Chapter 3 Desperate Deal

Seraphina's Point of View

I don't feel like eating all day. My stomach is a tornado of furious butterflies. As soon as I think about tonight, my hands shake again.

"Sera, are you okay?" Tony asks mid-lunch rush. "You've already dropped three plates."

"Sorry, Tony. I'm just exhausted."

But I am not fatigued. I am frightened and excited and confused simultaneously. Someone in a very pricey-looking suit is offering me two million dollars. Things such as these cannot happen to women such as I.

I woke up the entire day questioning whether I dreamed everything. Perhaps I dozed off at the workplace and experienced the coffee spill and money and gray eyes in my dream. Perhaps all these did not exist.

Then I glance at my phone and spot his text message again. Meet me tomorrow night, same place, same time. Come alone.

It's real. He's real. And tonight I'm going to find out what he requires from me.

The diner is nearly deserted when he arrives at midnight. He's dressed in another pricey suit, one blue. His hair is fabulous again, as if he just emerged from a high-stakes destination.

"Hi," I say as he takes the same booth as yesterday. My voice is strange and squeaky.

"Hello, Seraphina." He glares at me. "You came."

"You knew I would."

"I hoped you would." He pulls out a huge folder from his briefcase. "Coffee first, then we talk."

I take him black coffee with hands that barely shake. He does not spill this time, which is great by me because I would really die of humiliation if I ruin another suit.

"Sit," he says, just like yesterday.

I step into the booth on his other side. The folder lies between us like a slumbering animal.

"Your name?" I spit out. "I gave you mine, but you never said yours."

"Adrian Kane."

The name rings a bell, but I don't know where I've heard it. "Kane likes the giant corporation?"

"That's my family business. I'm taking it over now."

My jaw drops. Kane Industries has locations throughout the city. Half of the building projects in Manhattan bear their logo plastered across them. The guy isn't merely wealthy. He's crazy wealthy.

"Why are you here?" I managed to get out. "Why are you speaking with me?"

"Because I need your assistance." Adrian takes out the folder. "And you needed a financial assistance."

There are documents inside the folder with minute writing. Official documents that appear serious and legal. At the top of the first document are words that stop my blood.

Marriage Contract Agreement

"Marriage?" I hardly say it. "You want me to marry you?"

"For one year." Adrian's tone is matter-of-fact, as if he's discussing the weather. "It would be a business arrangement. Nothing else."

I look at him. "You're crazy."

"Maybe." He doesn't exactly smile. "But I am desperate, too."

"Why? Why do you need to get married?"

Adrian is by the window and looking out at the rain. "My grandfather left me his business in his will. But with conditions. I have to be married within thirty days, or it goes to my half-brother."

"That's crazy."

"Yes, it is." He returns to stand before me.

I browse through the pages. So many new words. But I noticed the number two million repeated repeatedly.

"Is this real? All this?"

"Very real." Adrian takes out his phone and displays something on the screen. "I made my lawyer work all night to get this together."

"Does your lawyer know about it?"

"He thinks I've lost it. He might be right."

I read the first page again. The words whirl around like they're desperate to get away. "What would I have to do?"

"Live with me in my penthouse. Accompany me to business functions. Pretend to be married and in love with me when other people are present." Adrian ticks off on his fingers. "That's it."

"That's it? Pretending?"

"Just pretending." His eyes darken all at once. "I know this sounds insane, Seraphina. But I'm running out of time."

I think of Mom in that hospital bed. Of bills mounting up on our kitchen counter. Of working three jobs and still short enough to save her life.

"What about when the year is up?"

"We get divorced quietly. You take your money and leave. I will keep my company." Adrian hunches forward. "Nobody gets hurt."

"But what if someone discovers it's a scam?"

"They won't. We'll be extremely cautious."

I turn to the back page. Space for my signature at the bottom. Beside Adrian's name in swirling black script.

"I need time to think about it."

"How long?"

"I don't know. One day? Two days?"

Adrian has a firm head-shake. "I don't have two days. You have to tell me by tonight."

"Tonight?" My voice rises and in terror. "That's not enough!"

"It has to be long enough." He sets his arm across the table and sets his hand on top of mine. His hand warms and smooths like expensive lotion. "Seraphina, I know this is insane. But sometimes insanity is all we have left."

I glance down at the hand covering mine. His are smooth and long, no cuts or calluses like mine. This man has never gone without knowing how he was going to be able to afford medicine.

"Why me?" I ask. "You could marry anyone. Rich girls who would jump at the chance."

"Rich girls are too nosy. They want romance and true love and all that." Adrian's grip around my hand becomes tighter. "You need cash urgently, and I need a wife urgently. It's perfect."

"Perfect for you, perhaps."

"Perfect for both of us." He releases me and takes out a pen. "Sign the contract, Seraphina. Let me save you."

I look at the pen. It is silver and heavy, worth more than I've made in a week, maybe. If I sign, it's all different. If I don't, Mom will die.

"What if I'm not any good? What if I'm awful at lying?"

"You won't be bad at it."

"How do you know?"

"Because you'll have to be good at it. Your mother's life depends on it."

His words hit me. He always manages to say exactly what he needs to in order to make me do what he wants me to. He knows something about Mom.

"that's not fair," I gasp.

"life isn't fair." Adrian thrusts the pen at me. "But sometimes we get lucky and make it better."

I take up the pen. It weighs heavily in my hand, like gold, not silver. The pages of the contract rustle in the air from the diner's antiquated air conditioner.

"If I sign it, what is next?"

"You move into my penthouse tomorrow. We will marry within a week." Adrian scans my face. "And your mother receives the finest medical treatment money can offer."

My heart beats so hard that I'm sure it will shatter my ribs. This is crazy. Getting married to a stranger is what movies are for, not life.

Life, though, is Mom getting ill day by day. Life is working until my feet bleed and not even being able to purchase something. Life is seeing the one I love most in the whole world die day by day.

I put the pen down on the paper. My scribble appears tiny and pathetic alongside all the big, proper letters.

"There," I whisper. "It's done."

Adrian smiles for the first time since I've known him. "Welcome to the family, Mrs. Kane."

Mrs. Kane. The name tastes strange and terrifying and incredible all at once.

"What if your grandfather's ghost returns and isn't pleased with our marriage being real enough?"

Adrian's smile disappears. "Then we're both in trouble."