Chapter 1: The Game
“What game?” Noah asked.
Claire smiled gently.
“The truth game,” she said. “You say one true thing. Just one. It doesn’t have to be big.”
Noah looked down at his untouched dinner.
Ethan’s pen stopped moving.
The room went quiet.
Noah whispered, “I miss my mom.”
The words were small.
But they broke something open.
Ethan looked at his son as if seeing him for the first time in years. The investors disappeared from his mind. The contract. The money. The empire.
All of it went silent.
Claire reached for the napkin and carefully wiped the tear from Noah’s cheek.
Ethan’s voice came out rough.
“Noah…”
Before he could finish, the dining room door opened.
A woman stepped inside.
Tall. Elegant. Dark hair. Pale skin.
And Ethan’s blood turned cold.
She looked exactly like Mara.
His dead wife.
Noah dropped his spoon.
“Mom?”
May you like
The woman smiled.
And Claire felt the lie before anyone else did.
