Zoe's POV
Zoe stares at the papers on her lap and her hands won't stop shaking.
Twelve pages. Legal language that looks like it was written in another language. But underneath all the big words and scary terminology, the meaning is clear. Simple. Transactional.
Three days in the Hamptons. Hold Marcus's hand. Smile at people. Pretend they're in love. Get paid five thousand dollars. Go home. Never speak of it again.
On paper it sounds easy.
In reality it sounds insane.
She's sitting on the floor of her empty apartment, the contract spread out in front of her like evidence of a crime she hasn't committed yet. The sun is setting through the window, turning everything orange and gold. In a few hours it'll be dark and cold and she'll be another day closer to sleeping in her car.
The contract sits between her and homelessness.
Zoe reads it again even though she already knows what it says. Reads the part about separate bedrooms twice. About no physical expectations beyond what's necessary for appearances. About the cash payment that will be deposited into her account the moment they return to Manhattan.
Five thousand dollars.
She Googles Marcus Hale's net worth again like she hasn't already done it a hundred times. Three billion dollars. Three billion. The number is so large it doesn't feel real. He probably spends five thousand dollars on lunch without thinking about it.
But to her, five thousand dollars is everything.
Her phone buzzes. A text from Lena.
"Girl where are you? I've been trying to reach you all day."
Zoe types back: "Sorry. Stuff happened."
"What kind of stuff? Good stuff or bad stuff?"
Zoe stares at the contract. What kind of stuff is this exactly?
"Weird stuff. Can you come over?"
Lena shows up twenty minutes later with coffee and the kind of knowing look that says she's about to demand answers. She sees the contract spread across Zoe's floor and her eyes go wide.
"What is that?" Lena asks, already moving toward it.
"Don't," Zoe says quickly. "Just sit. I need to tell you something."
They sit on the floor of Zoe's empty apartment like they're kids again, back when both their worlds made sense. Lena listens without interrupting while Zoe tells her about Marcus Hale. About the meeting. About the offer. About the contract that's sitting between them like a test neither of them asked to take.
When Zoe finishes, Lena doesn't say anything for a long time.
"That's the most insane thing I've ever heard," Lena says finally.
"I know."
"And you're actually considering doing it?"
"He's paying seven thousand," Zoe says quietly. "He increased it to seven. Seven thousand dollars, Lena."
Lena picks up the contract and reads through it, her expression getting darker with each page. When she finishes, she looks at Zoe with something like fear in her eyes.
"Do you know what this actually means?" Lena asks. "You'd be legally bound to be his girlfriend for three days. You'd have to pretend in front of fifty people. What if someone finds out? What if this gets leaked?"
"It won't."
"You don't know that. Rich guys like Marcus Hale don't play fair. He could use you and throw you away and there's nothing you could do about it because you signed a contract that says you agreed to this."
Zoe knows Lena is right. Knows that trusting a billionaire she hasn't seen in fourteen years is a terrible idea. Knows that desperation is making her consider something that could blow up in her face.
But she also knows what happens if she doesn't sign.
"I'll be careful," Zoe says. "It's just three days."
"Three days where you're lying to everyone including yourself," Lena says, but she can see the defeat in her eyes. She knows Zoe's made her decision. "Just promise me something."
"What?"
"Promise me that when this blows up in your face, you won't disappear. Promise you'll let me help you pick up the pieces."
Zoe squeezes her friend's hand. "I promise."
After Lena leaves, Zoe sits with the contract for another hour. Just staring at it. Thinking about Marcus's green eyes and the way he looked at her like he was seeing something she couldn't see. Thinking about how he knew details about her life that she never told him. Thinking about the question that's been haunting her since she left his office.
Why her?
There has to be a reason. Rich guys don't just call random girls from their childhood and offer them money for fake dates. There's always something underneath. Something he's not saying.
Tomorrow morning he promised to tell her everything.
But what if everything is something she can't handle?
What if the truth is worse than the lie?
Zoe picks up the pen. Her hand hovers above the signature line for what feels like forever. This is the moment. The crossroads. Sign and change everything. Don't sign and stay exactly where she is.
Seventy-two hours to eviction.
She signs her name in the first blank. Zoe Margaret Mitchell. The pen feels heavy in her hand. Like she's not signing a business contract but signing away something essential about herself.
She has to read it one more time before she does the initials on every page. Has to make sure she understands exactly what she's agreeing to. The separated bedrooms clause makes her feel oddly relieved and oddly disappointed at the same time. No physical expectations beyond what's necessary for appearances. That means he won't try to kiss her. Won't try to touch her in ways that blur the lines between fake and real.
Part of her wishes the contract said something different.
She finishes the initials and stares at the final signature page. This is it. This is the moment everything becomes real.
Zoe signs.
The pen moves across paper and her life branches into a different direction. She doesn't know where it's going but it's going somewhere other than her car.
She's just finishing when she hears the elevator ding outside her apartment.
For a moment, nothing makes sense. No one visits her. No one even knows she lives here except Lena. But footsteps come down the hallway. A knock on her door.
Zoe opens it and Marcus is standing there. He's still in his suit from the office but his tie is loosened and his dark hair is slightly messed up like he's been running his hands through it.
"Hi," he says awkwardly. "I know it's late. I shouldn't have come here. But I needed to..."
He stops when he sees the contract in her hand.
His entire body goes still.
"You signed it," he says quietly.
"Yeah. I signed it."
Marcus reaches out slowly and takes the papers from her. He reads through the signature page and something flickers across his face. Relief mixed with something darker. Something that looks like hunger.
"Thank you," he says, and his voice sounds rough like he hasn't slept.
"You said you'd tell me everything tomorrow," Zoe says. "In the car."
Marcus looks up from the contract and his green eyes lock onto hers.
"I will," he promises. "Tomorrow I'll tell you why I really hired you. Why I searched for you. Why I've been thinking about you for fourteen years."
The words hang between them like a confession.
Like something real underneath all the business and the contracts and the lies.
Zoe's breath catches.
"Marcus, what is this really about?"
But he's already stepping back. Already pulling away before she can get too close to the truth.
"Tomorrow," he says again. "I promise. Tomorrow morning you get all of it."
He leaves her apartment and she's left standing alone with the signed contract and a feeling that she's just made a deal with something much more complicated than she understood.
She looks down at her signature on the papers and realizes she's shaking.
Not from fear.
From something that feels dangerously like excitement.