The Shattered Heart

For five years, I lived in a gray, quiet world, shattered by a tragic accident that claimed my fiancée, Amelia, and my three promising apprentices.

I became Ethan Miller, the brilliant architect who' d lost his touch, a hollowed-out recluse living with ghosts.

Then, a familiar laugh broke the silence from a room I hadn' t entered in years-Jake' s old room.

It was Amelia' s voice. And with it, Olivia' s, Sophia' s, and Jake' s.

"It was a necessary sacrifice," Amelia purred, her voice chillingly confident. "We needed him to be completely broken. The firm is just sitting there, waiting for me to take over."

My blood ran cold as I heard their twisted plan: fake deaths, my engineered grief, all to seize my company.

They had let my mentor, Mr. Davies, waste away; they had let me suffer for five years, all for a long con.