"Maybe I need someone obsessive. Maybe I need someone who cares… about something."
The words hang between us. Chloe knows about my dating history, the string of men who couldn't handle my schedule or my debt or my complete lack of emotional availability. She knows I'm twenty-five and I've been hurt.
"You don't know this person," Chloe says quietly. "You don't know what he wants."
"So I'll find out."
"And if it's something you can't give him?"
"Then I'll leave. He said I can leave anytime."
"And you believe that?"
I don't answer. Because the truth is, I don't know what I believe. All I know is that someone out there knows things about me, has been watching me, has decided I'm worth almost four hundred thousand dollars. And that terrifies me and thrills me in equal measure.
"Jade." Chloe takes my hand. "If you're really doing this, we need rules."
"Okay."
"You text me every day. Multiple times a day. I want to know you're safe."
"Done."
"Location sharing stays on. I need to be able to find you."
"Fine."
"First sign of danger, first moment that feels wrong, you leave. You call me and you get on the next plane home."
"I will."
"And you keep your credit card accessible. Don't let him control your money or your exit."
"Chloe, I'm not stupid."
"I know you're not. But you're desperate. And desperate people make choices they wouldn't normally make." She squeezes my hand. "Promise me you'll be careful."
"I promise."
We sit in silence for a moment. Through my window, I can see the Boston skyline, gray and cold even though it's nearly May. I've lived here for years and never felt at home.
Maybe that's the real reason I'm going. Not because of the money or the mystery, but because staying here means accepting that this is all my life will ever be.
"Maybe this is your moment," Chloe says quietly. "Maybe this is the universe telling you to stop drowning and start living."
"Or maybe it's the universe setting me up for the worst mistake of my life."
"Could be both."
I laugh and broke the tension. Chloe pulls me into a hug.
"If he hurts you," she says into my hair, "I will hunt him down and make him wish he'd never been born."
"I believe you."
"And Jade?"
"Yeah?"
