Chapter 1: The Grand Deception My wife’s business failed, wiping out our life savings. To lessen her burden, I started working three jobs, grinding day and night. As I was dangling from a harness, washing windows on the 30th floor, a birthday party was raging inside. I gazed in with envy, only to see my wife, Eleanor, pushing out a cake shaped like a giant stack of cash toward an elderly woman at the center of the room. Voices drifted through the glass. "A reservation here is nearly impossible to get, but Mrs. Nelson booked the entire floor for her mother-in-law's birthday!" "Just the cash she was handing out at the door must have been in the millions!" Suspended in mid-air, I froze. No one there knew that Mrs. Nelson's real mother-in-law had died in a hospital just the day before. When my own mother lay sick in her hospital bed, she gripped my hand, her voice a desperate plea. "Son, stop the treatments. I don't want to be another burden on you and Nora." I had frantically called Eleanor, begging her to let me use my own debit card—the one she held—to pay for Mom's medical bills. In the time it took me to turn away, my mother had thrown herself from the hospital roof. She had folded her jacket neatly, and on top, she’d placed a small, tidy stack of money. I picked it up with trembling hands. It was a mix of crumpled bills and loose change. All told, it was fifty-three dollars. I couldn't reach Eleanor. After a hasty, bare-bones funeral for my mother, I rushed back to this window-washing job. The pay was three hundred dollars an hour—enough to have fed our family for days, back when we had a family. So seeing Eleanor in this opulent, five-star hotel felt like a surreal nightmare. Was this woman, throwing away millions without a second thought, the same wife who ate plain noodle soup with me yesterday, wearing clothes patched at the elbows? A cold gust of wind whipped around me, and I shuddered. Mechanically, I pulled out my phone and called her again. As always, it went to voicemail. My co-worker saw the phone and gestured frantically, pulling me back up to the roof. The moment my feet hit the solid ground, a hard hat came flying at my face. "Playing on your phone while on the job? You got a death wish? You're fired!" The helmet grazed my forehead, leaving a stinging, bloody scratch. It hurt. This wasn't a dream. I stumbled downstairs in a daze, running right into a crowd of jubilant hotel staff. "Mrs. Nelson is handing out cash! Just say a lucky phrase and you get an envelope!" The banquet hall was a sea of glittering decorations and priceless artifacts. People around me were whispering that the decor alone had cost a small fortune. I pulled my face mask up tight and shuffled with the crowd toward the source of the commotion. When it was my turn, I looked at Eleanor, draped in a luxurious silk gown and dripping with jewels, standing next to the old woman. My throat went dry. "Wishing you... a long and happy life. Happy 60th birthday..." If my mother hadn't died, she would have turned sixty this year, too. Just a few days ago, Eleanor and I had been planning to take her out for a nice birthday dinner. My mom had just smiled, waving her hand dismissively, saying that paying off our debts was the best gift of all. Now, we were worlds apart. Eleanor didn't recognize my voice. She squinted, handing me a thick red envelope. "Here you go. Take it." My hand trembled as I took it. It was heavy with cash. A small fortune. The amount of money that could have saved my mother's life, and here Eleanor was, giving away hundreds of envelopes just like it. Someone in the jostling crowd bumped into me, and in front of everyone, I, in my filthy work clothes, fell to the floor. A sea of judgmental eyes stared down at me. A bitter taste filled my mouth. As I tried to scramble up, a hand reached out to me. "Are you all right?" I looked up. It was the other guest of honor—the old woman's son. And by a cruel twist of fate, I knew him. It was Adrian, the "good friend" who, according to Eleanor, had led her into the investment that bankrupted us. The man she'd trusted with our entire fortune, only to lose everything. But looking at them now, it was clear that the only ones who had lost everything were my mother and me. A flicker of sly malice crossed his eyes, so fast I almost missed it. I dodged his hand, trying to get up on my own, but a moment later, a foot kicked out from somewhere, and I was sent sprawling onto my back like an overturned beetle, becoming the center of attention. Even Eleanor looked over. As she started walking toward me, her heels clicking on the marble floor, I scrambled to my feet and fled. I couldn't bear for her to see me like this, so utterly pathetic. As I stepped out of the building, my phone buzzed. A new, unknown number had added me as a contact. I accepted, and a video immediately appeared. I pressed play. It was a grainy clip of