Chapter 4

Ethan kept coming by. Sometimes he asked me to cook. Sometimes he fell asleep on my couch after a long day. He paid my posted rates, even when I charged for the groceries and the company.

He never said Vivian’s name in my apartment, but I could tell he was thinking about her. She was engaged to a wealthy investor named Daniel, whose family could bail out the company her father ran.

The night before the wedding, Ethan arrived drunk. He grabbed at me, then stopped when I shoved him away.

“I’m not Vivian,” I said. “You don’t get to use me to rehearse a goodbye.”

He crumpled against the wall. “She’s marrying someone else tomorrow.”

“Then go home and deal with it.”

He left. In the morning, his assistant delivered a couture dress, a diamond necklace, and an invitation to the wedding. The note said: *Come as my date. Fifty thousand for the day.*

I went because I wanted to see what Ethan would do when there was an audience.

Vivian stood beneath a flower arch, radiant in white. Ethan walked in with me on his arm. Cameras turned toward us.