Chapter 1

Late at night, I received a Snapchat message from a former colleague I hadn't seen in years.

[I saw you driving a new car at the mall today. Is your Porsche 911 just sitting in your garage now?]

[That sports car was so hot. Why did you stop driving it?]

The messages kept spamming my phone, giving me no time to reply.

[Since it’s just sitting there anyway, why don’t you let me drive it?]

Only after she sent that last message did I finally reply with a polite, professional refusal.

But to my surprise, she didn't give up. She kept spamming my phone with harassing messages all night.

[Come on, we used to work together. Don't be so cold.]

[Fine, I’ll be generous.]

[How about $3 a day for rent? That’s fair, right?]

When I woke up early the next morning, I found 43 unread messages on Snapchat. All of them were from my ex-colleague, Sabrina Vance.

Starting from midnight, she had been relentlessly badgering me for my Porsche. Her demands went from "just give it to me" to "rent it to me" in less than two minutes.

I had muted Sabrina’s notifications last night just to get some sleep.

Now, as I scrolled through, the last message sent half an hour ago caught my eye.

[Everyone knows I’m a huge car lover. Renting your car to me is way better than letting it gather dust. If you don't trust me, I can pay you three months' rent upfront right now.]

Three months of rent?

At $3 a day, that was barely $270. And she wanted to drive my Porsche 911 for three whole months?

Who in their right mind would agree to that?

So, I replied, [I'm sorry, but my car isn't sitting idle. I just happened to drive my electric car that day.]

I thought she would be asleep after texting all night, but she replied instantly.

[You're being really petty, Chloe. We’re not strangers. There’s no need to lie to me.]

Perhaps realizing she sounded too aggressive, Sabrina quickly sent a few cute cat emojis before offering new terms.

[Tell you what, after you rent the car to me, I’ll help you pay a little bit for the gas. How about that?]

What did she mean by "help me pay"? Did she honestly expect me to provide the car and pay for her gas?

[But we need to agree on one thing: we split the gas 70/30. You pay seventy, and I pay thirty. After all, it's a gas guzzler. It’s your fault for choosing this model in the first place.]

[Also, if I get any parking tickets or speeding tickets, you pay the fine. And the points can't be taken off my driver's license.]

Watching the messages pop up one after another, I was so angry my head spun.

It was true that Sabrina was my former colleague. But even if I counted the holidays, we had worked together for less than a month. Back then, she had the nerve to beg me for rides home every single day. And now, she actually had the audacity to pull this stunt.

Some people really have no shame.

[Whether I rent my car or not is my decision. I have my own uses for it, and I don't want to rent it out. Please stop messaging me, or I will block you.]

After sending that, I got up to do my morning routine. I put on some light makeup and headed out to work.

When I reached the underground garage, I hesitated for two seconds between my newly bought Tesla and the Porsche. Maybe it was just to spite Sabrina, but I chose to drive the Porsche.

As I drove, the music playing through my car's Bluetooth was constantly interrupted by Snapchat notification sounds.

I knew it was probably Sabrina being persistent, so I didn't look at my phone. I only unlocked it once I was safely sitting in my office chair.

[What is wrong with you, Chloe Miller?!]

[How could you drive my car away without even saying a word?!]

Below these two messages was a photo.

It was my apartment’s underground garage. The camera was pointed directly at my two parking spots—one was empty, and the other parked my little Tesla.