Chapter 2

2.

Vanessa was as efficient as ever.

By the time I woke up, my bank account was sitting at three hundred million dollars.

The first thing I did was book a session at the most exclusive private club in the city.

New hair, full spa treatment, the works.

The haggard man with the graying hair disappeared.

In the mirror stood a sharp-eyed young man with bold, dark-red hair.

I had just changed clothes when my best friend, Jude Rivers, called me.

He was screaming before I could even say hello.

"Silas! What the hell happened with you and Vanessa? Is the world ending?!"

I moved the phone away from my ear. "What now?"

"What now? Check the news, man!"

Jude's voice was filled with disbelief.

"Vanessa is all over the tabloids with some boy toy at a gala!"

"She told every reporter there that the kid is her one and only! They're planning a wedding!"

"Your jerk-in-laws were right there too, saying he's finally the right fit for the family!"

His voice dropped, full of genuine concern.

"Bro, are you okay?"

The public recognition I never got. The validation I craved for half my life.

Vanessa was giving it all to someone else now.

"I'm fine," I said, admiring my new look in the mirror.

"We're divorced."

"Di... divorced?"

Jude didn't believe it. He had watched me love Vanessa for over a decade.

He saw me give up my soul for that marriage, crawling after her like a dog.

I didn't explain. I just gave a small laugh.

"Are you free tonight? Let's go grab some drinks. My treat."

At the most decadent lounge in LA, our table was covered in the most expensive Ace of Spades.

Several beautiful women surrounded me, eagerly pouring my drinks.

Jude stared at me. "Damn, I believe you now. You really let go. You were never like this."

The old Silas would calculate the cost of a burger to prove he wasn't after Vanessa's money.

I was always terrified she'd think I was a gold digger.

Now, I sat in the VIP booth, looking at my reflection in the dark glass.

Vibrant hair, a custom-tailored suit.

Jude raised his glass and clinked it against mine.

"You finally look like that finance prodigy from Columbia again."

He took a large gulp of his drink, still annoyed on my behalf.

"Every VC firm was chasing you back then. If you'd started your own firm, you'd have crushed Thorne Enterprises by now!"

"You spent ten years as their dog, and she only gave you that much for the divorce?"

"Bro, it's not enough."

It was more than ten years.

In my past life, Thorne Enterprises became the top company in the country under my management.

But in my old age, I couldn't even afford a bottle of painkillers.

I was eventually kicked out by Aiden's ungrateful kids and died in the cold next to a dumpster.

The business empire I built with my life became Aiden's playground.

I downed my drink, the burning liquid igniting a fire in my soul.

Fine. Let's see how they do without me.