Chapter 39
CHAPTER
THIRTY-NINE
“Ms. Vance believes you don’t know what your heart desires,” Alistair says, glass in hand. “I’m curious whether she’s correct.”
The room goes silent.
Answering should be easy, but my mind can’t stop offering lies instead: get rich, launch my career, free Jake.
“Ah,” Alistair says. “Disappointing. If you can’t say what you want, let me propose one way to settle my debt.
Ms. Vance, Jake, if you agree, I’d like to offer each of you a million dollars to have a threesome with Marcus.
” He gestures toward the stage. “And Marcus, I’d value your participation at two. ”
Evie’s breath catches.
“Fuck,” she says. “Two million for something you want anyway?” Her eyes flick to Jake. “This your new boytoy? Looks fun.”
Jake flinches, then smiles. “I’m not a toy, and I’m definitely not yours to play with.”
Evie winks at him. “Adorable.”
“I’ll count it as your third test,” Alistair says.
“Third?” I blurt to Jake. “But you—you just redid your first.”
“Don’t,” Jake says and turns back to Alistair. “If it’s my third test, I’ll do it.”
I stare at Alistair. “You’d spend four million dollars to watch us fuck?”
“If this is who you are, Marcus Philips. I’m proud to watch you finally stop pretending.”
In his office, he told me I deserved more than Evie, and I lumped it in with every other manipulation that came out of his mouth. But now, beneath the hatred, I feel the same uneasy spark that caught when I learned he’d overpaid to keep that bookstore alive.
I hate him more for making my hatred so complicated.
Maybe this isn’t only humiliation. Christ. Maybe, in his own warped way, he thinks he’s helping.
For weeks, I’ve imagined myself as an undercover journalist chasing a story that could save people.
But standing here, with Evie staring and Jake willing and Alistair waiting, I can finally see that this story was never going to save anyone.
It was always going to strip me down until there was nothing left to hide behind.
“Fine,” I say. “Evie, you showed me who you are. And Alistair… you showed me who I am.” I nod, more to myself than anyone. “I’ve made my decision. I know what my heart desires.”