He Faked His Death to Test My Mother Chapter 05

He Faked His Death to Test My Mother Chapter 05

Fireworks exploded overhead. Brilliant. All cameras aimed at the sky.

No one saw the skeleton on the water.

“What are you waiting for? Go save her!”

Nathan turned to run down. Vanessa grabbed his arm.

“Nathan, come on—there’s a whole team by the river. She’s probably already been rescued.”

“Elena told me herself, while she had me in that chokehold—this is all a setup. They want to make you look bad on camera to get even.”

Nathan hesitated. His face went cold.

He glanced at his assistant. “Don’t tell me if they save her or not. I don’t want to hear about those two ever again.”

Fireworks bloomed one after another.

The crowd cheered. Everyone celebrating getting into their dream schools.

Vanessa moved closer, trying to lean on Nathan’s shoulder.

He didn’t step away. Because in that moment, he zoned out.

He remembered years ago, when he pretended to be a poor orphan and dated Mom.

One New Year’s, they couldn’t afford fireworks.

At midnight, Mom smiled and pulled sparklers from her pocket.

“I worked an extra shift for these yesterday.”

She lit that tiny flicker of light.

In the vast dark night, a small flame.

So dim. But it lit up his whole world.

“We’ll have so many New Year’s Eves together. Ten. Fifty. A hundred. We’re gonna be just fine.”

No one had ever stayed up with him for the new year.

He had all the money in the world. But Mom gave him his first “home.”

The only warmth he’d ever fought to hold onto.

Wasn’t she exactly what he’d been searching for his whole life?

What had he been doing all these years?

All the tests, the cruelty—was it really because he believed Vanessa? Because Mom bullied her?

No. Vanessa didn’t matter.

What mattered was that he loved Mom too much. He couldn’t allow even a drop of falseness in her feelings for him.

Firelight reflected on the glass. Nathan saw his own reflection.

Gray hair at his temples. When did that happen?

Suddenly, he felt it. Enough.

Life is short. He’d wasted ten years.

He didn’t want to waste any more.

He’d find Mom. He’d apologize. He’d take Elena and go home.

Nathan jerked back a step. Vanessa stumbled, nearly falling.

“Nathan, what’s wrong?”

He didn’t answer. He turned and headed downstairs.

His steps got faster, like he was already too late.

Then a staff member ran up, pale as a ghost, and crashed into him.

Nathan frowned. “What’s the rush?”

The man’s voice shook. “Sir, there’s a body floating in the river.”