomed over me, his dark eyes burning with disgust and repressed rage.
"Did you do that on purpose? Trying to humiliate me in public?"
"You played the obedient girl for five years just so you could pull off one massive score at the very end, didn't you?"
His words dripped with venom.
Facing his interrogation, a sharp, suffocating ache bloomed in my chest.
Looking at his cold, paranoid face, I realized how terribly wrong I had been all along.
When I first met Austin Hayes, rumors portrayed him as ruthless, paranoid, and cold-blooded.
I had never believed them—because he was the generous donor who supported the orphanage.
It was his funding that had allowed me to finish college.
Late one night, I had accidentally run into him sitting alone in an empty city square. He was holding a worn locket between his fingers, his eyes filled with a deep, crushing loneliness I had never seen before.
In that fleeting moment, he looked so vulnerable and broken that my heart broke for him.
I felt an overwhelming urge to comfort him.
So I abandoned my pride, stayed by his side, and willingly became his little caged bird.
I just never imagined that all my devotion would end up being completely worthless.
Right then, my phone buzzed in my clutch.
I glanced down at the screen. A message from an unsaved number read: "The paperwork is complete. Only the final transfer remains."
A wave of calm washed over me. I tapped back a quick reply.
第4章
Still, thinking back on these five years, a bitter ache tightened in my throat.
For five whole years, he had treated me with nothing but cold detachment and relentless suspicion.
At first, I told myself that his constant testing and defensive walls were simply because I hadn't managed to reach his guarded heart yet.
I thought I could take it slow. I told myself I could wait.
I believed that as long as I remained loyal, genuine, and unbothered by whether his gifts were real or fake, I could eventually warm his frozen heart.
So, for five years, when he gave me eighty-one counterfeit luxury items, I accepted every single one with a smile. I never exposed him, and I never complained.
How laughable that, from beginning to end, he only ever saw me as a greedy social climber.
My tolerance was labeled a calculated scheme.
My patience was viewed as playing the long game to reel in a fortune.
I let out a quiet, self-mocking laugh.
"I lied to you? Didn't you lie to me first?"
"You were the one who approached me with calculations, testing me at every turn. I just chose never to call you out."
I met his cold glare unflinchingly.
He sneered. "Everyone knows what kind of woman you are. Why wouldn't I keep my guard up?"
A wave of bitterness rose in my throat. Swallowing it down, I asked one final question. "In all these five years, was there ever a single second where you believed my feelings were real?"
Austin let go of my wrist and fell completely silent.
I lowered my eyes. "It doesn't matter anymore."
The moment those words left my mouth, Austin's face turned icy.
Without another word, he turned on his heel and walked away.
Left alone on the vast, empty terrace, the night wind cut straight through to my bones.
When the gala finally ended, I stood by the curb trying to hail a cab. Just then, Austin's sleek Maybach pulled up and glided right past me.
He kept his eyes glued to the road ahead, as if I didn't even exist.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Natalie turned to face me and flashed a sweet, venomous smile, her eyes dripping with smug satisfaction.
I looked right back at her, completely unbothered.
Natalie's smile stiffened slightly. Just as she moved to glare at me, the tinted window rolled up smoothly.
Enduring the stinging, raw pain from my blistered heels, I continued trying to flag down a car.
By the time I limped up to the villa's front door on the tips of my toes, it was already ten o'clock at night.
The moment I pushed the front door open, the heart that had already gone numb was stabbed once again.
Natalie was wearing Austin's silk pajama shirt, her long hair draped over her shoulders as she lounged comfortably on the plush sofa.
Beside her, Austin was patiently using a nutcracker, carefully shelling walnuts one by one and placing the unbroken halves onto her plate.
A small mountain of freshly cracked walnuts was already piled up in front of her.
The Austin sitting there was gentle, attentive, and incredibly patient.
It was a side of him I had never seen once in five years.
A sudden sting pricked behind my eyes.
I loved walnuts too, but Austin had once told me cracking them was a tedious waste of time.
