The Deal

Riya's POV

I kissed him.

I hadn't planned it. One moment I was standing beside the hospital bed with my fists clenched, and the next I had flung my arms around Mateo Rutherfurd's neck and pressed my lips to his.

He went rigid, every muscle turning to stone. Then, slowly, his hand settled at the soft curve of my waist, as though every inch of me was something he had been waiting to hold, and he kissed me back.

It was nothing like any kiss I had known. In my first life, Kelvin's kisses had been polite little things, quick and careful, always aimed at whoever happened to be watching. This one had heat in it, and a strange, startling steadiness, like finding a fireplace in the middle of a storm. For one dizzy heartbeat I forgot the hospital, forgot the countdown on my wrist, forgot everything.

Then I remembered my audience.

I broke away and turned to face Kelvin and Hannah, my lips still tingling. "Do you see now? I'm done with you, Kelvin. The wedding is cancelled, and I don't want you anywhere near me."

Kelvin's face cycled through three different colors. Hannah's mouth hung open.

That was when I saw it: a thin green gleam at Hannah's throat. When Kelvin shoved Mateo aside, she had stumbled, and the collar of her blouse had slipped. A small jade carving on a worn red cord swung out from beneath it.

My blood turned to ice.

My pendant. I had lost it only a week ago, turned my whole bedroom upside down looking for it, and cried until my eyes swelled shut. And Hannah had held me through every tear, stroking my hair and promising to help me search.

I crossed the room before she could blink and tore it from her neck. The cord snapped.

"Where did you find this?"

"Riya!" Hannah's hand flew to her throat. "I... I found it in the garden this morning. I was only keeping it safe until I could give it back to you."

"How convenient." I closed my fist around the jade, still warm from her skin. "You called yourself my best friend, and here you are standing up for a cheater. You can't have us both, Hannah. Choose."

Her eyes darted to Kelvin, then back to me. "But he saved your life, Riya. The fire, two years ago. You said you wanted to marry him because of that. What if the video is a trick? Kelvin was with me this whole time. I was in an accident, remember?"

"Yes, yes," Kelvin said quickly. "I took her to the hospital. That's the only reason I missed the wedding."

A low laugh broke from Mateo.

"You saved her?" He tilted his head, studying Kelvin like something unpleasant on the bottom of his shoe. "You do love taking credit for things that aren't yours, don't you?"

I turned to him, startled. "What do you mean?"

He didn't answer me. He stepped up to Kelvin and murmured something in his ear, too softly for me to catch. Whatever it was, Kelvin's face drained of all color. He glared at Mateo with open hatred, but he turned and left, and the door swung shut behind him.

Hannah hovered a moment longer, torn between staying and fleeing. "I... I should make sure he's all right," she muttered, and hurried out after him, and then it was just the two of us.

Mateo looked immensely pleased with himself. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, and I suddenly became aware of his broad shoulders, the sharp line of his jaw, and the strand of black hair that had fallen over his forehead.

"Do I get an explanation for the kiss?" he asked. His voice had dropped, low and a little amused, nothing like the cold fury he had used on Kelvin a minute ago.

Heat rushed to my face. I sat back down on the bed, suddenly fascinated by the blanket. "I, um..." The sharp-tongued woman who had just stared down two traitors had apparently left the building.

"What did you whisper to him?" I asked instead.

He shrugged. "Who knows?" He picked up an orange from the tray beside the bed and began peeling it, long and unhurried, then pressed a section into my hand. "Eat."

I ate. It was sweeter than anything had a right to be.

"Mateo." I put down the peel. "I need your help."

Something flickered in his eyes, a small, quick flash of joy, which he hid almost immediately. "The almighty Riya Lance, needing my help? That's a new one."

I nudged his shoulder. "Be serious."

He nodded. "Go ahead."

"I want to find my real parents."

He stared at me, everyone knew I had been raised as an only child by my adoptive parents, and that I had no idea where I came from. Until recently, I'd never wanted to know.

So I told him what I could. That I had found documents in my parents' hidden safe. That my real surname was Davidson. I laid the jade pendant in his palm. "Their family will recognize this. Once they see it, they'll believe you."

"The Davidsons are in seclusion," he said slowly. "No one knows where they are. Finding them will take luck."

"That's why I need you."

He was the richest man in California, though he spent a great deal of effort pretending to be nothing more than comfortably wealthy. I knew better. In my first life, when he died, his true identity had come out and shaken the entire country. Whatever it was, a man with that kind of power and those connections could find a vanished family.

Died. My stomach tightened. "Mateo? Don't take any flights this month. Just stay home and rest."

I expected him to laugh at me. Instead, after a moment, he nodded. "As you say."

I blinked. "Just like that?"

"Your command," he said, with a perfectly straight face.

Why do you obey me? Was it only because of my face? And whose face did I resemble? The questions pressed against my ribs, but I had no way to answer them, so I put them aside.

"There's something else. I want to start a company," I said. "Not as Riya Lance. As Riya Davidson."

"That makes sense, but keep the name private until the Davidsons confirm you."

"I know. That's why I'm proposing a deal. A partnership, you and me. I can't think of anyone better."

He stopped peeling and gave me a long, searching look. "Are you really Riya?"

The question hit like cold water. I had known someone would ask eventually. I just hadn't expected it to be him. "Why? Don't I act like her?"

"You don't. The Riya I know wouldn't have looked at a spreadsheet if you paid her, let alone started a company. You used to be so... trusting." He hesitated. "Your parents arranged for the company to go to whomever you married, didn't they? Why the sudden interest in running one?"

That stopped me cold. Before my adoptive parents died, they had put everything in my name, with one condition: the company would be run by the vice president until I found a good husband, who would then take it over. It had been in all the papers. But the details, the insurance policy, the exact terms of the will, those had been kept confidential. How had Kelvin known? He had walked into my life at the funeral, claiming to be the stranger who had rescued me from that fire, and everything since had fallen into his lap like fruit from a tree.

What if it was never coincidence?

"Riya." Mateo's hand touched my shoulder. "You went somewhere."

"Sorry." I shook my head. "I wanted to look for the key to a necklace my mother gave me, so I went through their room two days ago. That's when I found the hidden safe. My adoption papers were inside, with my real surname. The pendant had the name on it too."

He didn't look entirely convinced, but he nodded. "I'll find them. I promise." His phone buzzed, and he stepped out to answer it.

I sank back against the pillows. I had my ally. I had a plan and for the first time since the altar, I allowed myself to breathe.

It lasted about two minutes.

The door opened, and Kelvin came back in, a white-coated doctor at his heels. I rolled my eyes before I could stop myself. How had he even gotten past Mateo's bodyguards?

"What do you want?"

"Riya, I'm begging you to listen. I swear I didn't cheat on you. I was with Hannah, she was..."

"I said, what do you want?"

"Hannah's in danger." His voice was strained, desperate. "She needs a bone marrow donation right away, and you're the only match. Please. She's your best friend."

Bone marrow.

My stomach dropped, a surgery, a woman who, an hour ago, had been walking around perfectly healthy.

"No."

"It wasn't really a request," Kelvin said. "You already signed the consent form."

My blood froze. "What are you talking about?"

The doctor moved toward me with a syringe in his hand, and I scrambled backward. "Someone help!" I screamed, but Kelvin lunged and clamped a hand over my mouth. A sharp, cold sting bit into my arm.

My limbs went heavy. The ceiling smeared. Through the gathering dark I thought, with a clarity that was almost funny: Is this really how it ends? Did I come all this way for nothing?