CHAPTER 4: THE OFFER

The apartment was quiet, save for the hum of the ceiling fan and the distant sound of traffic filtering through the closed window.

Ava lay on her small sofa, staring up at the water stains on the ceiling. It was past midnight, but sleep felt like a foreign concept. Her body was exhausted, heavy with the weight of the day, but her mind was racing a thousand miles an hour, looping through the same thoughts over and over again.

Fired. Broke. Desperate.

She rolled onto her side, grabbing her phone from the coffee table. The screen lit up, showing a missed call and a text message.

Parker.

She sighed, running a hand over her face. She loved him, she really did. She dialed his number. It rang twice before he picked up, his voice thick with sleep but laced with worry.

“Ava? Where are you? I’ve been calling you since evening.”

“I’m home, Parker,” she said, keeping her voice flat, neutral. She didn’t have the energy for drama. “I was just tired. Turned off my phone for a while.”

“Tired?” He sat up, she could hear the rustle of sheets. “Tessy told me what happened. She said you got fired. Ava, why didn’t you call me? What the hell happened at that place?”

Here it was. The interrogation.

“Nothing happened,” she lied, sitting up and hugging her knees to her chest. “I had a disagreement with a client. Hale took his side. That’s it. I lost my job.”

“Disagreement?” Parker pressed, sounding frustrated. “What kind of disagreement? Ava, talk to me. You sound… distant. Are you okay? Do you need money? Because I can check if I have…”

“No!” she snapped, sharper than she intended. “I don’t need your money, Parker. I just need… I need to figure things out.”

“Well, figure it out with me!” he shot back, his temper flaring. “That’s what couples do! But you never tell me anything. You shut me out. You act like I’m just some stranger on the street.”

“I’m not shutting you out!”

“Yes, you are! You’ve been doing it for weeks. Ever since Grandma got worse. You carry everything alone like I don’t exist. Is it that you don’t trust me? Or is there something else going on?”

The accusation stung. Tears pricked her eyes, hot and angry. If only he knew how much she wanted to tell him, to scream about the humiliation, about the man who thought he could buy her, about the slap that felt both like victory and ruin.

But what good would it do? Parker was sweet, he was loyal, but he was broke. He worked a dead-end job that barely fed him. He couldn’t pay the bills. He couldn’t save her grandmother. All he could do was worry, and right now, Ava couldn’t afford to worry about anyone else but herself.

“There is nothing else,” she said, her voice breaking. “I just… I have a lot on my mind, okay? Please. Just let me be tonight.”

“Ava…”

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” she said, and she didn’t wait for his reply. She pressed the red button and ended the call.

Silence rushed back in.

She tossed the phone onto the cushions next to her, burying her face in her hands. She felt guilty. She felt terrible for snapping at him, for lying to him.

Her mind drifted back to the spa. To Suite 9.

Nico Jordan. He was arrogant. He was disgusting. He was everything she hated in a human being. But now? Now she was thinking about it. The kind of money she needed to save her grandmother was probably what he spent on lunch.

She walked back to the sofa and picked up her phone again. Her fingers moved slowly, hesitantly, across the screen.

She opened her contacts, scrolled down. There it was, Nico Jordan. She stared at the name. It glowed back at her, innocent and simple.

She remembered his voice. Deep. Raspy. Commanding.

“Ava, don’t be stupid,” she whispered to herself. “He’ll eat you alive.”

Her thumb hovered over the number. Her heart was beating so hard she could hear it in her ears. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

She took a deep breath, filling her lungs until they burned. “Just for Mama,” she whispered. “Just this once.”

Her finger pressed down.

CALL.

She squeezed her eyes shut as if that would protect her. The phone rang.

Trrr… Trrr… Trrr…

Each ring sounded louder than the last, echoing in the small room like a judgment.

Then, it stopped.

He picked up.

Ava held the phone to her ear, her mouth dry, her tongue glued to the roof of her mouth. She couldn’t speak. She didn’t know what to say. Hello? I’m sorry? I need money?

She could hear his breathing on the other end. Controlled. Waiting. He didn’t say "Hello." He didn't say anything.

“Hi, it's Ava from the Spa.”