CHAPTER 6

Morgan POV

I found myself shutting the hairdryer, and put the phone closer to my ear.

“Hey, hey. Kathy calm down. What happened? Tell me everything.” I cooed.

"Okay," she said, slower now but still frantic. "Okay. So a company sent an email. A really big company. Saying they wanted to book you for a campaign. And I was looking at the contract and somehow…I don't even know how it happened…but I accidentally hit accept and now it's confirmed and they've already sent the welcome packet and—"

"Kathy." I kept my voice calm even though confusion was starting to turn into concern. "Just tell me what company it is. We can figure this out."

"Sterling and Vale Corporation."

The name meant nothing to me. I frowned.

"Who?"

"They're this massive international corporation. Morgan, they're huge. Like, they work with every major brand you can think of. Fashion. Cosmetics. Luxury goods. They coordinate campaigns across dozens of companies."

"Okay..." I still didn't understand why she sounded so panicked. "So call them back. Tell them there was a mistake."

"I can't." Her voice cracked. "Morgan, you don't understand. A company like this…if we back out now, they'll blacklist me. They'll give me such a bad review that no one will work with me again. I've heard stories. They have connections everywhere. They could destroy my career."

My stomach dropped.

"Kathy—"

"I know. I know I messed up. I should have been more careful. But the contract interface was confusing and I thought I was just saving it to look at later and—" She made a sound that was half sob, half laugh. "I'm so screwed. We're so screwed."

"Hey, no. We're not screwed." I tried to sound more confident than I felt. "Just tell me the details. How long is the contract?"

Silence.

"Kathy."

"A year," she whispered.

My hand tightened on the phone.

"A year?"

"Twelve months. Full-time campaign work. It's a huge coordinated effort across multiple brands." She paused. "And Morgan... it's in New York."

The air left my lungs.

New York.

"I can't go to New York," I said quietly.

"I know. I know you can't. The boys—"

"It's not just the boys." Though that was reason enough. "Kathy, you know why I can't go back there."

"I know." She sounded miserable. "But Morgan, if we back out now... Sterling and Vale doesn't just blacklist people. They actively work against them. One bad word from them and neither of us works again. Not in fashion. Not in advertising. Not anywhere that matters."

I sank down onto the closed toilet seat.

This couldn't be happening.

"How much does it pay?" I asked, even though I wasn't sure why it mattered.

She told me.

The number made my head spin. It was more than I'd made in the past three years combined. Enough to set up a real college fund for the boys. Enough to buy a house instead of renting apartments. Enough to set me up for life.

Enough to make it worth going back to the city that had destroyed me.

"Two weeks," Kathy said softly. "That's when you're supposed to start."

Two weeks to figure out how to uproot my entire life. Two weeks to decide if financial security was worth the risk of returning to New York.

Two weeks to figure out how to keep my boys safe in a city where their father lived and breathed and existed without knowing they did too.

"Let me think," I said. "I need to think."

"Morgan, I'm so sorry—"

"I know. It's okay, I'll call you back."

I hung up and stared at the bathroom tiles.

Sterling and Vale Corporation.

I'd never heard of them.

But they were big enough to destroy Kathy's career if we backed out. Big enough to offer the kind of money that could change our lives forever and become the mother I truly wanted my kids to have.

From downstairs, I heard Timothy yell something about Tanner cheating at cleanup.

I've built a good life here.

The life I might have to leave behind.

Because I didn't really have a choice, did I?

If I said no, Kathy's career was over. And eventually, mine would be too.

But if I said yes...

If I said yes, I was walking back into the nightmare. Then I might as well pray Damien never finds out about the two little boys who had his eyes.

**********

"Isn't this a bit too much?" I asked as I stood at the airport, my two hands holding Tanner and Timothy.

"I know. I said the same thing." Kathy stood beside me, staring up at the shiny private jet with the same disbelief I felt.

Sterling and Vale hadn't just booked us flights.

They'd sent a private jet.

An actual private jet with our names on the passenger list. "Mommy, is that for us?" Timothy's eyes were huge as he stared at the aircraft.

"Can we really go on that?" Tanner tugged on my hand, practically vibrating with excitement.

I'd explained everything to them a week ago. Told them we were moving to New York for Mommy's work. That it would be a big adventure. That we'd see new things and meet new people.

I'd expected tears. Protests. Questions about leaving their friends and their school and everything familiar.

Instead, they cheered.

Actually cheered like I'd just told them we were going to Disneyland.

I still didn't understand it. Five-year-olds weren't supposed to be excited about uprooting their entire lives. But mine had jumped around the living room, talking about skyscrapers and pizza and all the things they'd seen in movies about New York.

Maybe they were too young to understand what we were leaving behind.

Or maybe they just trusted me to keep them safe no matter where we went.

The thought made my chest tight.

"Yes, baby," I said, squeezing Tanner's hand. "That's for us."

"COOL!" Both boys shouted in unison.

A flight attendant appeared at the top of the stairs, smiling down at us. She was polished and professional in her crisp uniform.

"Ms. Hayes? Ms. Lawrence? Welcome aboard. We're ready for you whenever you are."

Kathy and I exchanged glances.

"This is insane," she muttered under her breath.

"Completely insane," I agreed.

But we started walking toward the stairs anyway. The boys pulled ahead, practically dragging me along in their excitement.

The inside of the jet was even more ridiculous than the outside. It was sleek and screamed millions of dollars.

"Mommy, look! There's a TV!" Timothy was already climbing onto one of the seats, his face pressed against the window.

"And snacks!" Tanner had found a basket of expensive-looking treats on one of the tables.

The flight attendant laughed. "Those are for you, sweetie. Help yourself."

I watched my boys explore the space with wonder, and a small smile crossed my face. I had never introduced them to this level of enjoyment when I still had benefits related to this. I had walked for companies that hadn't sent private jets but did something similar.

I can't help but feel like a terrible mother who'd clipped her kids' dreams of visiting places they'd really wanted to see while I traveled the world.

A part of me says it's for their sake but I don't know if I can really say that.

The flight attendant gestured to the seats. "Please, make yourselves comfortable. We'll be taking off shortly. Can I get you anything to drink? We have champagne, wine, juice for the little ones—"

"Juice!" the boys shouted together.

"Just water for me," I said, settling into a seat that felt like sitting on a cloud.

Kathy sat across from me. "You know what this means, right?"

"That Sterling and Vale has too much money?"

"That they really want you, Morgan." She leaned forward, her expression serious. "Companies don't send private jets unless they're serious. Whatever this campaign is, you're not just a model they hired. You're the centerpiece."

The words should have made me feel proud. Instead, they made me nervous.

"I just want to do the work and go home," I said quietly.

"I know." Kathy's eyes were sympathetic. "But something tells me this year is going to be bigger than either of us expected."

The engines started to hum. The flight attendant came by with juice boxes for the boys and bottles of water for us.

Timothy and Tanner were glued to the windows, watching as the jet began to taxi down the runway.

"We're really flying, Mommy!" Tanner's face was pure joy.

"We really are, baby."

The jet picked up speed. The ground fell away beneath us.

And just like that, we were in the air.

Heading back to New York.

Back to the city where everything had fallen apart. Funny how I always told myself I'd never go to New York ever again, but here we are heading back to the very place that destroyed me.

I gulped looking out at the clouds. It's just one year. One whole year.

So how bad can it be?