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I don’t want a girl who is nothing more than a pretty flower with well rehearsed conversational skills for this endeavor. I’d get bored too quickly, and once I get bored, I get irritated and impatient. If I want to be serious about faking my way into the Vanguard Society this way, then I can’t go with a spineless pretty face.
I’m killing two birdswith one stone here, that’s all.
“Three days,” Kat repeats in a pensive tone. She looks lost and intimidated, her eyes trailing down to her lap, before they latch onto the suit jacket in my hands. A somber shadow seems to cloud her expression when she catches sight of thick fabric.
“I’ll send you the paperwork later today,” I inform her. “And you’ll receive your first down payment, as promised.”
“Today?”she asks. “I’ll get money today?”
I nod. “Yes, I said you’d get your first payment for considering my offer. You said you’d think about it, am I right?”
She suggests a shy nod, a hint of doubt lacing her expression.
“And you’ll let me know about your decision in three days at the latest?”
She nods again.
“Well, in that case, I’ll write you a check for ten thousand dollars right n—”
“Ten thousand dollars!?”she bursts out, almost jumping up from her seat.
“That’s right. I told you, it’s just a small down payment,” I confirm.
Kat shifts on her seat, her gaze traveling around the room as if she was looking for something to hold on to.
“Do I… I mean… what if…,” she stutters, clearing her throat before she adds: “What if I say no? Do I have to pay it back?”
I shake my head. “This money is yours either way.”
She looks at me as if I’d just told her she’d won the lottery, blinking nervously as she lets my words sink in. Her lips are moving, but she appears to be incapable of a verbal response, too shaken by disbelief.
Seeing her like this almost makes me regret my choice to promise her a check right away. Ten thousand dollars is nothing to me, but it’s a ton of money for a girl like her. What if she decides to take the money and reject my proposition without even thinking about it? It would be stupid, but it’s a possibility.
“Why are you doing this?”she asks now, adding a subtle shake of her head as if she refusesto believe thisisactually happening.
“I told you, I need a fiancée—”
“No, that’s not what I mean,” she cuts me off. “I mean, why would you give me this much money upfront? And why me? I don’t get it…”
She pauses, biting her lower lip with such force that it looks downright painful, as she seems to struggle for words. Sadness shrouds her face like a dark cloud, but I fail to see the reason behind it.
“Is it because you feel sorry for me?” Kat asks eventually, narrowing her eyes when she looks at me. “Am I some sort of welfare case for you?”
“By no means,” I respond, disgusted at her assumption. “This is just a small down payment to compensate for considering my offer. You have a tough decision to make, and I want you to be a hundred percent clear on what this deal entails. I want to be able to count on you, once our contract is signed.”
She is nodding along as I speak, her lips pressed into a thin line and her eyes wide and attentive.
“I understand,” she says.
“Besides, do you not remember what happened attheclub, before all hell broke loose?” I go on, adding a little wink to my words. “Because I do.”
She sucks in a sharp breath of air and a treacherous blush colors her cheeks when she lowers her eyes to evade mine.
“You do remember, don’t you?” I probe.
“Yes, of course,” she responds in a whisper. “I just… I’m not…”
She pauses again, noisily clearing her throat before she straightens her back and looks back up at me. Her demurepoise has been replaced by stern determination when she speaks again.
