My boyfriend's childhood friend declared herself the ultimate 'socialite fraud buster' the very first time we met. She would not stop lecturing me at the dinner table.

"Women really shouldn't overdress. If Sean hadn't told me himself that you were his girlfriend, I would've written you off as just another one of those fake socialites I've exposed."

My boyfriend nodded along eagerly. "You really do dress too flashy. Just listen to Gina and tone it down a little."

I could not be bothered to engage, so I excused myself to the restroom, but I ended up overhearing Georgina Lawson's little 'fraud assessment' from right outside the door.

"Sean, this woman's walk, the way she talks… All of it screams training. She's a classic case of a fake socialite. She's only with you for your money! That watch, the limited-edition bag, that sports car worth tens of millions... What doctor could possibly afford all that?"

Fury burned through me, and I finally reached my limit. I turned around and called my father, the richest man in the city. "Dad, wire me 50 million dollars. I'm buying out a little fraud-busting studio that targets 'fake socialities' to teach her that rich people have children too!"

"If you don't believe me, I'll test her for you later. The sooner you see this gold digger for what she is, the better!"

The call ended, and Georgina Lawson's self-assured voice drifted out from the private dining room. Sean Spencer sat across from her, nodding along with complete trust written all over his face.

I wanted to see exactly how Georgina planned to 'test' a real socialite like me.

When I pushed the door open, Georgina was holding my bag, turning it over and inspecting it from every angle. Her tone was pure condescension.

"I'm telling you, girls like you really need to stop trying so hard to keep up appearances. The first step to becoming a fake socialite is dressing yourself up to look like something you're not. This bag... It's a rental, right?"

I nearly laughed out loud. That bag came straight from the boutique, and it was a limited edition. The amount I had to spend on complementary purchases just to qualify for it was close to 200,000 dollars alone.

When I did not respond, Georgina took my silence as a hit to a nerve. A smug look settled over her face, and her gaze drifted down to my watch.

"Mind if I take a look at that watch and have it appraised? Don't get me wrong, I'm just worried someone might've scammed you into paying real money for a fake. I mean, the bag's already a knockoff, so..."

Sean was already looking at me with suspicion creeping into his eyes. "Gina's just looking out for you. Let her see it."

That watch was a gift from my older brother just last month, a congratulatory present for my promotion. His collection alone was filled with pieces worth millions each.

If Georgina somehow determined this was a fake too, then the only fraud in the room was the so-called 'fraud buster' herself.

I unclasped the watch and handed it over with a smile. "Sure. But just so you know, it's a limited edition. Try not to get the appraisal wrong."

Georgina snatched it up eagerly and examined it with painstaking care. Even so, I caught the unmistakable flash of jealousy that crossed her eyes. She had clearly determined the watch was real, but what came out of her mouth was something else entirely.

"Oh, Sean, your girlfriend actually tried to pass this off as a limited edition, but it's a fake. Honestly, she's just an ordinary girl with an ordinary job and an ordinary background. What's the point of buying counterfeits to pretend she's something she's not?

"Or wait, don't tell me you thought flashing a few knockoffs would land you a rich boyfriend so you could milk him for his money?"

The contempt dripping from every word could not have been more obvious. The mood at the table shifted instantly. The admiration on everyone's faces from earlier curdled into something ugly.

Sean looked at me with open disdain, his voice thick with disgust. "You're that vain? And here I thought you were different from every other woman. Turns out you're all the same. You're all just after my money."

The revulsion on his face cut straight through me.

I had assumed Sean was just easily swayed but that he still had some basic ability to judge for himself. We had been together for nearly a year. How could he not know what kind of person I was?

Reality was a harsh wake-up call.

I frowned, equally frustrated. "Sean, who's your girlfriend here? She says one thing and you just believe her? If that's how it is, I don't see any point in finishing this dinner."

I stood up and grabbed my bag to leave, but Georgina flashed that hollow smile of hers again. "What's the rush? Don't tell me the lease on that sports car downstairs is about to expire and you need an excuse to go return it?"

That was the last straw. I turned on her. "What makes you so sure my car is a rental?"

Georgina rubbed Sean's back soothingly with one hand while offering up her explanation with a fake smile. "These little tricks of yours are child's play for a fraud buster like me. I can see right through them. Sean already told me you two met through a fender bender. Isn't that the oldest trick in the fake socialite playbook?"

After she finished rattling off her string of thinly veiled accusations, she pivoted with a laugh, playing innocent. "Oh, Sean, there I go again with my occupational hazard. You're not going to doubt your own girlfriend over what I said, are you?"

Sean grabbed her hand and looked at her with nothing but gratitude. "Gina, I should be thanking you for helping me see this gold digger for what she really is!

"Jillian, what's with that look? She's doing me a favor by warning me! And here I thought you were some kind of heiress. Turns out you're just a vain, money-grubbing nobody! You don't even deserve me!"

I let out a scoff and beat him to the punch before he could say it first. "Fine. Then let's break up."

