Chapter 2

I didn't go back into the office. I turned and walked out, moving like a sleepwalker through the bustling lobby of the skyscraper I now knew belonged to him.

I found a cold metal bench on a busy downtown street and sat down, placing the urn containing my mother's ashes carefully on my lap. The city noise was a dull roar around me. People rushed past, living their lives, while mine had just shattered into a million pieces.

I looked at the building across the street. A massive electronic billboard flickered to life. It was a business news segment. And there was Jake's face, smiling, confident, not a trace of the worry and exhaustion he always showed me.

The headline read: "Jake Miller, CEO of Miller Corp, Announces New Tech Partnership. A Vision for the Future."

Next to him in the photo was Chloe Adams, her hand possessively on his arm, smiling at the cameras. The report called her his "longtime business associate and companion."

The world tilted. It wasn't just a lie; it was a public spectacle. Everyone knew but me. I was the fool in his grand play.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out. The screen showed his name: "Jake."

I stared at it, my thumb hovering over the green icon. After a few rings, I answered, but I said nothing.

"Lily? Hey, baby. Sorry I missed you at the office," his voice was warm, intimate, the same voice he used every day. "Things have been crazy here. I was just about to call you."

Silence. I just listened, holding my breath.

"Lily? Are you there? Is everything okay?" He sounded a little anxious now. "Listen, I know I've been distant. I've been working on something big, something that's going to change everything for us. I promise."

The irony was a bitter taste in my mouth. He was preparing for his big reveal, the final act of his test.

"I need to tell you something, Lily. Something important," he began, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "The debt, the struggle... it's all about to be over. The truth is, I'm-"

I pressed the red button, ending the call.

I dropped the phone back into my purse. Then I stood up, holding the urn, and started walking without any destination in mind.

I walked for hours, until the city lights blurred and my legs ached. I finally stopped in a small, quiet park and sat on the damp grass.

Alone in the dark, I finally let go.

A sob tore through my chest, raw and ugly. I hugged the urn, my body shaking uncontrollably. My mother's sacrifice. Our shared struggle. The love I thought was real. It was all a joke. A sick, twisted game played by a rich man to test the quality of his potential property.

My mother died for a lie.

And I had been his willing, loving fool. The pain was so immense it felt like I was being hollowed out from the inside.