“No.”
He shook his head.
“You don't understand.”
“Then help me.”
“I want a certain lifestyle.”
“And I don't?”
“You drive an old car. You buy clothes from normal stores. You never care about status.”
Lily's expression slowly changed.
“So Chloe does.”
Jason said nothing.
Lily almost smiled.
“Oh.”
“It's not just money.”
“It sounds very much like money.”
“It's ambition.”
“Whose?”
“Mine.”
Jason took a breath.
“Chloe understands the rooms I'm trying to enter.”
Lily closed the suitcase.
“And I don't.”
“You don't even try.”
Lily looked at him for a long time.
Then quietly asked:
“Do you remember the year you were unemployed?”
Jason stiffened.
“That has nothing to do with this.”
“I paid your rent twice.”
“I paid you back.”
“That's not my point.”
“I said I paid you back.”
“I sat with your father after his stroke.”
Jason's jaw tightened.
“Don't use my father.”
“I am not using him.”
She stepped closer.
“I'm reminding you who we were.”
Jason looked away.
Lily continued.
“When nobody important knew your name, I did.”
“Stop.”
“When you had one suit and three rejection emails a week, I thought you were enough.”
“Stop.”
“And now you're telling me I'm not enough because I don't look expensive.”
Jason snapped.
“At least Chloe brings something to the table!”
Silence.
The sentence hit both of them.
Lily's face changed completely.
Not anger.
Something worse.
Disappointment.
“What do you think I brought?”
Jason knew he had gone too far.
But pride wouldn't let him retreat.
“Emotional support isn't a future.”
Lily stared at him.
Then nodded.
“Okay.”
“Lily—”
“No.”
She picked up the suitcase.
“I understand.”
Jason stepped aside.
She walked toward the door.
He expected tears.
Shouting.
Questions.
Anything that would make him feel powerful.
Instead, Lily turned.
“I hope the life you're chasing is worth what you're becoming.”
Then she left.
Jason moved in with Chloe six weeks later.
His social media transformed overnight.
Yacht trips.
Luxury resorts.
Private clubs.
Photographs inside Chloe's family's houses.
From the outside, Jason looked like he had won.
Inside, he was terrified.
Chloe assumed he was wealthier than he really was.
Jason never exactly told her he was a billionaire.
He was smarter than that.
He simply allowed misunderstandings to grow.
When she asked whether his Mercedes was paid off, he changed the subject.
When she talked about buying a vacation house together, he said his money was “tied up in long-term positions.”
When she asked about his net worth, he joked:
“Enough that you'll never have to worry.”
The lie became a living thing.
And every new lie required another.
Jason began borrowing money.
Then borrowing money to cover borrowed money.
Credit cards.
Personal loans.
A line of credit secured against investments.
He spent thousands every month maintaining the appearance of wealth.
Chloe never noticed.
Why would she?
To her, a ten-thousand-dollar weekend was ordinary.
Jason smiled through every dinner while calculating interest payments in his head.
And then came the hypercar.
The Aurelius X-One.
Only one functioning prototype existed.
Carbon-titanium monocoque.
Hybrid V12 powertrain.
More than fifteen hundred horsepower.
Estimated future production price: over three million dollars.
It had appeared at international auto shows.
Automotive magazines called it “the impossible car.”
The prototype was displayed at Crown Meridian Motors, one of the most exclusive performance car dealerships in New York.
Jason saw it online.
And immediately imagined himself behind the wheel.
When Chloe mentioned that her father had once bought three cars from Crown Meridian, Jason saw an opportunity.
“We should go.”
“To look?”
Jason smiled.
“Maybe to buy.”
Chloe laughed.
“You're serious?”
“Why not?”
“It's three million dollars.”
Jason leaned back.
“I've had a good year.”
That sentence changed everything.
Chloe's eyes widened.
“You never told me you were doing that well.”
Jason smiled.
“There are a lot of things I don't talk about.”
She kissed him.
“You're full of surprises.”
