Dead Roses And Gilded Lies

The final wish of a world-renowned young pianist was for mea man he hadnt seen in ten yearsto be the one to care for him during his final days.

In the luxury hospice suite, he showed me photos of him and his wife traveling the world. Greece, the Maldives, the Swiss Alps. He looked radiant; I looked like a man who had spent a decade working double shifts.

"Seriously, man, I don't even know how to thank you. You're a saint," he said, his voice thinned by the cancer. He leaned back into the pillows, a smirk playing on his pale lips. "Especially considering youre the ex-boyfriend. If you hadnt failed Toris little 'poverty test' back in the day, I never wouldve ended up with her, would I?"

He looked up at me suddenly, his eyes sharp with a dying mans cruelty.

"Tell me... once Im gone, do you think shell follow me? Do you think shed end it all just to stay with me?"

He was waiting for me to break. He wanted to see a flicker of longing or resentment for Victoria Harrington. He wanted to see that she still had power over me. I disappointed him.

"Im sorry," I said, my voice as professional and sterile as the room. "As a member of the medical staff, its not my place to comment on a patients family."

Right then, the door clicked open. Victoria stood there.

The bouquet in her hand hit the floor, petals scattering across the polished hardwood. She stared at me, her breath hitching in a way that felt almost practiced.

...

I stared at the flowers on the floor. Juliet Roses. I knew them from the trade magazinesa single bouquet of these could go for thousands at auction. In Nates room, there were hundreds of them, their heavy, sweet scent filling the air like a gilded cage.

Victoria recovered quickly. The shock vanished, replaced by the cool, effortless mask of a woman who owned everything she looked at. She walked past me without a word, the rhythm of her designer heels clicking against the floor like a metronome.

"I told you Id hire a private nursing firm, Nate," she said, her voice softening as she reached him. "Why did you go behind my back and hire... this?"

"I didn't want a stranger," Nate replied, leaning into her touch as she smoothed his hair. "Besides, Sams the best. Isnt that right, Sam?"

Victoria didn't look at me. She kept her eyes on her husband. "Does the Harrington heiress have room in her head for anything other than me?" Nate teased, his voice bubbling with a sickly sweet affection. "You remember Sam Miller, don't you? You two were the 'it' couple back in college. Everyone was jealous."

Victorias gaze remained downward, her expression unreadable. "Was he? I dont really remember. I was young and impulsive back then. I didn't know the difference between a cheap imitation and the real thing."

The insults were contradictoryone moment I was a forgotten ghost, the next I was a "cheap imitation"but Nate loved it. A genuine smile broke across his gaunt face.

"Don't be too hard on him, Tor. I know Sam. He's just... realistic," Nate said, pretending to defend me. "Not everyone has the stomach for a real test. Sam grew up fast. He saw the world for what it was earlier than we did. He just made the choice that made the most sense at the time."

He broke into a fit of coughing. Victoria was over him in an instant, her handsmanicured in a perfect nude polishrubbing his back with practiced grace. When Nate finally caught his breath, she stood up and looked at me. Her eyes were cold.

"Why are you still standing there?" she snapped. "Has the hospital lowered its standards so much that nurses don't even react when a patient is in distress?"

That familiar sense of being looked down upon, of being a servant in her presence, washed over me. But I had seen too much death and too much reality in the last ten years to be rattled by a billionaire's tantrum.

I bowed my head slightly, the picture of professional humility. "My apologies, Mrs. Sullivan. It won't happen again. If Mr. Sullivan has any other needs, please let me know. Im here to improve his comfort in any way I can."

Victorias face went blank for a second. Her brow furrowedI could tell she was angry that she couldn't get a rise out of me. But she didn't say anything more.

Nate reached out and took her hand, his eyes clinging to her. "See? I told you. Sams changed. Hes not the stubborn kid who wouldn't admit he was wrong anymore." He looked at me. "Remember after the breakup, Sam? You were so bitter. You stole that watch Victoria gave me. You were caught red-handed and still denied it. You almost tried to swing at me."

He chuckled, a wet, rattling sound. "Now look at him. He knows how to play the game. Most people see a face like that and can't stay mad for long."

Victorias voice was like ice. "Theres no need to talk to him, Nate. You treated him like a brother back then, but people like him don't know the meaning of the word."

They went on like that, weaving a version of the past where I was the villain and Nate was the long-suffering friend. I stayed silent.

The watch. Victoria had given Nate a limited-edition Patek Philippe, and when it went missing, every finger pointed at me. I was the "gold-digging" ex-boyfriend, and Nate was the victim of a brother's betrayal. I had spent three days and nights checking security feeds and retracing my steps, but the cameras were "broken," and I had no alibi.

Eventually, the watch was found in a hidden lining of Nates own backpack.

Nate had just smiled that day, neither confirming nor denying anything. Oh, it wasnt lost after all, he had said. This bag was a gift from you, Sam, wasn't it? Tori told me it was a knock-off and I shouldn't take it on trips. I guess only you knew that pocket was there. Reasonable assumption, right? Don't be so sensitive, man. Grow a thicker skin.

Nate finally grew tired and dismissed us. I walked out into the hallway with Victoria. She looked like she wanted to say something, her eyes dark and searching, but I kept my gaze fixed forward and walked straight into the staff lounge.

The other nurses immediately swarmed me.

"Is he as handsome in person as he is on TV? Is he a total diva?"

I hung up my coat and took a sip of lukewarm water. "He's a patient," I said simply.

They didn't care. They were already back to whispering about the "Harrington-Sullivan" fairy tale.

