10

As he often did, he answered my unasked question. “I own the bank that

holds your loans. I looked them up today. It would be very easy for me to

have them written off. No actual money would exchange hands, if that

makes you feel better.”

“That’s an awfully generous payment.” Too generous. And just like I

jumped to buy a lottery ticket whenever the pot got particularly high, I

wanted to jump on his offer. But nothing that paid that well ended in good.

“It’s worth it to me to see this project succeed, Alayna.”

My answer was no. I’d already decided. It had to be no. There was too

much risk at entering into an arrangement—any arrangement—with him.

But I couldn’t help but want to know more of the details. “What exactly

would you want me to do?”

“Pretend we’re a couple. I’d invite you to several gatherings where my

mother would see us together. I’d expect you to hang on my arm and

behave as though we’re madly in love.”

“And that’s all?” I couldn’t imagine it would be that hard to pretend to