Lust in Ecstasy: Love, Lies and Revenge Chapter 47: A New Beginning.2

The next two days were so of the best of my life. The deposit was made into a crypto wallet—clean, untraceable. I was a millionaire. Just thinking about it sent a rush through my veins. But I had to play it cool. Eric gave a stern warning.

Remain the way I was until it decided what it is ywas going to do. Acting any different would only draw unwanted attention, and the last thing I needed was people asking questions.

anwhile, my uncle had assist him in closing a major investnt deal. For the first ti in years, he actually acknowledged my efforts—praised , even. But that was it. No compensation. No reward. Just a pat on the back before he moved on like I was still just so kid tagging along. That told everything I needed to know.

With the New Year approaching, I found myself thinking more about my future. What did I really want? What was I going to do with my life?

I was going to et up with Eric on New Year’s Eve to discuss what I really wanted and how he was going to be of help.

For now, I decided to keep playing the role. Act like nothing had changed. Keep my head down—until I figured out my next move.

Ideas blurred into each other as I fell into my routine, but sothing was different now.

I had changed.

I no longer felt trapped. The weight that had sat on my chest for years had started to lift. Knowing that I had the ans to walk away at any mont gave a sense of control I had never felt before. But I wasn’t going to rush. Not yet.

For now, I observed.

I paid attention to how my uncle started relying on more—asking for my input, bringing into more etings, even hinting at bigger responsibilities. At first, I thought it was just because of the recent deal I helped him close, but then I noticed the way he spoke to had shifted. Less like a nephew. More like... an asset.

And that’s when it hit .

He wasn’t seeing as family. He was seeing as sothing to use.

I started to piece it together. He had plans. Maybe he wanted to groom into taking over parts of his business. Maybe he saw as soone who could be controlled, molded.

But I wasn’t staying.

I kept playing along, pretending I was still just the obedient nephew, while in my mind, I was already packing my bags. I wouldn’t make a scene. Wouldn’t argue or demand anything.

I’d just leave.

And before I walked away for good, I’d leave them a little sothing to rember by.

But then, the sentintal part of woke up.

Whether I liked to admit it or not, I had grown attached to Esther and Faith in ways I didn’t fully understand. I knew now that it wasn’t love—not the kind that makes you want to stay. With Esther, it was probably just the physical connection, nothing deeper. But Faith... Faith was different.

There was sothing about her that lingered in my mind, sothing I couldn’t shake. Maybe it was the way she looked at sotis, the way she could provoke a reaction with a slight body movent, or the way we connected at the party. Maybe it was the way she made feel like I mattered, even when she didn’t realize it.

But was that love?

Or was it just the idea of love? A craving for sothing real, sothing more than what I’d had before?

I didn’t know. And honestly, I wasn’t sure I wanted to figure it out.

---

December 31st.

The New Year’s Eve

6:30pm.

Eric and I sat on the hood of his car, parked at the estate park. He had picked up earlier in the day, we’d planned to talk about my future.

As we sat there, he finally told the real reason he helped extort Mr. Savage.

"Honestly, it wasn’t just about helping you," he admitted, stretching his legs out. "My dad was in on it the whole ti, Well i kinda told him everything initially."

I turned to him, eyebrows raised. "What?"

He smirked. "Yeah. It was more of a ’prove to you can do it’ kind of thing. A test."

I let that sink in. "So, what if you failed?"

He chuckled. "Then my dad would’ve stepped in and handled it himself. Either way, you were getting that money."

I shook my head, laughing under my breath. "Damn. So I was always going to win?"

"Pretty much." He shot a sideways glance. "But we did it our way. And that’s what matters."

"But why didn’t you tell ?" I asked, turning to face him fully.

Eric leaned back on his hands, gazing up at the sky like he was considering his words carefully. Then he sighed.

"Because it had to be real," he said. "If you knew that I had a backup plan, you wouldn’t have pushed as hard. You wouldn’t have felt the stakes the way you did."

I scoffed. "So you were testing too?"

He smirked. "Not exactly. But I wanted you to prove to yourself that you could pull it off. And you did."

I sat with that for a mont, letting the truth settle in. It made sense, but still...

"So what now?" I asked. "What do you get out of all this?"

Eric chuckled, shaking his head. "More acknowledgent from my dad and..." He paused, then grinned. "Just the satisfaction of knowing I pulled it off."

I laughed. "Yeah, I can’t argue with that."

After a brief silence between us.

Eric leaned back against the car, staring at the clear December sky. "So, what about you? Where are you gonna go, and what do you wanna do?"

I exhaled, rubbing my palms together as I thought about it. "I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. I don’t wanna just live rich and reckless. I actually wanna do sothing with my life. Sothing I enjoy."

Eric raised an eyebrow. "And that is...?"

I looked at him, a small smirk forming. "Gaming."

He snorted. "What, like becoming a pro gar? Streaming and all that?"

I shook my head. "Nah, bigger than that. I wanna build a ga—like Call of Duty, but my own version. Sothing new, sothing no one has ever seen before."

Eric blinked, then let out a low whistle. "Damn. You serious?"

"As serious as I can be," I said. "I’ve been into coding and gaming my whole life. I know what makes a ga fun, what makes it imrsive. I wanna create sothing that changes the industry."

Eric grinned. "Alright, genius. You got the money now, but making a ga like Call of Duty isn’t just about cash. You need a team, experience, connections—"

"I know," I cut in. "And that’s what I need to figure out. Where to start, who to talk to. But I’m done wasting ti."

Eric studied for a mont, then smirked. "Well, damn. Guess we’ve got a billionaire ga dev in the making."

I chuckled, but deep down, I felt sothing different—sothing real. For the first ti in my 18 years of existence, I wasn’t just drifting through life, reacting to whatever ca my way. I was making a plan, shaping my own future. And that thought? It scared a little.

But damn, I was ready for it.