Five Years, A Million Lies

“The phone buzzed, a jarring sound, and it was Liam. His voice, once a comfort, was now a broken mess, choked out words about losing everything in a high-stakes poker game-including his grandma' s house. I abandoned my college dreams, moved to the coast, and spent five grueling years as a nightclub hostess, saving every dollar to pay off his million-dollar debt. But then, the final payment made, I overheard a conversation. It wasn' t a mistake. It was a five-year-long, cruel game orchestrated by Liam and my high school rival, Ashley Thompson, to punish me for being a scholarship student who always came first. Heartbreakingly, a familiar voice, his, dripped with malice: "It was Ashley's idea. She wanted to punish her. And I owed Ashley a favor." My world tilted. The love, the sacrifice, all a twisted lie. When I confronted him, his voice, stripped of pretense, confirmed my worst fears, "You gave them. Don't pin your bad choices on me. You liked being the hero, didn't you?" Later, Ashley came to my door, demanding a five-million-dollar necklace as "repayment" for my academic success, threatening my ailing mother. Then, a "staged" car accident left me bruised, and Liam, ever the actor, rushed me to the ER, only to abandon me for Ashley' s dinner reservation. My mother, manipulated by Ashley' s lies, died tragically trying to escape the nursing home. Liam, once again, dismissed my grief as an inconvenience. I couldn't fathom the depths of their depravity. Why me? Why such calculated cruelty? What kind of monster would use love as a weapon and sacrifice an innocent life for a twisted game? With nothing left but a box of ashes and a broken heart, I booked a one-way ticket to the UK, determined to reclaim my life, to find out who Chloe Davis truly was beyond their game.”