Introduction

The hospital air was cold, the envelope in my trembling hands heavy with the thirty thousand dollars – every penny my mother and I had scraped together to save her.

But the bed was empty. The nurse' s soft words, "She' s gone," shattered my world.

Then came the note, her shaky handwriting revealing a truth more devastating than death: She' d endured unbearable pain, not for a cure, but to save money for Jake, for my freedom.

Clutching her ashes, I arrived at Jake' s office, the "good man who' d just lost his way."

Then I heard it-voices from the conference room: my creditor, Chloe Adams, and Jake' s cold, analytical voice.

"You can' t have a gold digger for a wife," Chloe purred.

And Jake' s reply, chilling me to the bone: "Next, I need to know if she' s truly devoted to me... If she still loves me and not my money, then I' ll marry her."

My mother died for a lie.

His "struggle," our sacrifices, our love – it was all a cruel, elaborate test.

A game.

He was the CEO of Miller Corp, a billionaire, and I was just a lab rat in his sick experiment.

I walked out, leaving him, his lies, and the ruins of my life behind.

I will never look back.