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“Was Tuesday night the first time you met Alvin Harris?”
“What?” My head jerks back in confusion.
“The producer you went out with the other night,” he explains.
“Yes.” I finally register what Titan has in his hand. It’s definitely not a gift. It’s a photo of Harris and an open folder with what I guess is information about the potential arrangement at his side.
“Do you know who Freddy is? Frederick Fisher,” he continues.
“The guy Harris was talking about the other night? No. Well, I mean, everyone knows he’s a studio head, but… Wait, what the hell is going on?” I back up, my legs hitting the seat of a giant chair, my body folding at the hinge point till I’m seated in front of one of the elaborate place settings.
“You’ve never met him before? Even in passing?”
“No,” I say firmly. My body tenses. Gripping the arms of the massive chair, I try to make sense of the abrupt turn of events. Titan contacted me on Sweet Arrangements for a date. He’d said he wanted to get to know me, wanted to talk. He didn’t balk at the number I’d suggested. In fact, he sent the money without question, as if he’d done it a thousand times. “No, I’ve never met him.”
“You grabbed a napkin with the address of Freddy’s location and possible event information. Do you still have it?”
Irritation and confusion layer one on top of the other. My pulse is now racing. This is not how I needed tonight to go.
“Do you still have it?” he repeats, the harsh rasp to his voice breaking my confusion and allowing me to fully sink into my anger.
“So this is why you messaged me on Sweet Arrangements?” I spit out, gripping the arms of the chair so tight, my nails dig into the wood. “I’m here for corporate espionage or something?”
This is why I have a system for vetting arrangements,I chide myself.Safiya would be so pissed at me. I’m such a fucking idiot.
I have the five hundred Titan sent earlier today, but I need this to be long term or at least to go on long enough to get my head above water. But if he just wanted information, then I’ve wasted another night with something that would go nowhere.
I’m going to lose my apartment,I realize.
“You tricked me.” My gaze darts around the table, looking for something to throw at him. I land on the ornately jeweled serving spoon in front of me. If it is like everything else in Titan’s home, it would be a real antique and worth more than my rent.
I don’t steal, other than Freddy’s address from Harris, which I think only loosely counts, but I used to. The last item I lifted was my now ex-manager, Richard’s, prized autographed director’s chair from his office ten years ago. The instant hit of power when I’d lost everything had been intoxicating. In the years since, sugaring has given me the ability to live exactly how I saw fit along with the control I craved. I hadn’t felt the urge to steal, not until last Tuesday night, not until now.
“I don’t lie, Julianna.” Concern darkens his already stern features. “I paid for the night. I paid for the conversation. That is what I asked for in our messages online, and that is what you agreed to.”
A shadow falls over his eyes as his heavy brows furrow and his firm mouth sets in a line. His expression is unyielding but not unkind, and it’s the unusual combination of the two that makes my traitorous thighs clench.
He’s serious,I realize.He doesn’t think that he deceived me in any way.
I force out a rueful laugh and look to my lap to hide the threat of tears that press at the back of my eyes.
My lawyer is going to drop me.
“Give me the napkin. My driver can take you to your home to get it. You don’t know Freddy, so it doesn’t mean anything to you.” Titan’s voice is softer now, almost soothing, as he turns away from me to toss the manilla folder back into the pile.
Titan was right about one thing: he didn’t promise me anything more than the money he’d already given, but that doesn’t change the position I am in.
“Three thousand,” I choke out. I don’t know if I’m asking too much or too little, but if five hundred was for the date, then three thousand seems fair for information that means nothing to me and seemingly so much to him.
He pulls out his phone, navigates to the cash app, and in a matter of seconds, I hear the happy littlecha chingalert coming from my purse.
I should’ve asked for more.
“If you wanted specific information about someone, you could’ve just asked me in our messages.” It was pure exhaustion that prevented me from cleaning out my bag after the date with Harris, so I have the napkin with me. I set my bag down on the table and dig it out. “You didn’t need to waste my night.”
I move from the oversized chair and close the distance between us, standing in front of Titan at the head of the table. He looms over me, but I refuse to cower, and I lean back on the edge of the table. I toss him the napkin. Annoyingly, he catches it with ease.
“I needed to know if you had a connection to Freddy. I couldn’t take the chance of you not giving me the address.” He glances at the napkin and then lays it on top of the stack of folders before turning back to me. His heavy brows soften, and his full lips curve up at the corners. The devious grin lights up the hard edges of his face and makes me swallow hard. “And I want to know why you took it, Julianna.”