"I saw his wife today," one girl sighed. "Shes even more beautiful than her photos in Forbes. Total boss energy. They say when she proposed, she just gave him a bouquet and a watch. Now that hes sick, shes moved half the world's roses into his room. That room alone is worth more than Ill make in a lifetime."

"It's like a movie," another added. "The scholarship kid meets the heiress, she lifts him up to stardom, and just as they hit the peak... this happens. It's heartbreaking."

The voices dropped an octave. "I heard that before Nate, she was with another poor student. High school sweethearts. Then the Harringtons faked a bankruptcy to test him. The second he heard she was broke, he dumped her."

"Thank God for the test," someone chimed in. "A guy like that would have drained her dry. He wouldn't have treated her like Nate does."

"I don't know," a younger nurse murmured. "Isn't a test like that kind of... disrespectful? Even if he passed, wouldn't you always resent being played like that?"

They turned to me, asking for my opinion. I listened to the half-truths and the polished lies. They were right about one thing: Victoria and I broke up because of that "test."

It happened overnight. One day Victoria was the girl who owned the world; the next, she was crying in my arms, telling me her fathers empire had collapsed and they were being evicted. I was young, naive, and so deeply in love that I didn't think to check the news. I just worked.

At the time, Nate and I were obsessed with mountain climbing. We were the "dirtbag" kids of the university, working three jobs each just to save up for gear to go to the Alps. When Victoria "lost everything," I took it upon myself to carry her. I spent my meager savings on her, handled her "spoiled" outbursts with patience, and split my tiny grocery budget with her.

Nate had been furious. He felt I was neglecting our "dream."

"You're spoiling her, Sam," hed tell me. "We're never going to get to Europe if you keep throwing your money at her."

Victoria would kiss my tired eyes, her own eyes brimming with tears. "Sam, I'm so sorry. I promise, things will get better."

So I worked harder. I broke my 24-hour days into fragments of labor and study. It was the hardest time of my life, but I never complained.

Then came the night she picked me up from my shift at the warehouse. We ran into her "old friends"the ones she said had abandoned her. I stepped in front of her, thinking they were there to taunt her.

Instead, I heard them laughing.

One girl looked at me with a mix of pity and amusement. "Wow, this one lasted a long time, Tori. I don't know how you can stand eating at these greasy spoons every night. Its dedicated, Ill give you that."

She turned to Victoria. "The test is over, honey. You won. Now please, tell us you're buying the first round of drinks tonight. Im exhausted from playing 'bankrupt' for you."

The truth was laid bare in the middle of a sidewalk. I looked at Victoria, waiting for her to tell them they were lying. She didn't. She just stood there, silent.

"With someone like you," she finally said, her voice devoid of the warmth I had cherished, "I had to be careful."

Someone like me. What was I? A gold-digger? A charity case? It had never occurred to me that people with money could be so bored, so fundamentally broken, that they would treat a human heart like a lab rat.

I didn't speak to her after that night. I didn't even officially break up with her at firstI was too paralyzed. She had been my sun, my moon, the reason I breathed. I wanted to wake up and find out it was a nightmare.

Nate was there for me. He brought me a punching bag to vent my frustration. He seemed disgusted by what shed done.

"My brother gave her everything, and she played him like a toy? Who does she think she is?" Nate had been so vitriolic that I had to hold him back from confronting her.

I was so buried in my own grief that I didn't notice the way Victoria started looking at Nate. Or the way Nate started looking back.

Eventually, I told her it was over. I couldn't look at her without seeing the "test."

Victoria stood on the quad, her designer dress fluttering in the wind, looking at me with pure derision. "So the rumors were true. You're just like they said. You can play the hero when there's a reward, but you can't handle the reality of being with someone who doesn't have a safety net."

I remembered that look for years. Because I didn't realize until much later that the "they" she was referring to... included Nate.

Three months after we broke up, Victoria proposed to Nate in front of everyone. The room was filled with Juliet Roses. It was the classic romance novel trope: the heiress and the scholarship student.

When we were together, I rarely accepted gifts from her. Before the "bankruptcy," I didn't want her to think I was there for the money. After, I thought she couldn't afford them. For every anniversary, I gave her a bouquet of daisies Id picked from the roadside. She said she loved them.

I couldn't understand how she and Nate ended up together. Nate was unremarkable back then. He was average, stressed, and gray from the weight of poverty. He only became "vibrant" when he was defending me against Victoria.

It turned out that his "defense" of me was their secret language. Every time they argued about me, they were actually bonding over me.

I pulled away from Nate, but he kept trying to bridge the gap. Hed invite me to basketball or to work shifts, saying he didn't want a girl to come between us. I avoided him until one winter evening when he cornered me.

He was holding the bouquet of Juliet Roses Victoria had given him.

"Tori says these are worth a fortune," he said. "I know you're struggling with rent. Take them. Sell them."

"I don't want them," I said, turning to leave.

"Take them!" he snapped, shoving them into my chest. "I know it hurts that were together, but you cant control feelings, Sam. You were with her; you know how it is. Its just a bunch of flowers. Don't be so proud. She gives me so many, I have plenty to spare..."

Something in his tone snapped. I swiped the flowers away, and they hit the slushy pavement, their scentsweet and arrogantwafting up at me. Just like her.

"You want me to understand your 'true love'? Fine. I've been trying to stay away. I didn't want to hurt either of you because you were the most important people in my life. Why do you keep pushing?"

I looked at him. "Nate, this isn't how friends act."

He leaned back, crossing his arms, a slow, ugly smirk spreading across his face. "Who said we were friends?"