Chapter 1: The Five-Year Masquerade
The rain in Greenwich, Connecticut, doesn’t wash anything clean; it just makes the dirt harder to spot.
I sat behind the wheel of my old 2015 Honda Civic, the wipers screeching across the glass like some dying animal. Next to me, Jessica was typing away furiously on her phone, the blue light illuminating the scowl that had become a permanent fixture on her face.
“Liam, seriously,” she snapped, not even bothering to look up. “Park in the back. If the Valentinos see this piece of junk in their driveway, they’ll think the help is here. It’s bad enough I had to beg for a plus-one.”
I gripped the steering wheel so tight my knuckles turned white. “It’s a charity gala, Jess. It’s about the cause, not the cars.”
“Easy for you to say,” she scoffed, finally meeting my eyes. Her eyes were striking—piercing blue, the kind that had drawn me in five years ago at a coffee shop in Brooklyn. Back then, I believed they held depth. Now, I saw them for what they truly were: mirrors, reflecting only what she wanted to possess. “You’ve been ‘working on your startup’ for five years, Liam. Meanwhile, I’m trying to network with real high-net-worth individuals. This party is my chance at a promotion at the agency. Don’t mess this up for me.”
I swallowed the bitter taste rising in my throat. “I won’t, Jess. I promise.”
If only she knew.
She didn’t know that the “Valentino Estate” we were pulling up to wasn’t some random client of hers. It was the Van Der Hoven estate.
My family’s estate.
And she had no clue that Liam “the struggling IT guy” was actually Liam Van Der Hoven, the sole heir to a multi-billion-dollar shipping and real estate empire.
Five years ago, after my last fiancée had left me the moment my stock portfolio took a temporary dip, I made a vow: I would find someone who loved me for who I was, not the zeros in my bank account. I created an alias. I rented a studio apartment in Queens with peeling paint and unreliable heating. I drove this Honda. I budgeted for groceries.
And I met Jessica.
For a while, it seemed real. She was ambitious, funny, and seemed to care. But as the years went by and my “success” didn’t arrive fast enough for her, the mask started to slip. She became cruel, impatient. She started staying out late. She hid her phone screens.
Tonight was supposed to be the end of the test.
I had the ring in my pocket. A real one this time—a four-carat vintage diamond that had belonged to my grandmother. Not the cubic zirconia promise ring I’d given her two years ago. I was going to reveal everything tonight. I was going to tell her the struggle was over, that we had won, that the empire was ours.
But as we sat at the massive iron gates, a cold knot formed in my stomach.
“Name?” the security guard barked through the intercom.
“Jessica Miller,” she said, lowering her voice to sound sultry. “And… guest.”
The gate buzzed open. I drove up the winding driveway, lined with century-old oaks that bent in the storm. The manor ahead loomed like a beast of stone and glass, glowing with golden light.
“Drop me off at the portico,” Jessica ordered. “Then park the car at the service entrance. Walk back. And for God’s sake, Liam, try not to look so… poor.”
I pulled up. Valets in white jackets rushed to open doors of Bentleys and Rolls-Royces. I stopped the Honda.
Jessica didn’t wait for a kiss. She didn’t say “I love you.” She opened the door, unfurled her umbrella, and stepped out into the dry safety of the overhang.
“Don’t take too long,” she hissed over her shoulder. “And don’t speak to anyone unless they speak to you first. I need to find the host.”
I watched her walk away, her red dress trailing behind her like a stream of blood.
“Yes, ma’am,” I whispered to the empty car.
I didn’t head to the service entrance. Instead, I drove the Honda right up to the main valet stand, directly behind a shiny new McLaren.
The young valet looked confused, stepping forward to wave me away. “Sir, deliveries are—”
Then he saw my face.
The color drained from the kid’s cheeks. He recognized me instantly. I had grown up in this house. I knew every member of the staff by name.
