Chapter 22 The Gilded Cage
The past few weeks had been, without exaggeration, the best of Leo’s life.
He was living in a state of suspended bliss, a golden, sun-drenched dream from which he never wanted to wake.
His days were a perfect, exhilarating blend of creative, fulfilling work and the secret, stolen moments with Julian that felt more real than anything else.
They had fallen into a beautiful, easy rhythm.
Their nights were spent tangled together in Julian’s quiet, perfect apartment or Leo’s chaotic, happy one.
They learned each other’s habits, the cadence of their speech, the shape of their silences.
Leo discovered that Julian had a surprisingly encyclopedic knowledge of bad nineties action movies, and Julian learned that Leo couldn't cook anything without setting off a smoke alarm but could paint a sunset from memory that would break your heart.
Leo was in love. Deeply, irrevocably, head-over-heels in love.
The lie, the ever-present imposter in the back of his mind, had been relegated to a small, quiet corner.
He told himself it was a temporary problem, a loose thread he would deal with…
later. His probationary period was almost over.
He’d finish the Northwind project, collect his final paycheck, and then, somehow, he would figure out a way to tell Julian the truth without shattering the beautiful world they had built.
What’s the worst that could happen? he thought, a fleeting, foolish moment of optimism.
He’d just find another job, and they could be together without the shadow of V it’s a work of art.”
The V you understood our soul.
We are one hundred percent on board. Full funding approved. ”
The celebration in the room kicked up another notch.
People were shaking Leo’s hand, clapping him on the shoulder.
He felt dizzy with it, a heady, intoxicating rush of validation.
He had done it. He had actually, truly done it.
He caught Julian’s eye across the room, and the look of pure, unadulterated pride on his face was a more potent reward than any client approval.
Sarah called for champagne, and the conference room quickly transformed from a corporate battleground to a party.
The air filled with the pop of corks and the sound of laughter.
Leo was the center of it all, the hero of the hour.
Everyone wanted to congratulate him, to praise his genius.
He just smiled and nodded, his mind a happy, buzzing hive.
“Leo, can I steal you for a moment?”
It was Sarah, her smile as bright as her fuchsia blazer. She led him away from the crowd to a quieter corner of the room.
“I just wanted to say, on behalf of the entire agency, thank you,” she said, her voice warm with genuine gratitude. “You were a risk, Leo. A wild card. And you were the best risk we’ve ever taken.”
“I was just happy to be a part of it,” Leo said, his cheeks aching from smiling.
“Well, we’d like you to be a part of it for a lot longer,” she said, her expression shifting from celebratory to serious.
“We had a board meeting this morning. We’ve decided to make you an offer.
We’re creating a new position for you: Senior Creative Strategist. It comes with a significant salary increase, full benefits, and a corner office with a view. ”
The words hit Leo like a physical blow. The happy, buzzing hive in his mind went silent. The celebratory noise of the room seemed to fade into a distant, muffled roar.
A permanent position. A salary. A corner office.
It was everything he had ever dreamed of. It was security. It was success. It was proof, tangible proof, to his parents and to himself, that he wasn’t a failure.
It was a gilded cage, and the door had just slammed shut.
He could feel the blood draining from his face. A wave of nausea, cold and sharp, rolled through his stomach. He was no longer the hero of the hour; he was a con artist who had just been promoted to king.
“Leo?” Sarah’s voice was laced with concern. “Are you okay? You look a little pale. I know it’s a lot to take in.”
Leo forced his lips to move, to form the shape of a smile. It felt like a grimace. “Wow,” he managed, his voice sounding thin and reedy to his own ears. “That’s… that’s incredible, Sarah. I’m… speechless.”
You’re horrified, his brain screamed at him. This isn’t a job offer; it’s a life sentence. The lie is no longer a temporary fix; it’s your entire future.
He somehow managed to extricate himself from the conversation, mumbling something about needing some air.
He stumbled out of the conference room, the laughter and celebratory chatter feeling like a physical assault.
The office, which had felt like a playground for the past few weeks, now felt like a prison.
He found Maya at her desk, blissfully unaware, sipping a glass of champagne. She saw his face and her smile vanished.
“Whoa,” she said, her brow furrowing. “What’s wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost.”
“Worse,” Leo croaked, collapsing into the chair beside her desk. “I just saw my future.”
He quickly, quietly, told her everything. The success. The praise. The job offer. The title. The corner office.
When he finished, he expected sympathy. He expected a comforting hug. He did not expect the look of blunt, unadorned pity on Maya’s face.
“Oh, Leo,” she said, her voice devoid of its usual cheer. “You are in so much trouble.”
“I know,” he whispered, his head in his hands. “What am I going to do? I can’t take the job. The lie will be permanent. They’ll do a background check, they’ll call the Scrimshaw Institute, they’ll find out everything.”
“You’re right,” Maya said, her tone sharp and direct, a splash of cold water in the face. “You can’t take the job. Not like this.”
“But I can’t turn it down, either! What reason could I possibly give? And if I turn it down, I lose everything anyway. I lose this, I lose…” He couldn’t bring himself to say Julian’s name.
“Then you have one option,” she said, her gaze unflinching.
She leaned forward, her voice low and urgent.
“This has gone on long enough. It was one thing when it was a temp gig, a funny story for later. But this? This is real. This is fraud. And more importantly, you are falling in love with a man who thinks you’re someone you’re not. ”
Every word was a nail in his coffin.
“You have to tell him,” she stated, not as a suggestion, but as an order. “You have to tell Julian the truth. All of it. Before you accept the offer. Before he finds out some other way. You have to tell him now.”
The room felt like it was tilting. The idea of confessing, of willingly taking a match to the beautiful world he had built, was unthinkable.
It was suicide. He imagined the look on Julian’s face—the confusion, the hurt, the betrayal.
The quiet pride he had seen in his eyes today curdling into cold, hard contempt.
He would lose him. He knew, with an absolute certainty that was a physical pain, that he would lose him.
But Maya was right. The lie was a poison, and it was no longer just in him; it was infecting everything. It was infecting Julian. He had to choose. He could live the lie and lose himself, or tell the truth and lose the only man he had ever loved.
He looked at Maya, his eyes wide with a dawning, abject terror. He was trapped. Utterly, completely trapped by his own success. The joy of his victory felt like ash in his mouth.
“Okay,” he whispered, the word tasting like defeat. “Okay. I’ll tell him.”