…

Dad was already waiting for me downstairs. When he saw me come out alone, he immediately asked what had happened.

I forced a smile. "It's nothing, Dad. No need to go up. Let's just go home."

The plan had been to tell Sean the truth today, that I was the daughter of the richest man in the city. I was going to introduce him to my father so his company would have someone to lean on down the road.

He was the one who threw that opportunity away.

On the drive home, the group chat would not stop buzzing. I opened it and realized what had happened.

Georgina had created a group chat with Sean and his circle of friends, and accidentally added me to it. She was going off about her 'assessment' of me.

[Sean, she's definitely a fake socialite who's after your money. Did you see how angry she got tonight when I called her out at the table?]

[I just looked up the car she drove here in, and sure enough, it's registered under some 50-year-old man's name. It's not even hers!]

[You'd be better off with someone down-to-earth. Someone like me, who's never cared about flashy luxury nonsense.]

I looked at the name of the car's registered owner and could not help but marvel at her stupidity. Had she not noticed that the man and I shared the same last name? The more ridiculous part was that Sean and his friends were eating right out of her hand, every single one of them furious on his behalf.

[She's literally just a gold digger! She finished draining the last guy and moved on to our boy Sean!]

[Sean, think about how much you spent on her this past year. You need to find a way to get it all back!]

Sean was the most worked up of all.

[If it weren't for Gina, I never would've known her true colors!]

[Don't worry, I'm going to find a way to get back everything I gave her!]

The chat was blowing up, but I was already bored. I sent a single reply: [Watching all of you get played by Georgina is honestly entertaining.]

Then, I left the group chat.

That same night, Sean blew up my phone. He demanded to know what I meant by that message and tried to force me to apologize to Georgina.

I blocked his number and did not give him another thought. What I did not expect was to find Sean and Georgina waiting outside the hospital for me the next morning.

The moment he saw me, Sean hurled a stack of photos at my face, the sharp edges striking my forehead.

"Jillian! Have you no shame? No wonder you were so eager to break up with me yesterday. Gina saw right through you, and once you realized you couldn't squeeze any more money out of me, you ran straight to the next guy!"

Georgina stood to the side with her arms crossed, watching with open satisfaction. "A man pushing 50, and you don't even mind. The things you'll do for money… Truly shameless."

The corner of one of the photos sliced across my forehead, and a sharp sting followed instantly. I glanced down at the pictures scattered on the ground.

They were from last night, when Dad came to pick me up. Georgina had been the only one who followed me outside, so she was definitely the one who took them.

I did not bother hiding my anger. I stared Georgina down, ice in my voice. "Shouldn't a fraud buster do a little research into someone's personal connections before making accusations? Sean, the man in those photos is my father!"

I thought that knowing the truth would at least make Sean feel some guilt. Instead, he let out a cold laugh. Georgina had already done too thorough a job brainwashing him for him to believe a single word out of my mouth.

"Gina already looked into it. That man is the richest person in the city! Claiming connections to powerful people is exactly the kind of thing fake socialites like you do!"

Georgina clung to his arm and sighed about how pitiful he was, how close he had come to being deceived by someone like me. Then she turned her attention to my phone, her tone dripping with suggestion.

"Sean, a fake socialite like her usually keeps several targets on the hook at once. Check her phone. I bet she's got contact info for a whole lineup of sugar daddies saved in there."

Sean grabbed my wrist and ripped the phone out of my hand. He scrolled furiously through my contacts, then shoved the screen in my face, pointing at two entries labeled 'Dear Elliot' and 'Dear Fabian.'

Before I could tell him those were my actual brothers, he was already glaring at me, his eyes filled with hatred and fury.

"So it's true! Gina's right! You act all innocent in front of me, but you're nothing but a whore who uses the whole 'fake socialite' act to lure men in! Jillian Norris! Every cent I spent on you this past year, I want it all back. Now!"

All the anger drained out of me with that last sentence. I laughed, sharp and mocking.

So that was what this was really about. Money. If we were keeping score, I had spent far more on Sean over the course of our relationship than he had ever spent on me.

I snatched my phone back and met his gaze, cold and unflinching. "You want money? You're not getting a single cent. But if you want to settle accounts on who actually took advantage of whom in this relationship, I'm more than happy to do the math."

I walked away without looking back, his enraged shouting fading behind me.

After I finished my surgery, the hospital director called me into his office and showed me a post that had gone viral.

[Expose: Dr. Norris at a public hospital is actually a heartless fake socialite! She plays the role of a caring doctor in front of her patients, but behind closed doors, she's juggling three or four men at once. She's been passed around like a toy!

[Patients at this hospital better watch out. If she's being nice to you, it might be because she's got her eye on your wallet!]

The post had already been pushed to the top of the trending charts. The comments section was an avalanche of abuse and death threats, and someone had even edited my photo into a funeral portrait and posted it in the replies.

The hospital director's expression was grave.