Share

Chapter 3

Author: Bonnie
While I slept four hours a night in a damp basement apartment, Adrian had been returning to the Whitmore estate.

So for five years, I was the only one who had suffered.

Across the room, Adrian sighed.

“Evelyn is still my wife,” he said. “I loved her. I wasn’t going to leave her alone in that condition.”

Madison gave a soft laugh. “How noble of you.”

“It was only supposed to be five years,” Adrian said. “Hard to believe it’s almost over.”

Almost over.

To him, five years had passed quickly.

To me, every day had felt endless.

I thought of hotel bathrooms at dawn, of scrubbing marble floors on my knees while guests stepped around me without looking down. I thought of winter nights outside private clubs, carrying trays with numb fingers, smiling while Madison’s friends spilled wine on purpose and complained loudly enough for my manager to hear.

Madison had made sure I got the worst shifts.

And Adrian called it perspective.

A punishment.

Across from him, Madison leaned closer. “So, do I get thanked for doing my part?”

Adrian reached into his jacket and placed a small velvet box on the table.

“For your trouble.”

Madison opened it and gasped.

“Oh my God. The Cartier watch?”

My chest went cold.

I knew that watch.

Five years ago, I had seen it in a boutique window on Madison Avenue. A slim gold Cartier watch with a square face and a black leather strap. I had joked to Adrian that one day, when everything was easy, he could buy it for me as a birthday gift.

He had smiled then and said it was too extravagant.

Later, my parents said the same.

Too expensive. Too unnecessary. Too much.

Back then, I had not known that asking for that watch would become part of their proof that I was spoiled, greedy, and deserving of punishment.

But now Madison had it in her hand.

Madison, who had spent five years helping him break me.

She fastened it around her wrist and held it up to the light. “It’s beautiful.”

Adrian smiled. “You earned it.”

Something inside me snapped.

My chair scraped hard against the floor as I stood.

The sound cut through the restaurant.

Adrian turned.

The color drained from his face.

“Evelyn?”

I pulled off my cap and walked straight to his table.

“Was it fun?” My voice shook. “Watching me struggle for five years? Was it fun pretending you had nothing?”

Madison’s smile vanished.

Adrian stood quickly and reached for my arm. “Not here.”

I shoved his hand away.

“Why?” I demanded. “Because people might hear?”

Several tables had gone quiet.

Adrian lowered his voice. “Evelyn, calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down.” My eyes burned. “You told me my parents were dead. You told me Liz was dead. You told me you lost your family because of me.”

His jaw tightened.

“I can explain.”

“Explain what?” I laughed, but it came out broken. “That they were overseas the whole time? That Liz was spending your money while I counted coins for groceries? That you went home every night while I thought you were working dangerous jobs just to keep us alive?”

Madison stood, embarrassed and angry. “Evelyn, you’re making a scene.”

I turned on her. “And you helped.”

She lifted her chin. “Adrian was trying to teach you a lesson.”

A lesson.

The word made the room blur.

I grabbed the edge of the table to steady myself, but Adrian mistook it for weakness and tried again to pull me away.

“Let’s go outside,” he said through clenched teeth.

I looked at him, tears spilling before I could stop them.

“Tell me why,” I said. “Just tell me why you all hated me enough to do this.”
Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App

Latest chapter

  • The Debt Was Fake, But My Death Was Real   Chapter 9

    Madison came to the estate the next morning.Her makeup was perfect, but her hands shook when security let her into the foyer.“Adrian, please,” she said. “My father’s company is collapsing. You have to tell them I didn’t know how far it went.”Adrian looked at her for a long time.“You knew enough.”“I was helping you.”“You were helping yourself.”Madison’s eyes filled with angry tears. “You said she would forgive you.”Adrian’s face twisted.“She died before I even asked.”Madison had no reply to that.He told security to take her out.It did not save him.Nothing did.After that, the estate changed.My mother stopped sleeping. She carried my letter from room to room until the edges wore soft. Sometimes she sat outside my old bedroom and whispered apologies through the closed door, as if I were still inside, angry but alive, waiting to be coaxed out.My father became quiet in a way that frightened the staff. He met with lawyers, bankers, investigators. He signed emergency documents

