ty memories. Nathan’s heart felt like it was being squeezed by a giant hand as he looked around the single room. There was no bed, only a thin, frayed mat on a dirt floor and a plastic bucket for water in the corner. It was a space smaller than the walk-in closet in Nathan’s luxury penthouse.
“You’ve lived here for years?” Nathan asked, his voice thick with a pain that no amount of success could soothe.
Elias didn’t answer right away. Instead, he knelt on the mat and reached under a loose board, pulling out an old rusted metal box.
“Your mother told you I was a thief who stole the family savings,” Elias began, his hands shaking as he gripped the box. “But the truth is, I discovered she was the one taking the money. She was siphoning funds from our small company to pay for a lifestyle I couldn’t yet provide.”
Nathan felt the floor of his mind shift. He remembered the stories his mother, Patricia, had told him about her struggle to keep them afloat after the betrayal.
“When I confronted her, she didn’t apologize,” Elias continued, his green eyes reflecting the dim light of a single flickering bulb. “She told me she had already forged my signature on the bank documents. She said if I didn’t leave the state and stay dead to the world, she would call the police and have me arrested for embezzlement.”
Nathan gripped the edge of a wobbly wooden table to steady himself.
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