“Here, take, see for yourself.” Edward picked the phone up again. He stretched it to Williams.For a brief second, Williams didn’t move. It felt like whatever sat behind that screen carried a weight he wasn’t ready to bear.Williams’ heart pounded. He stretched his two hands like a humble servant and collected the phone.On the screen, he saw it. The play icon in white color. Waiting. Silent.He looked at Edward once more, searching for something. Denial, hesitation, anything. Edward didn’t say a word. He simply nodded.That silent confirmation tightened something in Williams’ chest.William’s hand shook. The expression on Edward’s face made his heart pound even more.He pressed the play icon. His eyes widened immediately. His legs buckled.“What?” he exclaimed.He’d seen it. Lucas, his son, in a strange apartment he’d never been to before. Standing in front of Judy, his wife. His own mother.For a second, his mind refused to connect what his eyes were seeing.He’d seen her face. Terr

Lucas turned at the sharp corner around the station, his shoes scraping harshly against the rough ground as he forced his body to move faster than it wanted to.He knew it.He was a citizen of Greenfield. It was not his first time in this area. He knew where and where to run to. He knew the blind spots, the narrow cuts between buildings, the shortcuts that only someone familiar with the place could use. How to blend with the shadows of the buildings and escape being arrested.But familiarity did not slow the fear clawing at his chest. If anything, it made him more aware of how little space he had left.He was breathing heavily, running in the middle of two buildings. Not looking back. Breathing in and out with his mouth, each inhale sharp, each exhale desperate. His lungs burned, but he did not dare slow down.Behind him, distant footsteps and the faint echo of engines reminded him that stopping was not an option.Suddenly, a police SUV tire screeched and blocked the exit.The sound c

Williams’ heart raced. The last time he saw Liam face to face was when the Williams House International was still his.Even now, that memory did not come gently. It crashed into him, vivid and uninvited.He remembered it like yesterday.It was the day of the board meeting. He’d been looking for investors to save the company. His company. The legacy he had built with years of sacrifice.He’d gotten it back then.The notification. A certain unknown investor had come into the company. Bought over half of the shares and saved the company from bankruptcy.At that moment, it had felt like a miracle.He’d been happy. He’d dressed up really smart and cute and headed into the boardroom, hope burning in his chest. Only to see it.Liam.The hope had died instantly.He was the unknown investor. He sacked him instantly as the investor with the majority power and demoted him to be the janitor of his company.The fall had been too fast. Too brutal. One moment he was at the top, the next he was nothi

Betty sighed heavily on the chair. The moment Lucas was stepping on the bus, it was aired on TV.She’d remembered it.All the time she was cheating on Liam, all the time they were alone in the room and they were having intimacy with each other. The memories did not come gently. They pressed against her chest, one after the other, forcing her to relive every choice she had made.She sighed again.“Truly, there is nothing in this world.” she muttered, her tone low.“Everything you have, or that you think you have can be taken from you.” she rose to her feet, the weight of her own words settling deep within her.Her heart ached.For weeks, she’d not gotten over the fact that Liam had not reconsidered to help her family. Every passing day had only made the silence from him louder, heavier, more suffocating.Her heart pounded.But seeing what Lucas did, as the newscaster had narrated it, forced a different realization into her mind. It shifted something in her thoughts, something she had r

Betty scurried to her feet. She hadn’t expected it.The reaction hit her too fast for her mind to catch up.Earlier on, back at her home, she’d thought it. That she’d sit at the edge of a patient. She’d smile towards him or her. She’d introduce herself and inform them about her willingness to render financial help covering their hospital bills.She’d thought about it.She had rehearsed it. Over and over again.She’d seen it like a vision.The gentle smiles on their faces.The applause with their bandaged hands. Their prayers and the smiles from the staff.Everything had played out perfectly in her head.But the very first patient she approached asked her to get out?The words didn’t just surprise her. They cut through the version of reality she had carefully built.She widened her face in a smile though her heart ached.She forced it to stay. She forced herself to stay.She approached the nearest bed. Sat at the edge of it.“How are you and how are you feeling?”The patient turned to