Chapter 1

ELEANOR’S POV

“Watch where you’re going!”

The voice shouted at me from the side of the road. I jumped back just as the car horn blasted next to my ear. The driver leaned out and cursed at me before speeding off.

“Sorry,” I muttered, but my legs kept moving. My head was somewhere else entirely.

Ian’s face kept showing up in front of me as I moved. The way he had looked at me and spoken to me.

I kept walking until I reached Hailey’s building. I climbed the stairs, unlocked her door, and stepped inside.

The apartment was dark.

“Hailey?” I called out.

No answer.

I closed the door and dropped my bag on the floor. I sat on the edge of the couch and stared at nothing.

The loan numbers kept running through my head. The amount of money I borrowed, the same amount that was now gone.

I remembered the day he asked me to borrow him money.

We were sitting at the small table in his place. He leaned forward and took my hand.

“Eleanor, this is it,” he said. “This deal is solid. Once it goes through, I won’t be needing anybody’s money again. Not my mother’s. Not anybody’s.”

“How much do you need?” I asked.

“A lot more than I have right now.”

“Ian, that’s not an answer. How much exactly?”

He squeezed my hand. “If you can just help me get the capital, I’ll pay you back the moment the money starts coming in. I promise.”

I pulled my hand back a little. “You’re asking me to take a loan again, aren’t you?”

“Yes, but it’s temporary. The returns will cover everything and more. You’ve always believed in me El. Don’t stop now.”

“What if something goes wrong?”

“Nothing will go wrong this time okay. Trust me.”

“I’ve trusted you before, Ian.”

“And I will not let you down this time, this is different. This is the one that changes everything for me…for us.”

I looked at him for a long time. “Okay. I’ll do it.”

He smiled. “That’s my girl.”

I took the loan that same day and handed him the money. For a few days he kept saying everything was fine.

“How’s the deal going?” I asked him on the phone one evening.

“It’s smooth. Everything is moving according to plan, don’t worry about a thing.”

“When will you start seeing returns?”

“Soon my love, just give it a little more time.”

Then a new car appeared in less than a week, followed by the second one.

Then the nights out started. I finally checked the transaction details myself and I felt like ground would open up and swallow me.

I went straight to him. He opened the door and looked surprised. “Eleanor? What are you doing here this late?”

“Where is the money Ian?” I asked the moment I stepped inside.

He closed the door. “What money?”

“The loan I took for the deal. I checked everything and it’s gone. You’ve spent it all on cars, clubs and into the accounts of other women. What happened to the business?”

He folded his arms. “You gave me the money, Eleanor. I don’t owe you a report on every single thing I spend.”

“I took that loan because you said it was for the deal. You looked me in the eye and promised me you will use it for just that.”

“And you gave it willingly, so stop acting like I forced you.”

“I risked my own future for you, Ian.”

His face changed. “You’re using money to make yourself feel important in this relationship.”

I was stunned at his response. “What?”

“You throw cash at me and then expect me to bow down and thank you every second do. It’s cheap.”

I stared at him. “Cheap? I borrowed that money because I believed in you.”

“You believed in controlling me. That’s what this is, you wanted to hold something over my head.”

“That’s not true and you know it.”

He stepped closer. “I’m tired of dealing with you. I don’t need you anymore.”

“Ian—”

“We’re done, now get out.”

That was how it ended, I left his place with the debt and his words still in my ears.

I felt tears pushing their way through at my eyes again. I wiped them away with the back of my hand.

I didn’t come to Hailey’s apartment to cry about Ian all night. I just needed somewhere quiet to stay, somewhere I could stop thinking for a few hours.

I stood up and walked farther into the apartment. The living room was still dark, I moved past the couch toward the short hallway.

That was when I noticed the movement, someone was already inside the apartment.

I stopped. “Who’s there?”

A man stepped out of the darkness. I couldn’t see his face clearly, but he was tall and he moved with precison.

He spoke first. “You’re late.”

His voice was low and very calm.

I froze on the spot as the realization hit me.

Hailey! She rented out her apartment at night to men or women who needed privacy for adult encounters. It was like an airbnb but just for the night. She mentioned it to me once when her rent was late.

So this man must have thought I was the woman he paid for. I should have said something, I should have told him he had the wrong person.

But the words stayed stuck in my throat.

I was tired and my chest still hurting, so explaining myself felt like one more thing I didn’t have the strength for.

He moved closer.

“I don’t like waiting,” he said.

I didn’t answer.

His hand settled on my waist and pulled me toward him. He wasn’t rough, he just closed the space between us.

“You’re a lot more quiet than I expected,” he said.

Still, I said nothing.

Ian’s voice tried to come back to my mind again. His insults, the way he looked at me like I was nothing, and the debt.

Then the man’s fingers slid from my waist to my lower back and drew me back in fully. My forehead almost touched his chest.

For the first time that evening, Ian’s face started to fade away from my mind.

I closed my eyes and let myself fall into the presence of the man.

He didn’t ask questions, he just held me there in the dark.

My hands stayed at my sides at first, then I lifted one of them and rested it lightly against his shirt.

He lowered his head and his mouth found the side of my neck first, he kissed it slowly. Then he moved higher and brushed his lips against my earlobe.

And I didn’t pull away.