Chapter 2

"Adrian's already under enough pressure. We shouldn't make things harder for him. When do you need us to leave?"

Sabrina blinked, momentarily thrown off.

But her practiced smile returned almost immediately.

"Mr. Preston's thinking is... the sooner the better."

"Ideally today."

"Today?!"

My mother's voice trembled.

"But today is my birthday..."

"I'm truly sorry, ma'am."

Sabrina bowed deeply to my mother. But I caught the cold look in her eyes. There wasn't a trace of remorse.

"I hope you'll understand. Mr. Preston doesn’t have a choice, either."

I clenched my fists, my nails biting into my palms.

It was Thanksgiving, and my mother's birthday.

Adrian had sent her two cheap, store-bought pies, and now his assistant was telling us to leave our own home before the day was over?

No, this was nothing like Adrian at all.

The floating comments had to be telling the truth.

"Fine."

I took a slow breath and kept my voice perfectly steady.

"We'll move."

After Sabrina left, my father paced the living room, his face dark with anger.

"How did Adrian become someone like this?!"

My mother sat on the couch, quietly dabbing at her tears.

There was nothing I could explain. If I told them the truth, they'd think I'd gone crazy.

Still, Adrian had always treated my parents well.

Even as they grumbled, they clung to the belief that they shouldn't cause him any trouble and started packing their clothes anyway.

Watching them bustle around with their backs to me, I quietly opened the recording on my phone.

I'd left it running the entire time, and it had captured every single word Sabrina had said while ordering us out in Adrian's name.

I backed it up to the cloud, then saved another copy to an encrypted drive.

By the time my parents finished packing, it was already night.

I went straight to a real estate agency.

The moment the agent saw my parents, he shook his head.

"I don't rent to elderly people. If something happens to them in my place, I'll be the one held responsible."

I tried a dozen places. Every landlord turned us down for the same reason.

Only one kind-hearted landlord was willing to rent to us. But the apartment was on the sixth floor of a walk-up, and with my mother's heart condition, there was no way she could manage all those stairs.

The agent told us there was nothing he could do.

My father lugged our bags around, breathing hard, his shirt already soaked through with sweat.

My mother spoke softly.

"Nessa, let's not look anymore tonight. We could stay at a hotel and figure things out tomorrow."

I nodded and agreed.

We checked into the nearest hotel. The front desk said they only had one standard room left, $380 a night.

I pulled out my bank card and handed it over.

The clerk swiped it on the reader, then paused, her expression shifting.

"Sorry, ma'am, this card has been frozen."

My stomach dropped. How could that be? Adrian had given me this card before leaving for his trip, specifically for emergencies. He'd told me it was a black card with no spending limit.

I handed the card over again.

"Miss, could you try again? Maybe the first transaction didn't go through."

The clerk was about to take it back when a familiar voice came from behind me.

"Mrs. Preston, I thought I'd find you here."

I turned. Sabrina stood in the hotel lobby, car keys in hand, wearing that same carefully composed smile. Seeing me turn, she walked over quickly, putting on a concerned expression.

"Mrs. Preston, please don't misunderstand. I came to explain what happened with your card."

"Mr. Preston says money's tight on the overseas project, so all the domestic cards are being temporarily suspended. He asked me to let you know and to be patient until things settle down."