He Faked His Disease, So I Broke Up With Him

My adopted sister suddenly perked up and suggested we play Truth or Dare. Later on, Jasper Williams, my boyfriend, lost the first round and chose truth. "Tell us something no one here knows about you," she challenged. Jasper leaned back, looking almost amused. "I own an office building in downtown Los Angeles." I stared at him. Then his eyes settled on me, and whatever humor had been in his expression disappeared. "And there's one more thing." He paused. "I don't actually have ALS." The second he finished talking, he pushed himself up from his wheelchair without any help at all—first time he'd ever done that. Ice flooded my veins, and my heart plummeted straight into the abyss. "Why?" He didn't answer. He just smiled and ruffled my hair. Then he slid a black card across the table toward me. "Catherine, you passed my test. These past ten years, you worked as a hostess at nightclubs for me, drank so much you ended up with a perforated stomach. I watched every single second of it." Even my adopted sister, sitting off to the side, was doubled over cackling, her eyes glinting with pure mockery. "Surprise, sis?" Sonia said. "This whole test was just the dare Jasper had to do after he lost to me! I never thought you'd actually stay put this entire time!" I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. I sat there, stunned for what felt like forever, before I finally barked out a sharp, bitterly absurd laugh. "Jasper, let's break up." Jasper froze for a split second, but he still smiled as he pressed the black card into my hand. "Catherine, don't be ridiculous. You know I got scammed out of a ton of money by my ex when I was 18 and first started dating. I was just so scared that I—" I didn't bother listening more. I clenched my fists so tight my knuckles went white and took a deep breath, turning instead to look at the adopted sister I'd protected since she was little I cut him off. "What about Sonia? The five-million villa, the ten-million yacht, her walk-in closet full of luxury bags. You bought all those for her, didn't you?" The room went dead quiet for a beat. Jasper frowned. "Sonia is still young. She's in a different position than you are." A bitter ache spread through my chest, and tears slipped silently down my cheeks. Of course, we were different. My hands were crisscrossed with rough calluses, while her skin was as soft as butter. I wore tattered, worn-out clothes that I'd mended and re-mended a dozen times over, while she lived a life of luxury, spoiled rotten by the rich 'boyfriend' she wouldn't shut up about. But I only found out today that my boyfriend was actually that mysterious 'boyfriend' I'd never even met! While I was still reeling in shock, Sonia, who was beside me, let out a long, dramatic sigh. "Cath, if you think the money's not enough, just say so. There's no need to act like you're entitled to everyone else's cash!" Jasper's expression darkened too, and he snatched the black card right out of my hand. "Don't be so greedy. You passed my test, sure, but what I actually like about you is how resilient you are, how you keep pushing forward no matter what." As soon as the words left his mouth, he caught sight of the tear tracks on my face and sighed. "I know you've been through some rough stuff in the past," he continued, "but I'm not like those other guys. I'm not just gonna hand you money because you spread your legs for me." My blood ran ice-cold. "Jasper, you know fully well that I only did that to buy you medicine, I—" "Enough!" Sonia cut me off sharply, clearly annoyed. "You sold drinks at a nightclub. Don't act like you're some innocent little angel. Whether you pretended to put up a fight or not, you know exactly what you did!" "What the hell are you talking about?" I snapped, shoving her hard in the shoulder. The next second, Jasper shoved me back with way more force, sending me crashing to the floor. My stomach hit the edge of the table dead-on, and the pain was so sharp I broke out in a cold sweat instantly. I curled up on the ground, my hand shaking as I reached for my medicine bottle that had rolled a few feet away. "It hurts… my stomach hurts so bad…" But Sonia kicked the medicine bottle even farther with a sharp thud. "Quit the act already, you're laying it on way too thick." Before I could react, she clamped down on my jaw hard and forced a cup of some unknown liquid down my throat. I sputtered and coughed so hard my lungs burned. "What the hell did you just make me drink?" Jasper squatted beside me, his shoulders shaking slightly as low, rumbling chuckles bubbled up from his throat. "Easy, Sonia, don't take the joke too far." Sonia cackled so hard she doubled over, barely able to stay on her feet. "See, Jasper? I won the bet! She didn't even taste that it was cucumber juice!" "Cucumber?" My whole body went rigid as stone, and a wave of uncontrollable, roiling nausea surged up my throat. I collapsed face down on the floor, hacking and dry-heaving so hard my ribs throbbed. When I was seventeen, I'd been tied to a chair, forced to watch as a man used a cucumber to brutalize my mom all night long. That same day, right in front of my eyes, she jumped off the 20th floor of a building. Every single time I woke up screaming from that nightmare over the years, Jasper was the one who pulled me tight into his arms, whispering soft reassurance over and over: "Don't be scared, Catherine. It's all over. I'm here with you now, always." But right now, the grin on his face was so sharp and bright it burned my eyes like acid. Probably noticing how deathly pale my face was, he pulled me up off the floor, his voice softening just a little. "C'mon, don't act like some bitter, overreacting hag. You know Sonia loves messing around, right? If it hadn't been for Sonia's truth or dare game all those years ago, you never would've met me anyway." He picked up the medicine bottle rolling around on the floor, then held out a business card to me. "Catherine, I don't hold it against you that you're unclean. When you come to your senses, find me at this address."