Chapter 4

"20,000?" I repeated.

"Not enough?" Lukas frowned. "Then how much do you want?"

I looked at the woman. She was still leaning against him, though she'd stopped crying. She watched me nervously, with a flicker of hope in her eyes.

"Forget it. I'm not deleting the recording."

His expression darkened. "Sienna, don't push it. I'm trying to be reasonable here. Don't make this harder than it needs to be."

"Reasonable?" I repeated, turning toward the door.

"Lukas!" The woman was starting to panic. "You can't let her leave! What if she sends that recording to someone? My parents will find out! They'll kill me! You promised you'd protect me!"

Lukas stayed where he was, looking torn. My hand was already on the doorknob.

"Wait," he called after me.

I didn't turn around.

"Sienna, please. I'm begging you." His voice softened. "Just delete it, okay? This is my fault, not hers. She's young. She doesn't know any better. I'm the one who gave in to temptation. If you want to blame someone, blame me. Just leave her out of it."

I turned back. He stood there with the woman beside him, their hands clasped together.

"She doesn't know any better? She seemed to know exactly what she was doing a minute ago. She knew you had a girlfriend, and she still had no problem telling me how much you two love each other."

Lukas had nothing to say to that. The woman lowered her head and fell silent.

"She doesn't know any better, but you do," I said, looking straight at him. "So what's your excuse for cheating?"

He wouldn't look at me. He just stared at the floor.

"Lukas." The woman tugged at his sleeve again. "Make her delete it. Please. What am I supposed to do if she doesn't?"

He looked up at me, and something in his eyes had changed completely.

"Sienna." His voice dropped. "Delete the recording. If you won't, I'll have to take your phone."

I stared at him without moving, and he took a step toward me. I slipped my hand into my pocket and gripped my phone.

"Go ahead," I said. "It won't do you any good."

He stopped.

"I've already scheduled a message to go out. In two hours, if I don't cancel it, the recording gets sent to everyone on my contact list."

All the color drained from Lukas' face. The woman went pale, too.

"Are you out of your mind?" he demanded, pointing a trembling finger at me.

I said nothing.

He stood there, opening and closing his mouth, unable to get a word out. The woman clutched his arm so tightly that her nails dug through his sleeve. He didn't even seem to notice.

For a few seconds, the living room was silent.

"100,000 dollars," he blurted out.

I looked at him.

"100,000 dollars. Delete the recording, and I'll transfer you the money right now."

I didn't answer.

"I don't have that much on hand, but I can get it." He was speaking faster now.

"I've got 80,000 dollars in my account. I can borrow the other 20,000 dollars and get you the full amount by the end of the day. Just delete the recording, and we can put this whole thing behind us. Okay?"

The woman tugged at his sleeve and looked up at him. She clearly wasn't happy about it, but she kept quiet.

"100,000 dollars. Transfer it now."

Lukas hesitated for a second, then quickly pulled out his phone and started the transfer.

I took out mine and brought up my payment QR code.

His hands were shaking so badly that it took him several tries to scan it. He tapped in the amount, then looked up at me.

"Done," he said. "Check your phone."

I glanced down. A notification from my bank confirmed that I'd received exactly 100,000 dollars.

"One more thing," I said. "I want it in writing."

"What do you mean?"

"I want a signed statement saying you gave me the 100,000 dollars willingly as compensation for our breakup. Include how we were involved, the fact that you cheated on me, and your signature and fingerprint."