d out, moving like a sleepwalker through the bustlin

ning my mother's ashes carefully on my lap. The city noise was a dull roar around me. Peo

ickered to life. It was a business news segment. And there was Jake's face, s

of Miller Corp, Announces New Tech

ssively on his arm, smiling at the cameras. The report c

it was a public spectacle. Everyone knew

t. I pulled it out. The scr

ver the green icon. After a few rin

ice was warm, intimate, the same voice he used every day. "

t listened, ho

now. "Listen, I know I've been distant. I've been working on somethin

mouth. He was preparing for his big

egan, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "The debt

red button, en

en I stood up, holding the urn, and starte

rred and my legs ached. I finally stopped in

dark, I fin

. My mother's sacrifice. Our shared struggle. The love I thought was real. It was all a jok

r died f

. The pain was so immense it felt like