  • The Debt Was Fake, But My Death Was Real   Chapter 8

    The attorney arrived before noon.By then, the police had taken my bag, my phone, and the clinic papers. My body was gone, but the stain on the marble remained. The staff had scrubbed until the floor shone, yet under the right light, a faint shadow still marked the place where I had fallen.The dining room chairs remained untouched.My father stood at the head of the table while the attorney spread out the documents. My mother stayed beside him, clutching my letter until the folds softened. Adrian stood near the window, silent.The attorney looked tired.“Liz used more than one channel,” he said. “Private lenders, casino brokers, offshore intermediaries. Some guarantees were signed against future trust distributions. Some against personal assets. A few involve company shares.”My father’s voice was flat. “How bad is it?”The attorney hesitated.That was enough.“If the creditors move together,” he said, “Whitmore Group could lose liquidity within days.”My mother shook her head. “Liz w

  • The Debt Was Fake, But My Death Was Real   Chapter 7

    For a long time, no one opened the envelope.It lay on the coffee table, old and thin, the tape on the flap yellowed from being pressed down too many times. My handwriting sat across the front.Liz — Private Records.My mother stared at it until her breathing steadied.“What is that?” she asked.My father reached for it, then stopped, his hand hovering above the paper. I wondered if he already knew. Not the details, perhaps, but the shape of the truth. Some part of him must have understood that a dead daughter did not carry a file like that for nothing.Adrian stood behind him, silent.Finally, my father opened it.The first paper was enough to drain the color from his face.A casino marker from Atlantic City. Six hundred and twenty thousand dollars, signed by Liz Whitmore.My mother leaned closer. “That can’t be right.”My father did not answer. He unfolded the next page and found a private credit agreement, collateral listed in neat legal language: jewelry, future trust distributions

  • The Debt Was Fake, But My Death Was Real   Chapter 6

    The house did not feel like a home anymore.It became a scene.Police moved through the foyer with gloves and quiet voices. The waiver went into an evidence bag. Someone photographed the blood on the marble before the staff could clean it. When the paramedics wheeled my body out, my mother tried to follow.My father held her back.For the first time in my memory, she fought him.“Let me go,” she sobbed. “That’s my daughter.”He did not answer. His arms stayed around her, but his eyes followed the stretcher until it disappeared through the front doors.Adrian stood at the foot of the stairs, staring at the place where I had fallen. The blood had smeared when they moved me. Against the white marble, it looked almost black.The detective questioned him near the fireplace.“When did she begin vomiting blood?”“Last night.”“Why didn’t you call emergency services then?”Adrian’s throat moved.“I thought she was trying to scare me.”The detective looked at him for a long moment.My mother he

  • The Debt Was Fake, But My Death Was Real   Chapter 5

    I did not know how long I lay there.Time felt different after death. I could no longer feel the cold marble beneath me, but I could still see the foyer, the blood on the floor, and Adrian standing above my body as if he were waiting for me to give up the act.Death had taken my voice and left me only enough awareness to watch what came after.Adrian did not call for help right away.“Enough, Evelyn,” he said, pale but stubborn. “Your parents will be here in the morning. Stop this now.”He still thought I was pretending.When the housekeeper came, she gasped at the blood, but Adrian cut her off.“She’s trying to scare us. Help me move her.”So they lifted my body from the marble and laid me on the sitting-room sofa. My head fell to one side, one arm hanging stiffly against the cushion, blood drying dark on my sleeve.Adrian paced until morning.Just after six, the front doors opened.My mother walked in first, wrapped in a camel coat, her expression already tired from a night of travel

  • The Debt Was Fake, But My Death Was Real   Chapter 4

    Adrian’s face darkened.“No wonder you asked about Liz earlier,” he said. “You heard me on the phone.”He grabbed my wrist again, harder this time, and tried to pull me toward the exit.Before we reached the door, a waiter hurried over with the leather bill folder.“Ma’am, I’m sorry, but your table hasn’t been closed out yet.”Adrian stopped. “What table?”The waiter glanced at me. “The tasting menu and wine pairing. Total is twelve hundred and forty dollars.”Adrian’s eyes turned cold at once.“You ordered a twelve-hundred-dollar dinner?” he said under his breath. “After five years, you still don’t understand how hard money is to earn?”People nearby began to stare.He did not pay immediately. He let the silence stretch until my face went white with humiliation, then finally took out a black card and handed it to the waiter.Madison watched from behind him, smiling faintly.Outside the restaurant, the cold air hit my face. Before I could speak, Madison followed us out.“Evelyn,” she s

More Chapters
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status