“Mr… Mr. Liam?” the valet stammered, frozen in the rain. “We… we didn’t know you were coming back. Your parents are in Zurich. We thought—”
I raised a finger, silencing him. “Keep it quiet, Danny. Treat this car like it’s the McLaren. Park it up front.”
Danny nodded vigorously. “Yes, sir. Welcome home, sir.”
I stepped out into the rain. I didn’t use an umbrella. I let the water soak through my cheap suit, letting the cold sharpen my senses. I needed to stay clear-headed for what was coming.
I walked up the massive stone steps, my heart pounding, but not with excitement—dread. I had a plan. I would find Jessica, pull her aside into the library—my favorite room—and tell her the truth. I would watch her face. If she showed relief, if she showed love, we would be married. If she showed greed…
Well, I didn’t want to think about that.
I reached the heavy oak doors. They swung open, releasing the sound of a string quartet and the hum of the ultra-wealthy.
I stepped into the foyer, warm with the scent of lilies and expensive cologne. Guests were mingling, holding flutes of champagne.
I scanned the crowd for the red dress.
I didn’t see her in the ballroom. I didn’t see her by the bar.
Then, I heard a voice. It was coming from the East Wing, near the small private sitting room we used for family gatherings—a place off-limits to regular guests.
It was Jessica’s voice. And she was screaming.
Chapter 2: The Shattered Glass
The East Wing was meant to be a sanctuary. It was where my sister, Mia, spent most of her time.
Mia was twenty-two, though she looked much younger. A rare autoimmune disorder kept her confined to a wheelchair most days, her energy low, her body delicate. She was the kindest soul I knew, the only person who knew about my “Project True Love” experiment. She had warned me about Jessica months ago.
“She looks at you like you’re a stepping stone, Liam,” Mia had said. “Not a destination.”
I had brushed it off back then. I wasn’t brushing it off now.
I moved silently across the marble floors, the wet soles of my shoes making faint squeaks, but the noise of the party drowned me out. As I drew closer to the sitting room, the voices became clearer.
“I don’t care who you think you are!” Jessica’s voice was sharp and ugly. “I asked for sparkling water with lime. This is tap water! It’s warm!”
My blood turned to ice.
I reached the open doorway and stopped, hidden in the shadows of the hall behind a large potted fern, the dim lighting keeping me out of view.
Jessica stood in the center of the room, looking perfect on the outside—her hair styled to perfection, her dress clinging to every curve. But her face was twisted into a mask of entitlement.
And sitting in front of her, near the fireplace, was Mia.
Mia looked terrible. Pale, trembling slightly beneath a wool blanket, holding a tray of medication bottles in her lap.
“I’m sorry,” Mia said softly, her voice quivering. “I’m not a waitress. I just came down to get water for my pills. The kitchen staff is busy.”
“Excuses,” Jessica snapped. She loomed over Mia. “You’re wearing pajamas at a gala? You must be one of the charity cases the Valentinos keep around to look virtuous. A squatter. A leech.”
“Please leave me alone,” Mia whispered, clutching her blanket. “You’re in a private area.”
“Private?” Jessica laughed bitterly, the sound harsh. “I’m the future of high society in this town, sweetheart. I go where I want. And right now, I want a proper drink. Go get it. Now.”
“I can’t,” Mia said, her eyes filling with tears. “My legs… I’m having a flare-up. I can’t walk right now.”
Jessica rolled her eyes. “Oh, save the sob story. You’re just lazy. Look at you. Pathetic.”
I took a step forward, my hands curling into fists. But before I could intervene, it happened.
Jessica glared at the glass of water in Mia’s hand—the water Mia needed to swallow the life-saving medication that kept her immune system from attacking her own organs.
“You don’t deserve this if you’re not going to serve me,” Jessica sneered.
She snatched the glass from Mia’s shaking hand.
“Jessica, no!” I shouted, lunging from the shadows.
But I was too late.
With a cruel flick of her wrist, Jessica splashed the ice-cold water directly into Mia’s face.
