by Melinda Minx
I try not to laugh, realizing he expects me to beg for him to take him back, or to apologize to him.
“Good for you, Anton,” I say. “I’m glad to know you’re over me.”
He shakes his head. “Pretend it’s easy for you, Amber,” he says. “Whatever you have to do. Just don’t ask for me to take you back.”
“Okay,” I say, looking serious. “I promise I won’t.”
He nods, grabs his sunglasses from his pocket, and flips them back on with a flourish.
21
Liam
My phone rings. It’s Amber, so I answer it.
“Yes?”
“Did you pay off Anton Valencia?” she asks.
She sounds a little bit angry, but also like she’s about to break out laughing.
“Who?” I ask, pretending not to remember the name.
“The dorky guy who tried to fight you?” she says. “The dorky guy who wore sweatpants, but now is a dorky guy in stylish clothes driving a Ferrari?”
It’s my turn to laugh. Of course he’d blow all the money on a fancy sports car. Typical dumbass.
“With Cynthia breathing down my neck, I couldn’t afford another legal battle,” I tell her. “The asshole tried to sue me.”
I hear her sigh. “You made him insufferable, though.”
“If he gives you any trouble, I’ll…”
She laughs, cutting me off. “He’s ‘over me’ now, so I guess it all worked out. With that ridiculous car, he’ll win the attention of someone who’s shallow enough for him to really get over me.”
“You think so?” I ask.
“I know this kind of guy. As soon as any girl shows him the slightest bit of interest, he’ll forget me straight away.”
“I hope you’re right,” I say.
“Where are you?” she asks. “Are you busy right now?”
I look up to find Cynthia glaring at me.
I probably should tell her that I’m at Cynthia’s. There’s no reason to lie about it, but for whatever reason, I decide to lie by omission. “I’ll get back to you when I’m free.”
We say goodbye to one another and I disconnect the call.
Cynthia crosses her arms across her chest, pressing her breasts together.
I roll my eyes. “You really think wearing that low-cut dress is going to make me dump my fiancée for you?”
She meets my eyes, and I can’t miss her cold, hostile glare. “In this room, just between the two of us,” Cynthia says, “Let’s cut the bullshit. We know she’s not your real fiancée. You probably got her to call you while you were here just to grate on me. You don’t convince me, Liam.”
I draw in a thin breath between my teeth. “That’s too bad, because I was about to offer you a settlement deal.”
She scoffs. “Why would I settle when I know you’re full of shit? Little weekends in Paris aren’t going to trick me. They may fool the press, but they don’t fool me.”
“I’ll give you two percent of my profits for the next five years,” I say. “That is, if you agree to fully release me from the contract and promise no more legal action.”
She laughs. “Two percent? Are you fucking kidding me? I’m entitled to fifty.”
“Make it five then,” I say, casually.
“Fifty,” she says.
“You’re not going to budge?” I ask.
I didn’t think she’d agree to any kind of deal. It’s in her best interests to take the coin flip and hope she can beat me in court. If she can somehow prove my arrangement with Amber is fake, she has a real shot at fifty percent. So why would she take five? My lawyers told me to try it, though, and it was worth a shot.
“I have a counter offer,” she says. “It may interest you.”
“I doubt it,” I say, standing up and buttoning my jacket.
“Marry me, and I’ll take ten percent. We’ll sign a prenuptial agreement,” she says.
She looks down at her polished fingernails, as if she’s bored, but I can tell she’s nervous.
What the hell kind of counter offer is that? What benefit is there to marry me if she’s only going to pocket 10%? I’m almost tempted to consider the deal. I might even do it if Amber wasn’t in the picture--if we didn’t have such an amazing time together.
“Sorry we couldn’t make a deal,” I say, turning my back to her. “I’ll see my own way out.”
“Liam,” she says to my back. I don’t turn around. “You have no idea what I gave up to secure this. I’ll go a lot further.”
“What does that mean?” I ask, still not turning to face her.
“This is the last time I play nice with you and offer you a reasonable deal.”
“You’ve never been nice, Cynthia, not for a single moment in your life.”
“You’ll regret turning me down,” she says. “I promise you that.”
So she’s threatening me? I see nothing is new.
I walk away, not looking back. I want to get home to see Amber. She may have been hired to pretend to be my fiancée, but if things keep progressing the way they are, there won’t be anything fake left about our relationship. That would help me a lot in my case against Cynthia, but I remind myself that should not be my primary motivation. Amber is reward enough on her own.
Once I’m in my car, I report back to my lawyers that the attempt at a settlement failed. Cynthia Frost will not be as easy to defeat as Anton Valencia.
I have to remember to take her threats seriously. A woman who faked her own death will go to great lengths—perhaps any length--to get what she wants.
One advantage I have going for me is that Cynthia doesn’t buy my relationship with Amber. That sounds on the surface like a disadvantage--because if Cynthia believed me, she might drop the lawsuit and settle--but if she thinks Amber is simply a mercenary fiancée, then she won’t direct her fury against Amber.
