Five Years, A Million Lies

uiet of my tiny room. It was Liam. His name on the screen used to make my stomach flutter

nsw

s voice a raw, broken thin

s wrong? Wh

the line. "It's all

gone? Ta

a poker game. They set me up. They said it was just a

it faded. "How much?" I as

ade me sign papers... Chloe,

s his only inheritance, the one place he ever felt safe.

his voice cracking completely. "I c

t the house, but the shattered p

are you

esn't

led, already on my feet, pulli

mumbled. "The one

ne wen

frantic jumble, telling them a man was suicidal at the

chattering. "A lot. For a plane t

ght in my pocket. I landed in the gray, pre-dawn light and took a taxi straight to th

him back from the edge just as he was about to jum

five ye

tess at a high-end nightclub, smiling at drunk men and counting tips until my fingers we

of Liam' s mistake. That was the debt

My hands were shaking, not from exhaustion, but from relief. It was over. We

rom inside the room,

t go of Chloe Davis?" It was a

e. Mr.

it was colder than I' d ever

am said. "Her? Do

ushed. "Five years is a lo

idn't recognize. "A scholarship student who always stole Ashley Thompson'

gh school rival. The girl who had everyth

layed her for five years, al

practically hear the smirk in his voice. "She w

ainst the wall, the receipt s

w. Ashley's happy. What's next? I heard she wants

vely. "Maybe I'll make Chloe pay fo

my sacrifice, my love... it was all a lie. A game.

void. I made it to the staff locker room a

tantly switching back to the loving, gentle t

to say, my voice a hol

w you could do it. I'll be

g. So perfect. The lies dr

u, Liam?" I

hat are you talking a

oy I loved was a poor orphan. His name was Liam Mille

ed. The man I had saved, the man I had sacrificed everything for, didn't exis

e flat, stripped of all pretense. The war

word,"

was an inconvenience. "Look, it got out of

ry. He wasn't

red. "You took five

our bad choices on me. You could have left anytime. But you liked being t

ed to the floor. The sound was distant,

million dollars of my

s the pu