Chapter 2

I wanted to ask Adriana why, to beg her not to go, and to come back and save Mom.

I called her over and over, but her phone was always off.

That day, I stood in the hospital hallway, pleading with the doctor to perform the surgery first.

I begged relatives and friends to lend me just a little more money. But no matter how hard I begged, I couldn't scrape together enough to save Mom.

In desperation, I had no choice but to take out a loan from a loan shark.

By the time I finally made it back with the money clutched in my hands, Mom was already lying in the hospital bed. The pain had been so unbearable that she had torn through the sheets with her bare hands.

In her final moments, she was barely conscious. Even so, she still held my hand in a death grip and whispered through shallow, fading breaths, "D-Don't tell Ariana. She's still at her interview. Don't let her get distracted."

Mom's body grew colder and colder. She died believing that Adriana had simply gone to a job interview.

I didn't have the heart to tell her the truth. Adriana never went to any interview. Instead, she had used the 300 thousand dollars as capital to reclaim the Hampton family's billions of dollars in assets held overseas.

I imagined the lights of Reedster must have been dazzling that night, so dazzling they lit up Adriana's brilliant future. And the only chip she put down was Mom's life, one that could have been saved.

"Mr. Graham, Ms. Hampton said that since you're so noble, you can just stay poor."

Brenda had turned back. Pinching her nose in disgust, she fished the black card out of the trash can. Then, she wiped it down with a tissue.

"Some people are just born to be poor. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear."

Once she left, the Maybach let out a low roar and disappeared into the distance.

Only after watching the taillights disappear around the street corner did I finally let out a long, heavy breath. Then, I fished a cheap cigarette from my pocket and lit it, taking a long, hard drag.

"Mr. Finley, I'm sorry for causing you trouble."

Mr. Finley sighed and patted me on the shoulder. "Don't be ridiculous. Just clock out and go home. Get some sleep."

I changed out of my work uniform.

I waited until I was sure the Maybach didn't turn back before I dared to head back to my dark and damp basement.

The place never saw a hint of sunlight. The walls were peeling, and the air hung heavy with the smell of mold.

But as soon as I reached the mouth of the alley, I stopped dead in my tracks.

That familiar Maybach was parked right in front of the basement's rusted iron door.

Adriana was leaning against the car door with her arms crossed, her expression cold and impassive.

I hadn't seen her for three years, and the naive girl I remembered was gone. Dressed in an expensive tailored suit, she was poised, aloof, and strikingly elegant.

Now she was the hot rising business star of Alvera, the prodigy who had clawed back her family billions in assets. Meanwhile, I was just a worn-out convenience store clerk.

She furrowed her brow and swept her gaze across the filthy, rundown alley before finally settling her eyes on my face.

The first words out of her mouth dripped with condescension.

"Isaac, this is where you're having Mrs. Graham stay?" She straightened up, her voice thick with disgust. "This is what you call taking good care of her?"

Did she really just ask me that?

She was the one who got Mom killed, and yet she had the nerve to ask me why I didn't take good care of Mom?

Who the hell did she think she was? Some kind of savior?

"Ms. Hampton, are you here to inspect how the common folk live? Well, now that you've seen how filthy it is, can you get the hell out?" I said coldly, stepping around her to unlock the door.