I’ll be the target of Cynthia’s threats, and I can handle myself.
22
Amber
During class, I see there is a new girl, Lyla, sitting in Anton’s old seat. We get assigned to a group project, and I get stuck working with her.
She’s mousy-looking, with metal-rimmed glasses and scarecrow-straight hair. She’s constantly biting at her nails and seems a bit out of it.
“The semester is like halfway over,” I say to her once we are sitting side by side to start working on our project. “How did you get to enroll in this class so late?”
“I was taking this class with Dr. Weyland,” she says. “But...uh...I had to change sections.”
“Are you an education major?” I ask her.
She nods enthusiastically, forcing a smile.
The assignment is to create a mock syllabus for a sixth grade classroom that offers something for all types of learning styles.
“What age level do you want to teach?” I ask her.
She bites her lip. “High school.”
“I think I do, too,” I say.
“Elementary school is too much like babysitting,” Lyla says. “And middle schoolers are too mean.”
I nod. “I’m still considering middle school, though. It’s early enough that you can still make a real difference for some students.”
“All teachers make a difference,” Lyla says.
She’s not trying to talk down to me; she says it with a smile that tells me she really cares about education and her future career choice, so I smile back.
We get to work, and after class she follows me out into the quad. “Do you have a boyfriend?” she asks me.
I nod. She seriously hasn’t heard about my engagement to Liam Lions? I figured the whole campus knew by now.
“Does he go here?” she asks.
I shake my head. “No, he’s--uh--older.”
She gives me a nervous smile, then says, “I dated a guy in my freshman year, but he was...he had anger issues.”
She breaks eye contact with me then and looks away. Anger issues? I’m wondering if the guy hit her, but that
’s not exactly something I can ask a girl that I just met.
“Good thing you broke up then,” I say.
“I’m not ready to date again yet,” she says.
“I took a long break, too,” I say, not adding that it wasn’t exactly voluntary.
“And it was worth it?” she asks.
I nod, thinking of Liam, and smile. “Yeah, it was.”
“How did you know it was the real thing?” Lyla asks. “I thought Dave was--that’s the angry guy. He was so sweet and caring at first, and by the time I realized that he really wasn’t, it was so hard to throw it all away because of all those old memories.”
I shrug. “I feel like I just got lucky. It’s not like I was trying for anything; it really just kind of all fell into my lap.”
“So you knew right away?” she asks. “Love at first sight?”
I give her a look, and she shows me her palms. “Sorry if I’m getting too nosy.”
“It’s fine,” I say. “Honestly, when we started out, I don’t even know what it was. I sure as hell didn’t think it was love at first sight, though.”
I have to keep our secret, but I can at least tell some version of the truth if I’m vague enough.
“When did you know it was love then?” she asks.
I start thinking back, trying to pinpoint a time frame. Come to think of it, that first conversation we had in his garden was already something, wasn’t it? Sure, when I found out he was Liam Lions, and when he offered me an absurd amount of money to pretend to be engaged to him, my first impression was altered quite a bit. Really, though, there wasn’t ever a time I didn’t feel something for him. It was there from the beginning, and it’s just grown since then.
“I guess we always had a certain kind of chemistry,” I say. “I think that’s why he picked me.”
“Picked you?” she asks, raising an eyebrow.
I laugh nervously. “You know what I mean,” I say, hoping she won’t ask me to elaborate further.
“But you love each other now?” Lyla asks.
I bite my lip. We haven’t exactly said the words yet, and it’s a bit early yet in our relationship, but I can’t deny that warm bursting feeling in my chest.
I don’t want to put it into words in front of someone I just met, but I don’t want to deny how I feel. I compromise by just nodding and smiling, and Lyla smiles back.
23
Cynthia
“So she loves him?” I say, grinding my teeth together.
Lyla’s weak face breaks up, and she looks about ready to cry.
I don’t care about this stupid girl’s feelings, but I can’t stand the annoyance of having to deal with her crying and whimpering again, so I put a sick sweetness into my voice.
“Lyla,” I say. “It’s okay.” I fake a smile. “Just tell me your impression.”
Lyla looks down at the floor, unable to meet my eyes, but she answers me. “She definitely loves him, but since I didn’t talk to him, I can’t know for sure how he feels.”
“Just give me your impression,” I say, feeling terribly impatient. “Please.”
“I think…” Lyla says. “I think he does.” She meets my eyes for a moment, then shrinks back down. “Love her I mean. It sounds like...like...there was a spark there from--”
“A spark,” I say, indignantly. “A spark? He paid her to pretend to be his fiancée, how can there be a spark?”
I see Lyla trembling. Great, I’ve scared her into silence again.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “Please, tell me your honest thoughts.”
“I think it was only fake,” Lyla says, “in that it was rushed. The feelings were always real, though. That’s...that’s...just how it seems to me, ma’am.”
I feel my nails digging into my palms, and my jaw is clenched together so hard that it’s aching.
“Give me the recording,” I snap.