After that day, I never ate them again.
Hearing the front door click shut, both of them looked up simultaneously.
Natalie shot me a fleeting, triumphant look before immediately switching to an expression of fragile guilt.
"Clara, Austin said the wind was too chilly outside and worried I'd catch a cold. Your place was closer, so he brought me over for the night. Please don't misunderstand."
"What right does she have to misunderstand? She's just an irrelevant ex," Austin said coldly, dropping another walnut half onto the plate without looking up.
"She's right, Natalie. We've broken up," I replied evenly.
第5章
Austin suddenly shot to his feet, looking as though he wanted to say something.
His gaze locked onto my bleeding heels, his brow furrowing tightly, a momentary flash of genuine concern flickering in his eyes.
But Natalie quickly caught his arm, tugging him back.
"Clara, don't say that out of anger. Austin really does care about you deep down."
I found it almost laughable.
Wasn't he the one who had abandoned me on the highway and ignored me on the street just hours ago?
What was the point of playing the devoted protector now?
"Mr. Hayes is right. I don't misunderstand anything. Have a good night, Natalie."
I slipped on my house slippers with a faint smile, stepped around them, and headed straight for the guest room.
Before I could take three steps, Austin grabbed my wrist with a dark, thunderous expression.
"Go make some late-night soup for Natalie."
I yanked my arm back forcefully. "Austin Hayes, hire a private chef. I'm exhausted."
"Clara Evans, have you forgotten your place?"
Austin leaned down, his voice dropping into a razor-sharp whisper near my ear.
He was using the orphanage against me again.
The paperwork to transfer the sponsorship hadn't been fully finalized yet. I couldn't afford to push him too far just yet.
"Fine. I'll make it right now."
I went into the kitchen and prepared sweet fermented rice balls with poached eggs—the one dish I made best.
Director Sarah had taught me how to make it years ago.
Inhaling the sweet, comforting aroma, my mind drifted back to the cold afternoon Director Sarah found me abandoned near the open-air market and brought me home. The very first meal she made for me was a warm bowl of sweet fermented rice.
A stray tear tracked down my cheek, tasting faintly bitter against my lips.
I wiped it away with the back of my hand, turned off the stove, and ladled the soup into two ceramic bowls.
Suddenly, I felt an intense gaze boring into my back. I turned around, but Austin was merely looking down at his phone, and Natalie was nowhere to be seen.
I pulled my gaze back. It must have been my imagination.
After placing the two bowls on the dining table, I looked at Austin.
"It's done."
He barely lifted his eyelids and said nothing.
"Austin, look at this!" Natalie rushed over, thrusting her phone in front of his face.
Austin glanced down at the screen, and his face instantly darkened like a brewing storm.
"Clara Evans, you really are something."
Grit-toothed, he shoved the phone right into my face.
I looked at the screen and froze.
"No, Austin, that's just a camera angle trick! I never did that!"
"That man suddenly leaned in close to me at the gala, but nothing happened between us!"
I pointed at the photo showing me seemingly kissing an unfamiliar man, desperately trying to explain.
"Then how do you explain this text?"
Natalie suddenly pulled my own phone out of her pocket, pointing to a newly received preview notification right before my eyes.
"Who gave you the right to go through my purse and touch my phone?!"
"Don't change the subject! The message literally says, "'Looking forward to seeing you.'" The person who sent this is the guy in the photo, isn't it?"
Natalie looked at me with smug certainty, a cruel glint flashing in her eyes.
Before I could get another word out, Austin looked at me with pure revulsion.
"Enough, Clara. Sleeping around is just second nature to a gold digger like you, isn't it?"
"Drop the innocent act. It makes me sick."
I stared at him in utter disbelief, the very last ember of hope in my chest dying out completely.
"If you never trusted me from the beginning, why keep me trapped by your side?"
Without another word, I grabbed my things and turned toward the door.
Opening the chat on my phone, I typed three words to the sender: "Come pick me up."
Then, I dropped my current location pin.