Her Fake Death Made Me Run Away With the Fortune

When Paynes true love passed away, he completely fell apart.

His older brother practically manufactured me to be her perfect carbon copy. He dropped me right into Payne's life with one simple directive: Keep him happy, and I'll wire you ten million a month.

No matter how many times Payne screamed at me to get the hell out of his sight, I just sat there, watching him with quiet, unwavering devotion. Eventually, his walls crumbled, and he finally pulled me into his arms.

From that moment on, he treated me like absolute royalty. He spoiled me rotten, holding me like I was the most precious thing in his world.

But then came the ultimate plot twist. His unforgettable true lovethe girl who was supposed to be six feet undersuddenly posted a live location tag from a beach in Hawaii.

That night, Payne completely lost his mind. He was so intensely aggressive with me it felt like he was going to tear my bones apart.

Every single wealthy elite in the city grabbed their popcorn, waiting to see how the pathetic little stand-in would have a massive, humiliating mental breakdown.

Instead, the very next morning, I walked straight into his brother's office, my face flushed, and asked, "Boss, does this count as a workplace injury? Do I get workers' comp?"

"Workers' compensation?"

Timmy's voice was frigid.

I scratched my cheek, keeping my voice small.

"Matthew was so aggressive last night. I don't have a single patch of good skin left, and it hurts to walk... Mr. Hayes, I can show you if you don't believe me"

Timmy cut me off, his tone completely flat. "The money will be transferred to your account shortly."

My eyes immediately lit up. "Thank you, Mr. Hayes!"

I paused for a second before adding, "And about the severance package..."

"Severance package?" Timmy frowned, a flicker of confusion crossing his face right before his phone started ringing.

He answered it. After a long, heavy silence, his eyes narrowed sharply.

"She's still alive?"

He hung up the phone.

Timmy tapped his long fingers against the mahogany desk. He finally understood what I was asking for.

He looked at me and said, "Stay by his side for now. If it turns out he truly doesn't need you anymore, I will ensure you receive a very generous severance."

I secretly rolled my eyes.

Of course he wasn't going to need me anymore.

His one true love wasn't actually dead. Why on earth would he need a cheap knockoff?

But I kept my expression docile, nodded sweetly, and said, "Understood."

I turned to leave.

Timmy's flat voice echoed behind me.

"Do not get attached to things that don't belong to you."

My footsteps faltered.

He was warning me.

Just like everyone else in this city, he assumed I was going to have a massive mental breakdown. He probably thought I would go insane, maybe even try to hurt someone, fully embracing the role of the toxic, gold-digging substitute.

I let out a soft sigh. I really couldn't blame him for thinking that.

For the past three years, Matthew had been absolutely obsessed with me.

Recently, he had even started contacting wedding planners. If everything went according to plan, we would be signing the marriage papers very soon.

Unfortunately for me, the plan just crashed and burned.

Matthew's unforgettable, irreplaceable true love was alive.

My guaranteed spot as the wife of the second Hayes heir had just evaporated. Logically speaking, I should be absolutely losing my mind right now.

But over the last few years, I never once forgot my place.

The condescending affection I earned by mimicking another woman was never going to last.

The only thing that was real, the only thing that actually belonged to me, was the paycheck Timmy deposited into my bank account.

I turned back and gave Timmy a bright smile. "Don't worry, Mr. Hayes. For the salary you're paying me, I promise I won't disappoint you."

I pushed open the office doors and stepped out.

Only to run into someone I completely did not expect to see in the hallway.

Locking eyes with him, I froze entirely. "...Matthew?"

The breathtakingly handsome man stopped in his tracks. His dark eyes locked onto me like radar. "What are you doing here?"

I violently suppressed my panic, my brain working in absolute overdrive.

Matthew had absolutely no idea that I knew his brother.

He also had no idea that my entire relationship with him was a meticulously calculated setup orchestrated by Timmy himself.

