Part One – The Lie
Richard Miller stood in front of the mirror inside the walk‑in closet of his penthouse in Manhattan, adjusting the bow tie of his custom‑made black tuxedo. His fingers trembled slightly as he tried to tie the perfect knot. On paper, he was one of the youngest self‑made billionaires in New York’s business scene, the kind of man business magazines liked to call a visionary.
It wasn’t the New York Entrepreneurs Association gala itself that made him restless. He had attended dozens of these black‑tie dinners over the years. It was something else entirely—a decision he had been making for weeks, one he knew deep down was completely wrong.
A few yards away, in the bathroom of the hotel suite he had rented near Central Park “for convenience,” Rachel Oliver was finishing her makeup. She had insisted they get ready there, separately from his home, away from the eyes of Allison, Richard’s wife. Rachel knew exactly what she was doing.
At twenty‑eight, she had a striking beauty that contrasted sharply with Allison’s quiet simplicity. Platinum‑blond hair, dramatic curves, always dressed to make an entrance. “Honey, how do you think I look?”
Rachel appeared in the doorway, wearing a low‑cut red gown that clung to her body like a second skin.
The fabric shimmered every time she moved, daring and calculated. Richard felt a tightening in his chest. It wasn’t desire.
It was pure embarrassment. “It’s… it’s fine,” he said, avoiding meeting her eyes in the mirror. His phone rang at the exact moment he finished adjusting his tie.
Allison’s name appeared on the screen. He stared at it for a few seconds before answering, the way he had been doing lately, as if every conversation with his wife were an obligation he didn’t quite want. “Hi, Allison.”
“Richard, I just got a call from Sandra,” she said.
“She said she saw you confirming your attendance for the association dinner tonight. I thought you said you weren’t going.”
Richard closed his eyes for a second. He had lied to Allison about the event, claiming the gala had been canceled.
The truth was that he hadn’t wanted to take his wife. In recent months, Rachel had planted the idea in his head that Allison was too simple for that environment, that she didn’t fit in with the sophisticated, high‑powered business world of New York, that he deserved someone more glamorous by his side. “Oh… yeah.
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