Four

VIVIAN.

I stood there with my pulse roaring in my ears, mentally screaming at myself for being the biggest idiot who had ever lived because of course the one time I decided to lose my mind and sleep with a complete stranger it had to be the new acting CEO of the restaurant that paid my rent.

“I’m Marcus, sir, been here three years.”

“Pleasure.”

“Sarah, evening shift mostly.”

“Good to meet you.”

Every polite exchange brought him closer and I could feel the panic climbing higher in my throat, and when he finally stopped in front of me I forced my mouth into something that might pass for a smile and said “Vivian Cross, sir. I’ve been here about a year and a half.”

His gray eyes stayed locked on mine for a beat longer than necessary, and he simply nodded once and said, “Vivian” and then he moved on to the next person as if nothing had happened.

We were dismissed a minute later and everyone scattered back to their stations, and I walked to the service station on legs that felt like they might give out, grabbing a tray just so I had something to hold onto while my brain kept looping the same three words over and over.

I slept with my boss.

I slept with my boss.

I slept with my new acting CEO boss and then ran out of his hotel room like a coward and now he was standing twenty feet away looking completely unbothered while I was two seconds away from having a full mental breakdown in the middle of the lunch rush.

Zoey appeared at my side with a concerned frown and lowered her voice. “Hey, you good? You look like you’re about to throw up.”

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine. Did something happen this morning? You’ve been weird since you walked in.”

“I said I’m fine, Zoey.”

She held up both hands. “Okay, damn. Just checking. That new CEO is hot though, right? Like unfairly hot. Did you see those eyes?”

I almost dropped the water pitcher. “I didn’t notice.”

“Girl, how? He looked straight at you for like a full five seconds. I thought you two knew each other or something.”

“We don’t..” I said too quickly, and then forced a laugh that sounded completely fake even to me. “I’ve never met him before today.”

Zoey gave me a long look but let it go, and I spent the next two hours moving through the dining room like a ghost, refilling glasses and taking orders and smiling at customers while every single part of me screamed that I needed to quit on the spot and never come back, but I couldn’t afford to quit, and that was the problem, because I needed this job more than I needed my pride right now.

Every time I walked past the private booth I felt his eyes on me, and every time I told myself not to look I still ended up glancing over, and every single time those gray eyes were already watching me with an unreadable expression that made my stomach twist.

I was so stupid.

So incredibly, ridiculously, monumentally stupid.

Halfway through the shift the manager appeared at my side looking nervous and said, “Vivian, Mr. Hastings is asking for you in the back office. Now.”

My blood ran cold.

“Did he say why?”

“No, and I didn’t ask. Just go.”

I wiped my hands on my apron, forced my legs to carry me down the short hallway, and knocked once before pushing the door open.

Asher was sitting behind the desk, jacket off, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and the second the door clicked shut behind me the panic I had been holding back all afternoon finally spilled over.

“Please don’t fire me,” I said, the words tumbling out before I could stop them, and then I did something even more humiliating and dropped to my knees right there on the office floor, hands clasped together like I was praying. “I’m so sorry about last night, I had no idea who you were, I swear I didn’t, it was a huge mistake and I never do things like that, please just don’t fire me, I’ll transfer to another location, I’ll take the worst shifts, I’ll work doubles, I’ll do whatever you want, just please—”

“Get up, Vivian.”

His voice was calm and it cut through my panicked rambling so effectively that I froze.

“I said get up.”

I stayed on my knees for another second, then slowly pushed myself to my feet, face burning with embarrassment, and forced myself to meet his eyes.

“I’m not firing you,” he said.

The relief that hit me was so strong my knees almost buckled again. “You’re not?”

“No.” He leaned back in the chair and studied me for a long moment. “I need something else from you.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I need a fiancée.”

For a second I was sure I had misheard him.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I told my father I was already engaged,” Asher said, still completely calm, like he was discussing the weather instead of propositioning his employee. “He wants to meet her soon. I need someone convincing for the next year. You’ll live in my place, attend the required family events and social functions, and play the part in public. In return I’ll pay you more money than you’ve ever made waiting tables, enough to solve whatever problems had you drinking alone in a bar last night.”

I stared at him, waiting for the punchline, but his expression stayed perfectly serious.

“You’re joking.”

“I don’t joke about business.”

“This is insane. You want me to pretend to be your fiancée for a year?”

“Yes.”

“Because you lied to your father?”

“Yes.”

I let out a short, disbelieving laugh. “And you thought the girl you slept with once would be the perfect candidate?”

“I thought the girl who ran out of my hotel room at dawn and then introduced herself like she’d never met me might be desperate enough to consider it,” he said, and there was the faintest edge of something almost amused in his voice. “Was I wrong?”

Heat flooded my face. I opened my mouth, closed it, and then shook my head hard.

“Find someone else. I’m not selling a year of my life just because you need a prop for your family.”

“The offer stands for a week.” he said, completely unfazed. “After that it disappears.”

“Keep it.” I turned toward the door, hand already on the handle. “I already said no.”

I walked out before he could say another word and went straight back to the floor, heart still slamming against my ribs, and somehow managed to finish the rest of my shift without completely falling apart.

When the last table finally cleared and the manager dismissed us, I grabbed my bag and left through the side door without waiting for Zoey, desperate to get home and scrub the entire day off my skin.

I never made it that far.

Two men were waiting outside my building, one leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and the other scrolling on his phone like he had all the time in the world, and the second they saw me the taller one pushed off the wall and smiled without any warmth at all.

“Vivian Cross,” he said. “You’re late.”

My stomach dropped. “I told you I’d have the money by the end of the month.”

“End of the month was two weeks ago,” the second man said, stepping closer. “Boss is getting tired of waiting. Either you pay up or we start looking at other options.”

“I just need a little more time,” I said, hating how small my voice sounded. “I’ll get it, I swear, just please—”

“Pretty girl like you,” the taller one interrupted, looking me up and down slowly. “You’ve got other ways to clear a debt if you’re smart about it. A body like that could take care of everything real fast.”

Bile rose in my throat. “Don’t touch me.”

“Then pay.”

“I will,” I said. “I’ll pay every cent, just give me one more week, please, I’ll figure something out, I promise I’ll pay you back.”

They exchanged a long look, and finally the taller one shrugged.

“One week,” he said. “After that we stop being nice. Understand?”

I nodded, not trusting my voice.

They walked away without another word, and I stood alone on the sidewalk in front of my building with my keys clenched so tightly in my hand that the metal dug into my palm, staring at the empty street and realizing just how desperate I really was.

He was right after all.