Tales From A Not-so-fabulous Life Novels & Stories

BENEATH THE FACADE Behind the façade of wealth and power, a web of secrets awaits. Chapter 40 Caleb's POV: A few days later, he brought it up like it was nothing. We were sitting in his aunt’s backyard, two plastic chairs sunk into dry soil, the scent of grilled meat hanging in the air. He leaned forward, his voice low, like he was letting me in on a secret the world wasn’t ready to hear yet. “There’s this tech startup I’m backing,” he said, wiping his fingers with a napkin. “Young guys, brilliant minds. I believe in them. Big future.”

With that black mark on my record, I wouldn't be able to find a job anywhere, so I'd fall behind on rent, get evicted, starve on the streets, and finally die without so much as a grave. I frowned at the comments. I was the only son and sole heir of the Stein family—the wealthiest family in the country. Even if I got fired, I'd just go home and take over the family business. How could I possibly starve and die on the streets? And as for Charmaine, the so-called leading female character, she was the one who pursued me first. Besides, as the scion of the Stein family, I could have any woman I wanted. Why would I fixate on just one?

Gray dawn leaked through the thin, yellowed curtains like spilled dishwater. Marc Evans—Martin Ostin no longer—woke on the thin mattress laid directly on the concrete floor. His back ached from the lack of support, his quads burned from yesterday’s impromptu trial, and his right calf twitched with the memory of every sprint. The one-room apartment smelled of damp concrete, yesterday’s takeout grease, and the faint metallic tang of old pipes. No marble corridors. No quiet staff gliding past with fresh towels. No legacy pressing against his lungs like humidity.