Chapter 1

I was working as a real estate agent.

Mom came to me in private, asking me to sell her condo.

"Your dad’s business is hitting a rough patch. I want to give him some financial support."

That condo was left to Mom by Grandma Rose, precisely so Mom would always have a little sanctuary of her own.

Now, for Dad's sake, Mom was selling her only sanctuary for dirt cheap.

A buyer reached out to me almost immediately.

The woman said over the phone,

"Hi, could you hold the condo for me? My man wants to buy it for me as a surprise on my birthday next week."

I caught a glimpse of her phone screen. Her wallpaper was a couple's photo with her "man."

I froze.

It was my dad.

I forced a smile and nodded at her.

"Of course. I look forward to seeing your man next week."

After that, I double-checked the buyer's paperwork with her just to be certain.

"Could you leave your contact info and the buyer's details so I can officially reserve it for you?"

When I saw the name and details she filled out, they matched my dad down to every single syllable.

My heart sank into my stomach. It really was my father, Richard Miller.

The woman handed the paperwork back with a beaming smile.

"Young man, I hope you treat your future partner just as well. It’s not easy being a woman in this world."

"Next week is my thirty-fifth birthday. He promised me that whatever I want, he’ll give it to me."

"This condo might be a little dated, but it’s right downtown. A quick remodel, and it’ll be our perfect little love nest!"

Her "sweet" words felt like poison needles jabbing right into my heart.

The sanctuary Grandma Rose left Mom on her deathbed...

Dad was turning it into a trophy for his mistress.

I swallowed the bile rising in my throat and probed gently.

"What if... what if your man can’t pull together that much cash?"

"No offense, of course. Two million dollars isn't pocket change. If something falls through at closing, it’d be a mess..."

The woman burst out laughing, like I’d just told the funniest joke on earth.

"If he couldn’t cough up two million, why on earth would I be with him?"

"Honey, between you and me, his company just closed several massive deals. He’s rolling in cash!"

With that, she casually flicked her wrist, showing off her Van Cleef & Arpels bracelet.

"See this?" she flaunted with a smug smirk. "He bought it for me last weekend just because."

I stared at the bracelet, a wave of cold fury nearly swallowing me whole.

"Your man sounds very romantic," I said, my voice tight. "For my mom's last birthday, my dad gave her a cheap thermos from a grocery store sale."

She raised an eyebrow, dripping with condescension.

"Well, a man knows who's worth spending money on."

She stroked her new bracelet.

"Last week, I offhandedly said I wanted omakase, and he immediately booked a two-thousand-dollar tasting menu. Has your mother ever seen a restaurant like that in her entire life?"

My stomach churned violently.

Last month on Mom’s birthday, Dad claimed he was buried in client meetings and told her to just boil some instant noodles.

I took a deep breath, forcing down the urge to scream at her.

"He sounds very attentive."

I plastered on a professional salesman's smile. "I’ll have the contracts ready for next week, then."

She flipped her hair proudly. Just then, her phone buzzed with an incoming text.

She glanced down, her lips curling into a coquettish pout.

"Ugh, he’s rushing me to test-drive cars."

She deliberately angled the screen toward me.

"He insists on getting me a new Porsche. Says my old ride doesn’t match my status anymore."

On her screen, Dad’s contact name was saved as "Hubby ❤️." His last message was a pinned location at the Porsche dealership.

My fingernails dug into my palms until they nearly drew blood.

Yesterday, Mom had asked him to give her a ride to drop off her broken electric scooter. He snapped at her, saying he had an urgent client to meet.

The woman strutted out, leaving a suffocating trail of expensive perfume in her wake.

Before she left, I added her on Instagram under the pretense of "keeping in touch for the closing."

That night, her Instagram updated.

[Test drive surprise! Someone said white matches my new designer dress perfectly 🤍]

The picture was Dad, smiling as he held the Porsche door open for her inside the dealership showroom.

I scrolled down.

Last Wednesday: [Late night gourmet delivery ❤️]

Dad was wearing an apron, cooking a seafood feast in a luxury kitchen.

When Mom’s arthritis flared up and she couldn't get out of bed to cook, he told her to just eat cup noodles and deal with it.

Last Sunday: [Unboxing day!]

Piles of luxury designer shopping bags covering a velvet couch.

During that exact week, our home bank records showed he refused to chip in five hundred bucks to replace Mom’s dying refrigerator.

In every photo, Dad looked so deeply in love and completely carefree.

A complete stranger compared to the haggard, stressed-out man who came home groaning that "business was failing and money was tight."

I screenshotted every single post and saved them to a cloud folder.

Suddenly, my phone vibrated. Dad was calling.

"Chase, any news on the condo?"

His voice sounded weary and exhausted. "Your mom has been nagging me nonstop. Talk to her. Tell her to be patient."

I stared at the photo of him wrapping his arm around his mistress by the sports car.

"Dad," I asked quietly, "what time are you coming home tonight? Mom made your favorite pot roast."

He paused for a beat.

"I can’t. Entertaining a big client tonight." He sighed heavily. "You know how brutal the market is right now."

He hung up.

I opened Mom's latest Instagram post.

It was a picture of her standing in front of our battered, buzzing fridge.

Her caption read:

[The fridge finally died. The meat is starting to spoil... Does anyone know a trick to save it?]

The top comment was from Dad:

[Don't be wasteful. Just boil it twice and it's fine to eat.]

I saved the screenshots and locked my phone.

Next week, at the contract signing, I was going to hand him a "birthday gift" of his own.

One with enough weight to crush him completely.