Chapter 1 - The Mafia Boss's Unexpected Invitation
The bartender looked at me as though he had just received my death sentence.
"Mara, Mr. Moretti wants you to come to his private office tomorrow morning."
My stomach dropped.
"His office?"
"Ten o'clock. And he said you should come alone."
Behind me, my coworkers exchanged terrified glances.
Five minutes earlier, they'd been laughing about the five hundred dollars.
Now nobody seemed interested in collecting their money.
"What happens if I don't go?" I whispered.
The bartender swallowed.
"He didn't say."
I stared at the front entrance where Adrian Moretti had disappeared.
I'd kissed the most dangerous man in Chicago for five hundred dollars.
Now he wanted to see me again.
Wonderful.
Just wonderful.
"Maybe he liked it," Brittany, one of the waitresses, offered weakly.
I looked at her.
"Then why did he send six men to make an appointment?"
Nobody answered.
I grabbed the five hundred dollars and stuffed it into my apron.
At least if I was about to die, my rent would be paid.
The following morning, I stood outside Moretti Holdings, a forty-story building in downtown Chicago.
The lobby looked more expensive than my entire apartment building.
Marble floors.
Gold accents.
Security guards who looked like they could lift cars.
The receptionist glanced at my worn cardigan and inexpensive flats.
"Can I help you?"
"I'm here to see Mr. Moretti."
Her eyebrows rose.
"Do you have an appointment?"
I gave my name.
Her expression changed instantly.
"Miss Bellamy. He's expecting you."
A private elevator took me to the top floor.
When the doors opened, a woman in a tailored gray suit approached.
"I'm Evelyn, Mr. Moretti's assistant."
She studied me carefully.
Then, surprisingly, smiled.
"You're braver than you look."
"That's what people keep telling me right before something terrible happens."
Her smile widened.
"Come with me."
She opened two enormous wooden doors.
Adrian Moretti stood beside a wall of windows overlooking Chicago.
Black suit.
White shirt.
No tie.
Exactly as I remembered.
Except somehow, in daylight, he looked even more intimidating.
He turned.
"Mara Bellamy."
I clasped my hands together.
"Mr. Moretti, I'm really sorry about last night."
He said nothing.
"It was stupid. And disrespectful. And technically a terrible idea."
One corner of his mouth moved.
"Technically?"
"Completely. It was a completely terrible idea."
He approached slowly.
I forced myself not to step backward.
"Do you know why I asked you here?"
"Because you're going to have me arrested for inappropriate kissing?"
For the first time, he laughed.
A real laugh.
It surprised both of us.
"No."
He placed an envelope on his desk.
"Five thousand dollars."
I stared.
"What?"
"Yours."
"For what?"
"For agreeing to a proposition."
My heart hammered.
"What kind of proposition?"
He studied me for several seconds.
Then spoke the words that nearly made me faint.
"I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend."
I blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Then I laughed nervously.
"You're joking."
"I don't joke about business."
"Why me?"
His expression hardened.
"Because the woman my family expects me to marry is dangerous."
He pushed a photograph across the desk.
A beautiful blonde woman smiled beside him at a formal event.
"Her name is Victoria Sterling."
I glanced at the picture.
"She looks like a supermodel."
"She's also trying to destroy my family."
I looked up sharply.
May you like
Adrian leaned closer.
"And last night, when you kissed me, she was watching."
