"Isn't it? Tell me honestly, Maxim, if I'd known from the beginning that you were a billionaire, would our conversations have been the same? Would you have trusted that I was interested in you and not your money?"
His silence is answer enough.
"I thought so." I grab my purse and head for the door. "Congratulations, you successfully manipulated someone into falling for your carefully crafted persona."
"Chantay, wait. Please don't leave like this."
I pause at the door, not turning around. "What did you think would happen? That you could keep lying indefinitely? That I'd never figure out who you really are?"
"I was going to tell you."
"When? After we slept together a few more times? After I fell even harder for your fake mountain man act?"
"It's not fake. Everything I told you is true. I do live in the mountains. I do rescue animals. The only thing I didn't tell you is how I made my money."
"The only thing? You didn't tell me your real name, Maxim. You've been living a double life, and I was just entertainment for your alter ego."
"You're not entertainment. You're the first real thing I've had in years."
" Prove it. Tell me why you really started this deception."
He stares at me for a long moment, calculating his response like the CEO he actually is.
"Because people want things from Maxim Chen. They want money or connections or to be associated with success. But you wanted to know Max. You were interested in my thoughts and stories and animals. You made me feel like a person instead of a bank account."
"So, you decided to lie to me to keep that feeling."
"I decided to protect what we were building."
"By building it on deception."
"By building it on the parts of me that mattered."
"All of you matters, Maxim. The good and the complicated and the parts you're ashamed of. That's what real relationships are built on."
"I know that now."
"Do you? Because it looks like you're still trying to manage my reaction instead of just being honest."
He opens his mouth to respond, then closes it again. And in that hesitation, I have my answer.
"I need time to think. I need space to figure out if any of what I felt for you was real or if it was all just part of your performance."
"Chantay, please..."
"Don't. Don't make this harder than it already is. You lied to me, Maxim. For two weeks, you let me fall for a reality that doesn't exist. I need time to process that."
"How much time?"
"I don't know. Maybe forever."
I leave him standing in his penthouse suite, and I don't look back. But I can feel him watching me go, and the weight of his gaze follows me all the way home.
8
MAXIM
Istand in my empty penthouse suite for exactly thirty minutes after Chantay leaves, staring at the door like she might come back.
