Chapter 2 - The Price of a Soul
The next morning,
I sat in my office at the top of the tower.
The city looked like a toy set below me.
Frankie stood by the door,
waiting for my command.
"Bring her in,"
I said,
my voice gravelly from lack of sleep.
Savannah Reeves walked in ten minutes later.
She wasn't wearing her uniform.
She wore a simple blue dress,
faded at the seams.
She looked at the expensive art on my walls,
but she didn't linger on it.
She sat in the chair across from me,
her posture straight,
her hands folded.
"I want to hire you,"
I began,
sliding a check across the mahogany.
"To do what,
sir?"
she asked,
not even looking at the numbers.
"To be with Leo."
"To do whatever you did yesterday."
"I'll pay you ten times your current salary."
"Fifty times."
She looked at the check then,
and her expression softened,
but not with greed.
It was pity.
"You can't buy a connection,
Mr. Sterling,"
she said softly.
"I'm not a therapist."
"I'm just a woman who knows what it's like to be trapped in silence."
"I don't care what you call it,"
I snapped,
my old habits of control resurfacing.
"Name your price."
She stood up,
shaking her head.
"My price is your ego,"
she said,
stunning me into silence.
"If I come,
I don't work for you."
"I work for Leo."
"No bodyguards in the room."
"No suits."
"No 'Sterling Enterprises' schedules."
"You let him breathe,
or I stay at the hotel."
I looked at her,
this woman who lived in a tiny apartment in Queens,
challenging a man who could buy the building.
And I realized I had no choice.
"Fine,"
I whispered.
"When do you start?"
"Now,"
she said.
"He’s waiting for me in the hallway."
I looked toward the door,
and there was Leo.
He had been standing there the whole time,
waiting for his friend.
The rabbit was tucked under his arm,
May you like
and for the first time in two years,
his eyes were bright.
