"My grandmother is too perceptive to be fooled by someone I hired off a website. She'd see through an actress in five minutes." I stood too, keeping my voice calm. "But you're different. You're not impressed by money. You don't play games. She already likes you. She already thinks you're exactly what I need."
"So I'm convincing because I'm too naive to lie properly? That's your pitch?"
"You're convincing because you're real." I stepped closer. "And because of Zoe."
Kim went still. Her whole body tensed, like a wire pulled too tight.
"Leave my daughter out of this."
"I'm not trying to…"
"I mean it." Her voice had gone cold. Hard. "Zoe is not a prop for your family drama. She's not a tool to make you look like a better person. She's a child.Mychild. And if you think I would ever…"
"That's not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean?"
I took a breath. This was going badly. Worse than I'd imagined, and I'd imagined it going pretty badly.
"I'm not asking you to use Zoe. I'm saying the foundation is already there. We just have to build on it."
Kim stared at me. Her eyes were blazing, dark and furious, and I realized I'd never seen her like this. She was always so poised.
"Absolutely not." She turned toward the door. "Find someone else for your scheme, Mr. Dubois. I won't be part of it."
"Wait." I moved to block her path, holding up my hands to show I wasn't trying to trap her. "Just hear me out. Please."
She stopped. Didn't turn around. But she didn't keep walking either.
"I'm offering compensation," I said to her back. "Significant compensation. Any figure you want, just name it."
"I don't take handouts." She still wasn't looking at me.
"It's not a handout." I took a careful step closer. "It's a job."
Finally, she turned. Her expression was unreadable, but she was listening. That was something.
"You'd be providing a service. Three months of attending family events, having dinners with my grandmother, and occasional public outings. Nothing inappropriate. Nothing that crosses any lines." I held her gaze. "After the deadline passes, we stage an amicable breakup. I pretend to be heartbroken. My grandmother feels sorry for me and stops pushing. And you walk away with enough money to change your life."
Silence filled the office. Kim was staring at me with an expression I couldn't read—anger, still, but something else too. Something calculating.
"Take the night," I said. "Think about it. Give me an answer tomorrow."
She didn't respond. Just stood there, looking at me with those dark eyes that seemed to see everything I was trying to hide.
Then she turned and walked out of my office.
I watched her return to her desk, watched her sit down and pull something up on her computer, her face perfectly neutral, giving nothing away.
This was either the solution to all my problems or the match that would set my entire life on fire.
I honestly couldn't tell which.
5KIM
The apartment was quiet.
Zoe had been asleep for two hours. I'd read her three stories tonight instead of the usual two, dragging out bedtime because I wasn't ready to be alone with my thoughts.