Chapter 5 No.5

5

Hali was pressed against the door, Ezra looming over her. The proximity was overwhelming. She could see the flecks of gold in his dark irises, the faint shadow of stubble on his jaw.

Then, abruptly, he stepped back.

The loss of his heat was shocking. Hali let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

Ezra walked around his massive desk and sat down, transforming instantly from the predator to the CEO. He opened a drawer and pulled out a thick document bound in blue plastic. He slid it across the polished mahogany surface.

"The prenuptial agreement," he said. "Draft one."

Hali stared at the document. It looked like a phone book.

She walked over slowly and picked it up. She flipped it open. The numbers jumped out at her. A monthly allowance that rivaled her annual salary. Shares in Gardner Holdings vesting over five years. Real estate clauses.

She looked up at him. "You can't be serious."

"I am always serious about investments," Ezra said, lacing his fingers together.

"I don't want your money," Hali said, tossing the document back onto the desk. "I want my life back. I want to go back to being invisible."

"I notice assets that others overlook, Hali."

The words were quiet, but they landed with the weight of a stone. Hali frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Ezra ignored the question. He stood up again and walked to the window, looking out at the skyline.

"I know you have a particular interest in Senator Grimes."

The air left the room.

Hali grabbed the edge of the desk to steady herself. Her heart hammered a frantic rhythm against her ribs. "How... how do you know that?"

Ezra turned. "I told you. I verify my investments. You've been tracking him. Public records. Library archives in D.C. on weekends. You're chasing a ghost, Hali."

Hali felt exposed. Naked. That was her deepest secret. The shame of her mother, the mystery of her father.

"He is a man of significant influence," Ezra stated. "And he is notoriously difficult to reach. A junior assistant at a fashion house? You'll never get close enough to ask whatever questions you have."

Hali squeezed her eyes shut. "And you think you can help?"

"I don't think. I know," Ezra said. "Being Mrs. Ezra Gardner puts you at his table. It puts you across from him at fundraisers. It forces him to acknowledge your existence."

Hali stared at him. He was offering her the one thing she had wanted for twenty years. Access. Answers.

But the price.

"Why?" she asked again. "Why me? Just for the PR?"

Ezra looked at her. His expression softened, just for a fraction of a second. A crack in the armor.

"Because you are the only one who fits the role," he said.

It was a non-answer. But the intensity in his voice made her shiver.

Hali looked down at the agreement. She thought of Irving, lying to her. She thought of her mother, dying without ever getting an apology. She thought of the years of being nobody.

"I need time," she said.

"Take it," Ezra said. "But while you think... check your phone."

Hali frowned. She pulled her phone out of her pocket.

The Slack notification was still there.

Friend Request from E.G.

"Accept it," Ezra commanded.

Hali looked at him, then at the phone. It was such a petty, small thing in the grand scheme of a billion-dollar marriage contract. But it felt like a surrender.

She tapped Accept.

Ezra's phone on the desk pinged. He glanced at it, and the corner of his mouth ticked up.

"Good," he said. "Now go back to work. And Hali?"

She turned at the door.

"Cancel your dinner plans tonight. You're working late."

"I have a date with Irving," she said, testing him.

Ezra's eyes went cold. "Not anymore."

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