Goodbye, My Billionaire Lie

Synopsis

We were hitting rock bottom when Grandma's heart started failing. Clive and I were grinding through three jobs each just to keep the lights on. It was a miserable, soul-crushing cycle. Then a black town car pulled up. It turned out Clive wasn't just some struggling guy. He was the long-lost heir to the Shepherd fortune, the kind of old money that practically owned the city. I threw my arms around him, sobbing with relief. "Clive, this is it! We can save Grandma now. We're finally going to be okay." Suddenly, a live-stream chat feed flickered across my vision like a glitch in reality. [Ugh, Eleanor Goodwin is such a leech. Her desperate clinging is exactly why the Shepherds look down on Clive. Because of her, he's going to lose his shares to that imposter brother.] [Honestly, we should thank her. If she wasn't such a toxic mess, Clive would never find the real "One." She's just the tragic ex-girlfriend subplot. They're the real endgame.] [LOL, she thinks she hit the jackpot. She has no idea she'll be begging in the rain while he doesn't even look back. Can't wait for her downfall.] Clive's expression went cold. He pulled away from my embrace with a touch that felt clinical. "Eleanor, listen," he said, his voice dropping an octave. "Let me go back and get settled first. Once I've secured my place in the family, I'll come back for you and Grandma. I promise." I looked into his eyes. They were chilly, distant, and flickering with a guilt he couldn't quite mask. The spark I felt for him just... died. "Sure," I said, my voice flat. "Whatever you say."