The shock was immediate. Mia gasped, her body tensing as the cold water hit her feverish skin. She choked, coughing, water dripping from her lashes, soaking her pajamas and the expensive wool blanket.
“Oops,” Jessica said nonchalantly, dropping the empty glass onto the Persian rug. It didn’t break, but the thud of it hitting the floor was like a gunshot in the stunned silence. “Clumsy me. Maybe that will cool down your entitlement. You deserve the cold, you little brat.”
She turned her back on Mia, flipping her hair over her shoulder, and checked her lipstick in a compact mirror—completely unaffected by the girl gasping for breath behind her.
And then she saw me in the mirror.
She spun around, her eyes wide with shock.
I stood there, three feet away, drenched from head to toe. My cheap suit clung to my frame, my hair matted to my forehead. But I didn’t look like the submissive boyfriend she was used to seeing.
A darkness stirred within me, one I hadn’t felt in years. The “nice guy” Liam was dead. Buried. Gone.
“Liam?” Jessica blinked, her expression shifting from arrogance to confusion, then annoyance. “What are you doing in here? You’re soaking wet! You’re dripping on the rug! I told you to wait by the service entrance!”
I didn’t speak. I couldn’t. If I opened my mouth, I would scream.
I walked past her, not sparing her a glance. I went straight to Mia.
Mia was shaking, her body trembling from the cold and the trauma. I knelt beside her wheelchair.
“Mia,” I said softly, my voice breaking. “I’ve got you. Breathe.”
I pulled off my wet jacket and tossed it aside, revealing a dry dress shirt underneath. I yanked the soaking blanket from her shoulders and wrapped my arms around her, trying to warm her up.
“Liam…” Mia sobbed, her face buried against my chest. “She… she took my water. I just wanted my medicine.”
“I know,” I whispered, stroking her damp hair. “I saw.”
“Liam!” Jessica’s voice was shrill. “Get away from that cripple! Do you want to get a disease? We need to go back to the party. Someone important might see you fraternizing with the charity cases.”
I stood up slowly, the room feeling ten degrees colder.
I turned to face Jessica. I looked at her—really looked at her—for the first time. I saw the lines of cruelty etched around her mouth. The emptiness in her eyes.
“You think she’s a charity case?” I asked, my voice quiet but dangerous.
“Well, obviously,” Jessica scoffed, crossing her arms. “Look at her. She’s useless. And she was rude to me.”
“She’s my sister,” I said, my voice steady.
Jessica froze, her mouth slightly agape. Then, she let out a nervous laugh. “What? Liam, stop it. You don’t have a sister. You’re an orphan. You told me your parents died in a car crash.”
“I told you that because I wanted to see if you could love a man who had nothing,” I said, stepping closer to her. “I told you I was broke. I told you I was struggling. I lied.”
Jessica took a step back, her heels clicking against the floor as she hit a mahogany table. “I… I don’t understand. What are you talking about?”
“I’m not Liam Smith,” I said.
I pulled a sleek, black titanium card from my pocket. It wasn’t a credit card. It was a key card, embossed with the family crest—a lion holding a shield. The same crest carved into the stone fireplace behind Mia.
“I’m Liam Van Der Hoven,” I said. “And this isn’t the Valentino estate. It’s my house.”
Jessica stared at the card. Then at the fireplace. Then at the oil painting above the mantle. It was a portrait of a family—an older couple, a young girl in a wheelchair, and a tall, handsome young man standing behind them.
The man in the painting was me.
Jessica’s face went pale. The color drained from her skin, and her hands began to tremble.
“No…” she whispered. “That’s… that’s impossible. You drive a Civic. You live in a studio. We split the check at Applebee’s!”
“Because I was testing you,” I roared, the restraint finally breaking. “I wanted to know if you were real! I wanted to know if you would stand by me through the storm! And tonight, you didn’t just fail the test, Jessica. You destroyed it.”
