And I’ll never see you again.
I hate the way my eyes well despite my bravest attempts to stay calm.
“Yes.” Thank God it’s only one syllable, because I’m confident I’d never be able to keep my voice under control with more than that.
No. No, I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to be separated. I want to stay here with you.
Where I belong.
I hate the thought of him being with someone else. I hate the thought ofmebeing with anyone else. We maybe had an agreement.
“So you were only doing this for the money?” he says.
It feels like a slap across the face.
“Why else would I do it?” My voice catches at the end.
“Lots of reasons, Nicolette,” Fabien whispers.
No. Not my name.If he uses my name…
I shake my head. I can’t be with him. We can’t be acouple.
We’re as different as two people could be. If I’m sunshine, he’s rain clouds, dark and cold and angry.
But together, we’re sun breaking through clouds after a storm.
No, no,no.
I can’t compromise my principles. I can’t turn my back onmyself.I owe it to my sister to come back to her.
“I’ll let you go when your time is up,” Fabien says, walking toward me in a way that makes me take an involuntary step back. “Under one condition.”
“You don’t have a choice,” I say with my chin held high. “I fulfilled my end of the agreement. Now you have to fulfill yours.”
He reaches me. Our toes touch. I lift my head so I can look in his eyes without breaking eye contact.
“That’s what you think,” he whispers, before he reaches for my neck and wraps his fingers around the back, like he owns me.
Owns me.
“But remember how we met, Nicolette. Remember who I am. Remember what I’ve done.” How could I forget?
He killed the man that assaulted me. Why would I think he’d let me go?
“Are you threatening me?”
When he doesn’t respond, I try another angle. “You said I’d be paid two million dollars.”
It was too much to hope for. Too much money for too little work. I don’t know why I was so naïve as to think he’d actually pay methat much money?—
“Check your bank account.”
I hold his gaze for long seconds before I pull out my phone. Open the app.
Then stare at the largest balance in the history of ever sitting in my bank account.
I think to myself, there are millionaires that own less money thanthat.