Years ago, when Matthew's true love 'died', he completely lost his mind. He spent his days drinking himself into oblivion and street racing, causing a string of massive scandals. He was constantly on the front page of the tabloids, tanking the Hayes Corporation's stock prices.

As the CEO and head of the family, Timmy was irritated and running out of patience.

That was until someone mentioned to him that there was a girl working at a high-end club who looked slightly like the dead girl.

That girl was me.

Stacks of files and photos were dropped in front of me, and I learned quickly.

Since I was docile and incredibly easy to control, I was swiftly delivered to Matthew to act as an emotional pacifier.

Matthew honestly believed I was just a girl who coincidentally looked like his ex, and happened to be desperately, hopelessly in love with him.

Thanks to my relentless 'devotion', he eventually started to care about me.

If this secret got out

Forget the workers' comp and the severance package.

I wouldn't even get my salary for this month!

I immediately clung to Matthew's arm, my voice soft and whiny.

"When I woke up, you were already gone, and your phone went straight to voicemail. I was so worried, so I came to ask your brother if he knew where you went. You aren't mad at me, are you, Matthew?"

Matthew paused, his tone indifferent. "He's busy running the corporation. Don't bother him with trivial things."

Seeing that he bought the lie, I discreetly let out a breath of relief and nodded obediently. "Okay. I won't do it again."

He gave a careless nod and pulled his arm out of my grip. "Go home."

"What about tonight? You promised we'd have a candlelight dinner." I pressed on. "I actually managed to get a reservation at that incredibly exclusive restaurant."

Matthew stopped. His long, elegant fingers reached out to stroke my cheek.

Exactly the way someone would pet a dog.

"Next time." He said.

Unsurprisingly, there probably wasn't going to be a next time.

But I still nodded like a perfect, obedient doll. "Okay."

If Matthew wasn't going, I was going by myself.

I had been dying to eat at this restaurant for ages, but getting a table was notoriously impossible.

Just last week, while I was giving Timmy his weekly report on Matthew's mental state...

I casually mentioned, "Mr. Hayes, getting a table at the restaurant on the top floor of the Apex Tower is literally impossible. Do you happen to have any connections?"

Timmy put down his pen, looked up at me, and asked abruptly, "Have you mentioned this to Matthew?"

I nodded. "He said if it's too much trouble to book, we should just drop it. He said all fine dining tastes the same anyway. But the interior design there is gorgeous, and I really wanted to see it."

Timmy took a slow sip of his black coffee, his face completely expressionless.

Then he made a single phone call.

A second later, a reservation confirmation popped up on my phone.

...

"Miss Winters?"

A male voice broke through my thoughts, snapping me back to reality.

I lowered my wine glass and looked up. It was the manager from the wedding planning agency I had been in contact with.

I offered a polite smile. "You're dining here tonight as well?"

He looked at me for a few seconds, cleared his throat awkwardly, and lowered his voice to probe. "Are things... alright between you and Mr. Hayes?"

"Excuse me?" I feigned perfect confusion.

"Mr. Hayes's assistant contacted me. All wedding preparations and venue designs are being put on hold indefinitely." The man hesitated. "Specifically, everything regarding the bride."

I fully understood why he was panicking. I gave him a comforting smile. "Don't worry. The wedding isn't being canceled."

It was a multi-million dollar contract. Nobody wanted to lose that commission.

The manager blinked, swallowing the reassurance, and instantly broke into a massive grin.

"Well then, congratulations in advance to you and Mr. Hayes!"

The wedding wasn't going to be canceled. The bride was just being swapped out.

I didn't bother explaining the details. After the manager walked away, I started playing with my silverware out of pure boredom.

Suddenly, I caught sight of two figures sitting by the floor-to-ceiling windows. I looked over, and my entire body froze in the chair.

It was Matthew.

He was sitting facing me, but his eyes were completely glued to the woman sitting across from him.

Her delicate, slender back.

It only took one glance for me to know exactly who she was. After all, I had spent countless hours staring at photos of her, perfectly mimicking her every posture and expression.

A waiter arrived to drop off an appetizer.