Eleanor and Adrian, wrapped in each other's arms. Chapter 2: The Truth Revealed The man's deep voice cut through the silence. "How much longer are you going to play this game with that fool?" Eleanor let out a soft, cold laugh, and her words echoed in my ears, again and again. "If you hadn't dared me, I never would have been able to keep it up this long. Besides, the old hag is sick. If he knew I had money, who knows what he'd do to get it out of me." I froze. She knew. Eleanor knew my mother was sick. She had seen every single one of my desperate texts begging for money. She had seen them, and she had chosen to ignore them. I stumbled back to our apartment, a cramped basement unit, and laughed a bitter, hollow laugh. Should I praise her for her endurance? She had lived with me in a place like this for three years without complaint. Her act was flawless. Even living under the same roof as my mother, she was always smiling, always doting on her. She claimed her own parents had died, that she hadn't felt the warmth of a family in years, and that's why she cherished what we had. When her "business failed," I sold our house to pay her debts. My mother even sold the jade bracelet her own mother had passed down to her. I'll never forget the tears of gratitude streaming down Eleanor's face as she took the money, promising she was done with risky ventures, that she would settle down and build a life with me. Her tear-streaked face was a world away from the woman I saw today, beaming with laughter. Staring at the four walls of our tiny room, I finally broke, sobbing uncontrollably. Before I met Eleanor, I had a life I was proud of. I was the first person from my village to go to college, and once I had a foothold in the city, I brought my mother, my only family, to live with me. I met Eleanor at a company dinner. A senior executive was harassing her. She stood there in a faded, washed-out uniform, too timid to fight back. I used the excuse of a toast to pull the executive away, earning a grateful look from her. Later, my mom came to bring me lunch and saw Eleanor in the breakroom, chewing on a dry bread roll with a cup of cold water. From that day on, my mom always packed an extra meal for me to give to Eleanor. Our relationship bloomed naturally from there. Our wedding was simple, but Eleanor said it was the happiest day of her life. After we were married, she wanted to start her own business. Even when it failed and left us in debt, my mother and I were her staunchest supporters. And it was all a game. A game for the rich, and I was the only one who had played with a real heart. My mother, who loved her like a daughter, paid for it with her life. Before I could wipe my tears, the hospital called. "Mr. Hayes, your mother signed an organ donation agreement before her passing. We've found a suitable match. You should come say your final goodbye." Organ donation? When had my mother signed something like that? I rushed to the hospital, only to see Eleanor and Adrian stepping out of an ambulance at the entrance. She was rushing, her voice laced with panic. "My mother-in-law is type O. She just collapsed. I've already put out an alert to every hospital in the city for type O blood. We have to save her, no matter what it takes!" I stood frozen as she brushed past me. If she had only looked up, she would have seen me, a witness to her entire charade. But she didn't. Even knowing my mother was dying, waiting for the money that could have saved her, Eleanor's entire world revolved around Adrian's mother. With heavy steps, I walked to the morgue. The doctor and nurses were waiting. They showed me the donation form my mother had signed. "Mr. Hayes," the doctor said, patting my shoulder, "your mother was a truly noble woman. She did a wonderful thing. Her organs will save three families." I traced my mother's signature, each stroke a testament to her love. My eyes welled up. That little old lady from the countryside couldn't read or write. It had taken her ages, her hands tracing the characters over and over, just to learn how to write her own name. Now she was gone forever. Her body was so broken from the fall that I couldn't bear to look at it a second time. I couldn't hold it in any longer. I broke down, crying with everything I had. The doctor's own eyes grew moist. He didn't know how to comfort me, so he just squeezed my hand, a silent acknowledgment of my pain. After a long time, I wiped my tears and looked at the medical team. "I'm sorry. I'm holding you all up. Please, don't waste any more time. I know my mother would be happy, knowing she saved so many people." They all bowed, a silent, profound gesture of respect for my mother. Just as they were preparing to transport the organs, a man came running up. "Who is the family of the organ donor? Our CEO wants to purchase the donor's heart as a backup!"
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