Chapter 5: The Deal

I rode the elevator up alone, lost in thought.

After my parents split, my father took Nathan and became a live-in son-in-law for the Carter family. I barely knew my brother until five years ago, when he tracked me down with an offer I couldn’t refuse.

"I’ll give you five hundred thousand dollars. Take my place and take care of someone for me."

At the time, my mom had just died, and debt was crushing us. I had no choice. I agreed.

Only after I met her did I realize the person was the Morgan family’s eldest daughter—Nathan’s fiancée, Lillian—recently blinded in an accident.

"A blind person, abandoned by her family—who’d want to take care of her?" Nathan sneered. "If it weren’t for the press, I’d have dumped her by now."

He’d just started his acting career, landing a big role. He didn’t want the bad press. So he paid me to do his dirty work.

Lillian’s world had crumbled overnight. She lashed out, sharp-tongued, furious. I was just there for the paycheck—never argued back.

Until the night I came home late from my mother’s grave. She let loose again:

"Nathan, stop pretending. I know you despise me—you’re just scared of what people will say—"

She never finished. I kissed her. My first kiss—clumsy, angry, more a bite than a kiss.

She fell silent, cheeks flaming.

"You—"

I bit her again, just to be sure. Then I held her shoulders, breath ragged. "Did you feel that? Still think I despise you?"

Rain hammered the window, the sharp tang of asphalt in the air. I’d never known desire and rage could tangle like that. Never known anyone could make me feel so alive and so terrified all at once.