“Babe, wait,” she stammered, eyes darting around, calculating. She was starting to realize what she had just lost—the billions, the status, the mansion. “I… I didn’t know! If I had known she was your sister, I never would have—”
“You would have what?” I cut her off. “You would have been nice? You would have pretended to be a decent human being?”
I pointed at Mia, who was watching with wide, tear-filled eyes.
“You threw water on a disabled girl because you thought she was beneath you,” I spat. “That is who you are. That is your soul. And I don’t want it anywhere near me.”
“Liam, please!” She threw herself at me, grabbing my arm. Her nails dug into my skin. “I love you! I was just stressed! The wedding… I’m so stressed about the wedding! We can fix this!”
I looked down at her hand on my arm like it was a venomous snake.
“There is no wedding,” I said coldly.
Suddenly, the heavy double doors to the sitting room burst open.
Three large men in dark suits rushed in. Security. They must have been watching the cameras or heard the shouting. Marcus, the head of security—a massive man who had taught me how to box as a teenager—scanned the room.
His eyes landed on Jessica clutching my arm. Then he saw Mia crying. Then he saw me.
“Mr. Liam!” Marcus gasped. He immediately straightened up. “Sir! We didn’t know you were inside. Is everything secure?”
Jessica let go of my arm, her mouth hanging open. The way Marcus looked at me—with pure deference and respect—sealed the truth for her.
“Marcus,” I said, my voice calm. “Remove this woman from the property.”
“What?” Jessica shrieked. “No! I’m his fiancée! You can’t touch me!”
“Ex-fiancée,” I corrected.
Marcus didn’t hesitate. He stepped forward, his face like stone. “Ma’am, you need to come with us.”
“No! Liam! You can’t do this!” She was crying now, real ugly tears, mascara running down her cheeks. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Please, just give me a chance to explain!”
“You explained everything when you threw that water,” I said. “Get her out. And Marcus?”
“Sir?”
“Have her car towed. It’s blocking the driveway. Send the bill to her apartment in Queens.”
“Understood, sir.”
Marcus and another guard grabbed Jessica by the elbows. She screamed and kicked, her heels scraping against the marble floor as they dragged her out of the room. Her cries of “Liam! I love you! I’m rich! We’re rich!” echoed down the hallway until the heavy doors slammed shut, cutting off the noise.
silence returned to the room.
I let out a breath I felt like I had been holding for five years. My shoulders slumped.
“Liam?”
I turned back to Mia. She was wiping her eyes.
“Are you really back?” she asked softly.
I walked over and knelt down again, taking her cold hands in mine.
“Yeah, Mia,” I said, a tear finally escaping my own eye. “I’m back. The play is over.”
“Did you find what you were looking for?” she asked, looking at the door where Jessica had just been dragged out.
I shook my head slowly.
“No,” I said. “But I found out what I needed to lose.”
Chapter 3: The Silence After the Storm
The silence in a mansion is different from the silence in a studio apartment. In Queens, silence was dense—stale air, the faint smell of a neighbor’s cooking seeping through the walls. But here, in the Van Der Hoven estate, silence was vast. It echoed.
After Marcus dragged Jessica out, the party in the main hall continued, blissfully unaware of the drama that had unfolded in the East Wing. I didn’t care. I ordered the staff to lock the doors to our private wing.
I wheeled Mia into her bedroom—a sanctuary filled with soft lighting, books, and medical equipment designed to keep her stable.
“I’m sorry,” I said again, my voice thick with guilt as I handed her a dry towel. “I should’ve told you I was bringing her. I should’ve protected you.”
Mia wrapped the towel around her wet hair, her shivering slowly fading. She looked up at me, her eyes calm, wise, forgiving—always making me feel like the younger sibling.
“You didn’t know, Liam,” she said gently. “You wanted to believe in her. I get it. We all want to be loved for who we are, not what we have.”
