Five

VIVIAN.

One week later the pressure had become unbearable, and every time my phone lit up with another message from the loan sharks my stomach twisted so hard I could barely breathe, and by the seventh morning I was sitting on the edge of my bed staring at Asher’s number.

I called him before I could talk myself out of it.

He answered on the second ring, like he had been expecting me the entire time. “Vivian.”

“I’ll do it,” I said, and the words came out quieter than I meant them to. “The contract. I’ll accept.”

There was a short pause on the other end, and then he said, “Come to my penthouse at noon. I'll send the address to you, bring whatever you need for the next few days. We’ll handle the rest.”

He hung up without waiting for a reply, and I sat there for a long moment with the phone still pressed to my ear, realizing that I had just sold a year of my life to the man I had slept with once and then tried to pretend I had never met.

I packed a small bag with shaking hands, threw in the few decent clothes I owned, and took a taxi across the city, watching the buildings grow taller and more expensive the closer we got to his address, and by the time the driver pulled up in front of the glass tower I felt like I was about to step into a completely different world.

Asher was waiting in the living room when the elevator opened, dressed in a black sweater and dark jeans that somehow still looked more expensive than anything I had ever owned, and he looked me over once before nodding toward the long dining table where a stack of papers and a serious-looking man in a suit were already waiting.

“This is my lawyer,” Asher said. “Everything is straightforward.”

The lawyer walked me through every page, and I signed where he pointed, and the entire time Asher watched me and when the last signature was done the lawyer transferred a sum of money into my account that made my hands go cold because it was more than I had ever seen at once.

“Temporary last name is Anderson on the documents,” the lawyer said as he packed up. “It will hold for the duration of the contract. Any questions?”

I shook my head, still staring at the confirmation on my phone, and after the lawyer left Asher looked at me and said, “You need clothes that fit the role. We’re going shopping.”

I didn’t argue. The next few hours passed in a blur of private boutiques where the staff treated Asher and me like royalty. He chose almost everything, while I stood in fitting rooms staring at a version of myself I barely recognized.

“You look good in green,” he said at one point, watching me turn in front of a mirror in a deep emerald dress that clung in all the right places and made my legs look endless. “Keep it on. We’ll take the rest.”

By the time we left the last store I was carrying bags that cost more than three months of my rent, and my hair had been styled into soft waves, and a woman at the salon had done my makeup so perfectly that when I caught my reflection in the car window I actually paused because the girl looking back at me looked polished and expensive and nothing like the waitress who had been on her knees in an office begging not to get fired a week ago.

“You look the part,” Asher said from the driver’s seat, glancing over at me as we pulled away from the curb.

The drive to the estate was mostly silent, and I spent the entire time staring out the window with my hands folded tightly in my lap, trying to remember how to breathe normally, and when the massive stone house finally came into view my stomach dropped so hard I felt sick.

Asher parked, came around to open my door, and settled his hand on the small of my back as we walked up the steps, and the second we stepped into the grand entryway a staff member led us toward the dining room where voices were already overlapping in conversation.

We walked in, and Asher’s hand stayed firm against my back as he guided me forward, and then I looked up and saw Tyler standing near the long table with Chloe beside him, and the second my eyes landed on him the entire room seemed to tilt.

What the fuck is going on.

I turned my head toward Asher, heart slamming so hard against my ribs I could barely hear anything else, and he was already looking at me with a small smile that made my blood run cold.

I forced a little smile of my own while gritting my teeth so hard my jaw ached, and the words came out low under my breath.

“Is this some sick joke?”

Asher’s smile didn’t fade as he turned toward the table.

“Hello, brother. This is my fiancée, Vivian.”