Jason felt sick.
Because he had about thirty-two thousand dollars in liquid savings.
And nearly three hundred thousand dollars in personal debt.
But the next morning he called the dealership.
He discovered something interesting.
The prototype wasn't officially for sale.
However, the salesman Jason spoke to, Derek Sloan, suggested that a private offer might “open conversations.”
Jason asked about financing structures.
Derek explained that specialized lenders sometimes issued loans against high-value asset portfolios.
Jason immediately thought of Chloe's trust.
The trust documentation was accessible through a financial planning folder Chloe had once shared with him while discussing a future home purchase.
Jason told himself he wasn't stealing.
He was only preparing.
Only exploring.
Only proving that he belonged in her world.
By noon, he had submitted a preliminary financing application containing information derived from Chloe's portfolio.
Without telling her.
What Jason did not know was that the Aurelius X-One existed because of Lily Chen.
Five years before meeting Jason, Lily had founded Novara Mobility, a battery-management software startup in a rented laboratory outside San Jose.
She had started with six engineers.
Three folding tables.
A prototype cooling system.
And a patent nearly nobody understood.
Her father, David Chen, had been an automotive engineer.
He died when Lily was twenty-four.
Before he died, he left her a notebook filled with sketches for a lightweight hybrid drivetrain.
Lily spent years improving those ideas.
Novara eventually licensed its technology to racing teams.
Then manufacturers.
Then governments building advanced transportation systems.
The company grew quietly.
Very quietly.
Lily avoided publicity.
She disliked interviews.
She rarely appeared at industry events unless necessary.
Her private wealth grew into hundreds of millions.
Then more.
But she still drove the old electric sedan because it had belonged to her father.
She still carried a canvas bag because she liked it.
And she never told Jason exactly how wealthy she was because, at first, she believed it didn't matter.
Later, after he began obsessing over status, she deliberately remained silent.
Not as a test.
She simply no longer wanted money to become the center of their relationship.
The Aurelius X-One was the most ambitious project Novara had ever funded.
Lily's company owned sixty-two percent of Aurelius Automotive.
She personally chaired its technical advisory board.
The one-of-one prototype displayed at Crown Meridian Motors?
It belonged to her.
She had allowed the dealership to display it for a two-week promotional event.
It was never for sale.
On the same morning Jason and Chloe decided to visit the showroom, Lily received a call.
“Ms. Chen,” said Crown Meridian's general manager, Martin Vale, “we have a potential issue.”
“What kind?”
“A customer submitted a financing inquiry against the X-One.”
Lily frowned.
“The prototype isn't for sale.”
“We know.”
“Then why is there financing?”
“One of the sales staff apparently encouraged an informal application.”
Lily closed her eyes.
“Who?”
“Derek Sloan.”
“Again?”
There had already been complaints about Derek.
Pressure tactics.
Misleading representations.
Disrespect toward customers who appeared unable to afford exotic cars.
Martin had promised to investigate.
Lily had been planning to visit the dealership that afternoon anyway.
“Send me the application.”
“There's sensitive customer data.”
“Then send only the information I'm authorized to review.”
A few minutes later, Lily received a compliance summary.
Applicant:
Jason Mercer.
She stared at the name.
Her stomach tightened.
Then she read further.
Asset support referenced:
Whitmore Family Trust.
Lily leaned back in her chair.
For almost a year, she had avoided anything related to Jason.
Blocked accounts.
Deleted photographs.
Stopped asking mutual friends.
She had rebuilt her life.
But now Jason had somehow walked directly into a company she controlled.
And he was trying to finance her car using another woman's assets.
Lily almost canceled the showroom visit.
Then she saw another note.
Authorization signature pending. Applicant requested expedited approval prior to collateral-holder confirmation.
That concerned her.
Not because of revenge.
Because it suggested Chloe might not know.
Lily called Martin.
“Do not process anything further.”
“Understood.”
“And do not confront the applicant.”
“Why?”
“I'll handle it.”