“We agree on that much,” Nate says. “But what about the woman?”
“What about her?”
“Unusual collateral, don’t you think? Not that I completely object. She’s stunning, although with her girl-next-door face and figure, she seems better suited for teaching Sunday school than posing for one of your paintings.”
I can’t say he’s wrong. Despite her fire, there is an innocence about Melanie, an obvious goodness, something I haven’t seen in a long time. Certainly not in my chosen circles. And never once in my studio.
I grunt. “Maybe that’s why I want her.”
Part of the reason, anyway.
I would have made my offer regardless of what she looked like, however, carrying through with the rest of my plan to thoroughly corrupt and seduce her wouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable. Now that I’ve met her, I can hardly wait to get started.
I’m reminded of the way she laid out her terms, pushing back on things—including the delay in our start date—as if she were the one in control of our negotiations. I didn’t see any harm in letting her believe that, at least for the time being.
Two more days and she’s mine.
Then I’m going to take great pleasure in peeling away all of her resistance. She’s right; I do want to expose her on my canvas, body and soul. I want her to surrender everything to me, to my painting.
Before I consider this debt with Hathaway settled, I want to leave no doubt in his mind, Melanie’s, or anyone else’s that she belongs fully and completely to me.
I will be satisfied with nothing less.
Knowing the resulting piece of art will make headlines in Manhattan and the rest world is just icing on a cake I’ve been waiting years to taste.
“I guess I shouldn’t argue with inspiration,” Nate says after a moment, shaking his head. “Whatever gets you behind your canvas again can’t be a bad thing. No offense, my friend, but you’re a real prick when you’re not painting.”
“None taken.”
I know damn well what I’m like when I’m unable to create. Boredom isn’t a good look for me. Then again, neither is festering contempt.
Ever since I learned who Daniel Hathaway is, I’ve been consumed with little else.
In two more days, I will begin showing him who I am.
In the end, I want him to know I’ve taken everything that matters to him.
I want him to feel the justified totality of my revenge.
And I want him to understand with cold certainty that every debt—no matter how old or how deeply buried—eventually demands payback.
8
MELANIE
I report to Jared Rush’s Lenox Hill mansion on Thursday at precisely eightA.M.
I’ve actually been in the city for about an hour already, trying to kill time, but I’ll be damned if I want him to think I’m anxious. I am anxious, though. I’m nervous as hell.
My palms are damp, my heart racing, as I wait alone in the luxurious sitting room just off the foyer while one of Jared Rush’s house staff alerts him that I’ve arrived.
For the past thirty-six hours, I’ve been trying to get accustomed to the idea that I’ve agreed to take my clothes off for a man I know nothing about.
The internet helped fill in some of the blanks. Not that I feel any better about my arrangement with Rush after reading dozens of photo articles about his most acclaimed and controversial paintings, or scouring countless online rags for paparazzi photos of him. And I found plenty of those. Image after image of him at events all over the world—complete with an accumulation of enough gorgeous female companions to circle the globe.
The knowledge of his staggering net worth came as a shock, too.
While his art incites multi-million-dollar bidding wars at the most prestigious auction houses, Jared Rush’s savvy investments in real estate and entertainment ventures in recent years are estimated to have earned him close to half a billion dollars.