I sank into the armchair beside her bed, burying my face in my hands. The image of Jessica—her face twisted in that ugly sneer, the water splashing from the glass—was burned into my mind. Five years. I had given five years of my life to a woman who could treat a sick girl like that, just because she wanted a drink.
“I feel like a fool,” I admitted. “I played a game, Mia. And you got hurt because of it.”
“I’m fine,” she insisted, squeezing my hand. “Truly. But… what are you going to do now? Mom and Dad are landing tomorrow morning. If they find out…”
“They won’t hear it from the staff. Marcus knows to keep his mouth shut,” I said, though I knew my mother’s intuition would likely get the truth from me soon enough. “But I’m done hiding, Mia. The experiment is over. Liam the IT guy is dead.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket. Then again. And again.
I pulled it out. Jessica.
[14 Missed Calls]
[Text Message – Jessica]: Liam, please pick up! They left me on the side of the road! It’s pouring rain!
[Text Message – Jessica]: I’m sorry, okay? I was just drunk! I didn’t mean it!
[Text Message – Jessica]: You lied to me for 5 years! I’m the victim here! You entrapped me!
[Text Message – Jessica]: Pick up or I’m going to the press!
I stared at the screen, watching her transition from begging to gaslighting to threatening in real-time. It was fascinating, in a twisted way. I had slept next to this person. I had planned a future with her.
“Is it her?” Mia asked, looking up from where she rested.
“Yeah.”
“Don’t answer,” Mia warned. “She’s drowning, Liam. Don’t let her pull you back under.”
“I won’t.”
I typed a single message back to Marcus, my head of security.
Block her number from the gate logs. If she comes within 500 yards of the perimeter, call the police for trespassing. And send the dashcam footage from the drop-off to my private server.
I turned off my phone and tossed it onto the side table.
That night, I didn’t sleep in the master suite. I slept in the guest chair in Mia’s room, just like I used to when we were kids and she had a fever. I needed to remind myself who I really was. I wasn’t the fake persona I’d built. I was a brother first.
But as I drifted off, I knew this wasn’t over. Jessica was a climber. And climbers don’t just let go of the mountain when they slip. They dig their nails in, even if it tears the rock apart.
The next morning, the sun broke over the manicured lawns of the estate, casting long shadows across the driveway. The storm had passed, but the air was crisp.
I was in the kitchen, drinking black coffee from a mug that cost more than my entire dish set in Queens, when my mother walked in.
Eleanor Van Der Hoven was a force of nature. Even after a transatlantic flight from Zurich, she looked impeccable in a cream cashmere cardigan.
“Liam?” she gasped, dropping her handbag onto the counter. “My God. You’re… you’re home.”
She rushed over and embraced me, smelling of lavender and old money.
“Hey, Mom,” I mumbled into her shoulder.
She pulled back, gripping my face in her hands and scanning me with laser focus. “You look tired. You look… thin. Has that woman been feeding you? Where is she? Did you bring her? Mia said you were bringing a guest.”
I stiffened. I hadn’t prepared a speech.
“She’s gone, Mom.”
My mother paused. Her eyes narrowed slightly. She didn’t ask where. She asked, “Did she fail?”
I let out a bitter laugh. “Spectacularly.”
Before I could explain, the kitchen door swung open. It was Marcus. His usual calm demeanor was gone; instead, he looked agitated.
“Sir. Ma’am,” he nodded to my mother, then turned to me. “Mr. Liam, we have a problem.”
“Is she at the gate?” I asked, my jaw tightening.
“No, sir. She’s… online.”
Marcus handed me a tablet.
I looked down at the screen. It was TikTok. A video with 3.5 million views, posted six hours ago.
The thumbnail was Jessica. Her mascara was smeared, her hair wet and matted. She was crying hysterically, filming herself from the backseat of what looked like an Uber.
“I don’t know what to do, you guys,” video-Jessica sobbed, her voice cracking. “I’ve been with this guy for five years. I supported him when he had nothing. I paid for his food. I loved him when he was a nobody.”
She wiped her nose dramatically.