I pointed discreetly across the room. "I tried booking that specific table for months and couldn't get it. Did they just pay a massive premium?"

I only complained casually, not actually expecting an answer. High-end staff were trained to guard their clients' privacy with their lives.

To my surprise, the waiter chuckled softly. "Well, this restaurant operates under the Hayes Corporation. That gentleman over there is the young master of the family. He sits wherever he pleases with a single word."

I sat there, completely stunned.

No wonder...

When I told Timmy about this place, he gave me this incredibly unreadable look. Then, with one phone call, the table was mine.

And Matthew? He couldn't even be bothered to make that one single phone call for me.

I had complained to him so many times about failing to get a reservation here.

He would just pull me into his lap, casually playing with my earring, lazily admiring the disappointment on my face.

"Oh, you poor thing. Can't even get the dinner you want."

But then again, that was exactly how he always treated me.

No respect, no equality. I was just a pet he could mold and tease whenever he felt like it.

For example...

I sat quietly, watching the two of them across the room.

Matthew would never sit across the table from me.

He always demanded I sit right next to him, just so he could easily pull me into his arms and mess with me.

He would never politely pour me a glass of wine and engage in a serious, mature conversation.

He would just press his own wine glass against my lips and lazily threaten, "Not going to drink it? Do you want me to feed it to you from my mouth?"

Honestly, I never really wanted his respect anyway.

I always knew exactly where I stood.

But seeing him act like a perfect gentleman with her right in front of my eyes still left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth.

"Well, well. If it isn't Miss Winters."

A man aggressively dropped into the empty chair across from me, forcing me to rip my eyes away from Matthew's table.

...It was one of Matthew's obnoxious rich friends.

"We were literally taking bets yesterday on how fast Matthew was going to dump you. And look at you, already eating all by yourself."

He smiled with pure malice, his eyes raking over me like I was an object on display.

Then he pulled out his phone, blatantly snapped a picture of me, and sent it to a group chat. He held down the voice memo button. "Guess who I just ran into, boys? Matthew really tossed her to the curb."

Sitting there, an absolutely insane thought crossed my mind.

If Matthew's garbage friends were harassing me, could I invoice Timmy for emotional damage?

"Without him paying the bills, how are you going to keep up this luxury lifestyle?" He sneered, leaning closer with a sleazy look. "Why don't you spend a few nights with me? Twenty grand a night. Sound good?"

As much as I genuinely wanted to throw my wine directly into his face and tell him my actual boss paid me ten times that...

I couldn't. I still had a deeply devoted, heartbroken persona to maintain.

I kept my voice soft and gentle. "That's not true. Matthew just said he had something important to handle tonight. We're coming here together next time."

The man actually laughed out loud. He jerked his chin toward the floor-to-ceiling windows. "Do you see who is sitting over there?"

I only glanced over for a second before saying firmly, "That's just his friend. I would never interfere with his social life."

The man stood up and started walking straight toward their table. He was determined to rip away my last shred of dignity and force me to see exactly how ruthless Matthew really was.

Are you kidding me?!

I violently suppressed the thrill rising in my chest and quickly hurried after him.

This was absolutely perfect. I was desperately looking for a flawless, dramatic exit that wouldn't make anyone suspicious.

Matthew would definitely draw a hard line with me in front of his true love.

And I would act completely devastated, but maintain my dignity and leave with a broken heart.

That way, I could secure my massive severance check at lightning speed.

And if I was lucky, Matthew might even throw a fat breakup check at my face out of guilt.

Then we would officially go our separate ways, never to cross paths again.

After all, Timmy had explicitly told me that any jewelry, gifts, or allowances Matthew had given me were mine to keep with zero strings attached.

While my mind was calculating my net worth, I followed the obnoxious rich kid right up to Matthew's table.

Two pairs of eyes instantly snapped toward me.

As expected, the moment Matthew saw me, the color drained from his face.

He stared dead at me.

The atmosphere instantly turned incredibly bizarre.

The woman looked at me and asked, "Your girlfriend?"