Of course I had Lyla record the conversation. I wanted her own impressions first, but now that I have it, I want to hear what this bitch said. Word for word.
Lyla reaches into her purse, her hands shaking. She pulls out the recorder, but it slips out of her hands and hits the floor.
Before I know what’s happening, I slam the back of my hand against the idiot girl’s face. My backhand meets her face with a loud slap and crunch, and she crumples to the ground.
She looks up at me for a brief moment, then breaks into pained sobs, her whole body trembling as she wraps her arms around herself.
I snatch the recorder off the ground and hit play.
“All teachers make a difference.” It’s Lyla’s stupid voice. I press the stop button and look down at the sobbing mess. Her cheek is red where I struck her.
“Lyla,” I say. “If you ever tell Liam or Amber what happened here--about what I made you do--I will sic Dave on you again, and he’ll hit you much harder than I did. Do you understand?”
She nods, still crying.
Thank God I came to her apartment, or I’d otherwise have to remove her from my estate. Now I can just turn my back on her and walk away.
So they love each other?
I feel my lip twitching in anger as I think about it. I was supposed to be the only one he’d ever love. He promised me. Liam thinks I care about the money. He thinks my heart is totally frozen. That’s why he won’t see me coming. He’s protecting his assets, but I’m going to stab him right through his heart.
24
Amber
“That’s weird,” I say.
“What?” Liam asks.
He’s looking at his computer and not at me. He’s seemed very preoccupied the past few days.
I look down at my text message to Lyla. There’s a little check mark next to it, and there has been for a few days. She didn’t show up for class again, and I got Professor Copeland to let slip that she dropped the class entirely.
“I met this girl in class,” I say. “I thought we got along really well, but now she’s ghosting me. ”
“Ghosting?” Liam asks.
I snort through my nose. “You need to stay up on the latest slang, Mr. Lions.”
“Does it mean she is trying to scare you?” he asks with a smirk. That means he knows he’s wrong, but is trying to make me laugh.
“No,” I say. “It means she has just totally disappeared. Not making an excuse or anything, just cutting off contact entirely.”
“Ah,” Liam says. “Sounds like she wasn’t worth your time then anyway.”
I sigh. He is so matter-of-fact about everything. If someone mistreats you, they simply aren’t worth it. He never gets upset over stuff like this. I admire him for that, but it can be very annoying to see how effortlessly he does it.
“Amber,” he says, looking up from his computer. “I don’t know why I didn’t tell you this, but I met with Cynthia a few days ago.”
“You...met with her?”
He gives me an annoyed look. “Of course it was only to discuss how she considers that I breached the contract.”
I know he wouldn’t cheat on me, but ‘met with’ still has my heart pounding with jealousy.
“And…” I say. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know. Maybe I didn’t want to worry you. I tried to buy her out like I did Anton--for much more money, of course--but it didn’t work.”
“You can’t buy out everyone,” I say. “There are seven billion people on Earth, and most people won’t be bought off for a dollar.”
I don’t know exactly how many billions Liam has, but I’m guessing it’s at least seven.
“I don’t need to buy out everyone,” Liam says. “Just a select few, but Cynthia’s price is going to be much higher. I won’t resort to that unless I think the legal battle is a lost cause.”
“Is it?” I ask.
He grins. “No, I think we have an advantage. To be honest, I don’t know what Cynthia was thinking with this contract. If she really wanted to prevent me from slipping out of it, she co
uld have tied up way more loopholes. My lawyers are saying that we can end the engagement after a year and be in the clear, assuming we win the case in the first place.”
I feel a pang of pain pierce my gut. He wants to end the engagement? “Oh,” I say, my voice coming out much more flat and disappointed than I’d expected.
He sits down beside me on the couch and wraps his strong arms around me. “Not that I want to,” he says.
“Not that you want to what?” I ask, pouting.
“End the engagement,” he says. “I mean...I didn’t think this would end up feeling so real.”
“But?” I say, trying to get him to say it.
“But,” he says, “it feels like it is.”
I smile.
“If Cynthia had closed up all the loopholes, would you still have signed the contract?”
He shakes his head tentatively. “I don’t know. I really needed her investment at that time, and I did actually lov--I did care for her back then. I didn’t at first. She somehow got me to care for her, though...after I signed the contract. I don’t know what was wrong with me; I guess I couldn’t see through her like I can now. Maybe I still would have signed it, maybe I wouldn’t have.”
“She wanted to trap you,” I say. “If she made the trap too obvious, you wouldn’t have walked into it. You’re a smart man, Liam,” I say, grinning.
He runs his masculine hand down my arm. “You’re right. I probably wouldn’t have walked into too obvious of a trap. But Cynthia is still a good hunter, and she made the trap have just enough teeth to tear off my leg without killing me…and so I couldn’t get away easily.”
25
Anton
I lean back on the couch and put my hands behind my back, just like guys always do in porn videos. I don’t close my eyes, though. I want to see her lips locked around my cock.
