Deidre, remember this. In this city, nobody is going to save you. You can only save yourself.
Three years of clawing my way to where I stood now. How much I'd suffered, how many humiliations I'd swallowed—only I knew.
I thought Clyde was my reward for all of it. Proof that the worst was behind me.
It wasn't.
He was just another lesson.
A crueler one.
I took a deep breath, lifted my head, and looked him straight in the eyes.
"Fine."
"I'll do it," I said, cold and level. "But when it's done, on top of the five million, you pay me half again as much."
Clyde raised an eyebrow. "Deal."
The moment I turned to leave, every trace of warmth dropped from my face. So from the very beginning, he'd treated this as a transaction and a performance.
Fine. I was a professional actress. I could give him the show of his life.
The next day. A brand event.
I wore a dress Clyde had picked out in advance.
Black. Deep V. Thigh-high slit. Sexy to the point of gaudy.
Normally I would have refused anything this revealing, but today I didn't.