There’s a deep brown couch with a chaise longue, perfectly angled toward a mounted flat screen. Two shelves stand tall by the window, almost begging for books and candlelight.
I drift toward the kitchen, fingers brushing the cool counter. It’s fully equipped, fridge, oven, stove, microwave. Everything.
“Autumn,” Viviana calls from the bedroom.
I glance back as Kian starts questioning the realtor about the owner, then follow her voice down the hall.
I step inside the room… and stop cold.
The walls are a soft, earthy green. The furniture, dark oak, heavy and warm. There’s a king-sized bed with a high headboard, two matching nightstands, a delicate vanity, and… gods.
That desk.
It’s wide and old and beautiful, with legs carved like vines, and a branch-like chandelier hangs above it all, casting faint golden shadows.
“This is so you,” Viviana grins.
I walk further in, turning slowly, dizzy from howrightit feels.
It’s perfect, maybe even a little too perfect.
How the hell am I this lucky?
Spinning back toward the realtor, I try to keep my voice steady. “Six hundred a month?”
She nods, casual, like she hasn’t just tilted my entire day sideways.
“And when will the landlord pick up the furniture and appliances?” I ask, already calculating what I could afford to replace. A bed. A stove. Maybe a small table from the thrift shop.
“They stay,” she says simply. “Furniture and appliances come with the unit.”
“What?” I frown. “And the deposit?”
There’s no way this isn’t a setup for something ridiculous.
“No deposit,” she says.
I freeze. Viviana does too.
Kian speaks before I can. “I checked the owner. He’s reliable. Keeps his places affordable.”
He leans against the doorframe, but something flickers in his eyes when he looks at Viviana.
What aren’t they saying?
“Miss Autumn, are you interested?” the realtor asks, her voice polite, patient.
I open my mouth, but Viviana’s already moving.
“She is,” she says with finality, ushering the woman toward the kitchen counter. “Can she sign it now?”
“Yes, of course.”
My heart is still hammering. My brain’s spinning like a broken reel.
This is too good, not just the price, but the place itself, the fact it showed up right when I needed it.
I already sent her my documents and banking info. She showed me two shitty apartments yesterday, and now this?
