Cherry's POV
After I left my family apartment, I hired a private investigator with the last money I had in my account. I had a job, I knew I would get some cash to feed on while seeing how life would go for me.
I discovered that Jed and Nora had left the same day I walked out on them with their luggage, plane tickets in hand. The investigator got the video from the street camera footage nearby.
The house I promised never to return to, I did out of frustration. He had taken the money and left with Nora. My eyes blurred with tears.
A few months later, the investigator called. I'd thought he was done after he tracked them, confirming they had traveled outside the country.
"Hello, Ms. Cherry."
"Do you know that Jed wasn't the poor orphan you thought?"
"What?" I reacted, pitch low, voice nonchalant. I thought he was just calling to take more money from me. I really didn't have much left to further the investigation, but I comforted myself with karma knowing one day we would cross paths face to face.
"He's a notable mafia don in Las Vegas who has been keeping his identity secret right through nursery school till college. His family wanted him to be like an ordinary kid, a vulnerable one, to block suspicion. That's why he posed as an orphan."
"Oh God!" I gasped, taking my hands to my head. "How can I believe this?"
"Wait a minute," he said and cut the call. A minute later, I received countless files. They were view once. When I opened them, I saw pictures of Jed with Nora in what seemed to be the Maldives. They were enjoying a cool time, the images telling luxury—convincing me Jed was nothing less than a billionaire to afford such a lifestyle.
I called him back. "But I'm not seeing anything mafia in this. He just seems to be a billionaire."
"Because he doesn't want to soil his hands in his dad's dirty business of killing those who stood against them."
"But whether he likes it or not, somehow he has to take over the assets worth billions of dollars and also meddle with the mafia lifestyle."
This sounded too great to be true. If I hadn't seen the pictures and videos of his luxurious lifestyle after he left me, I wouldn't have believed my investigator.
"But how do you know all these?"
There was silence, then he smirked. "Because I'm an expert in this field. I'm one of the best private investigators in Las Vegas."
Lying alone on my bed, my mind replayed those pictures and videos. He was looking so handsome, hot, and muscular. Nora was rocking her baby bump, looking so happy to have him. My heart stung with jealousy and heartbreak. I imagined myself being her.
This would have been the Jed I would have enjoyed after sacrificing for him but he played me.
Nothing could be more painful than this.
"For this, I'll further my studies and one day become a judge. He's a mafia, right?" I spoke to myself. "No issues. We will meet in court one day."
To me, it sounded like a mere dream. Jed had far outgrown my level, and no one could touch him. He could do anything he liked but one thing was greater than him.
The law.
I didn't know how he would get into my hands again, but my spirit told me one day, he would. No matter how long it would take.
I worked for the next three months as a secretary in a law office before deciding to further my studies. My salary wasn't enough. My parents would never support me. Ever since they left abroad, claiming to be working there to get enough money ahead of their old age, they had neither paid attention to me nor sent me money.
Nora's case was different, since Mom was her biological mother but that wasn't my focus right now.
So I focused on getting a scholarship. I was lucky to get one, but it wasn't fully funded. It was in Georgia, meaning I had to travel away from Las Vegas, my birth state. I had no one to tell my little win to. I had to go all alone, not caring whether I would fail or not.
At least I had a driving force.
Jed.
I would have to struggle to survive. It really hit hard on me. Georgia was a state of opportunity for some, a trap for others. For me, I had no choice other than to survive.
"I'll need to find some jobs to start afresh," I mumbled to myself as I landed with only my luggage, my documents, my credit card worth only three thousand dollars, and my phone.
Surviving in Georgia with three thousand dollars would take me barely a month and a week or two, I estimated, given the cost of living. Funny enough, there was no job that would favor a student pursuing both a master's and doctorate at the same time. I would have no time, and the scholarship for both only covered the school fees. Other expenses were more.
This bothered me so much that I thought of what to do, but I was never giving up. When I'd lost all hope, an idea came.
So I started a GoFundMe.
Help me become a judge. I want to convict my billionaire mafia fiancé who left me for my stepsister after I sold off all my eggs to pay for his college debts.
I threw out a catchy title, then described my ordeal.
For weeks, I got pennies. Thirty dollars. Twenty. Ten. Until one day, a huge credit amount landed on my phone. I checked, it was from GoFundMe, from an anonymous account.
$3,000,000 USD donated anonymously.
Below it was a caption:
"Forget about him and move on. Who knows? Maybe he was trying to protect you."
Trying to protect me?
I scoffed, shifting my focus to whoever sent such a huge amount. The highest I'd ever heard of being sent through GoFundMe. The excitement was almost splitting me apart. For a while, my brain refused to function normally. I'd never dreamt of having such an amount of money.
If it was a man, I wanted to hug him, kiss him, marry him, even bear a baby for such a kindhearted person.
I would do anything for him.
But then the message… it refused to leave my mind. Even in the midst of the joy, even in my sleep, it haunted me. I thought of how true it could be but could never get the answer.