Vows Of Convenience: A Deal Went Wrong

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tuck doing things I'd rather not. Like now, for instance, as I busied myself cleaning yet another hotel room, I hu

told, I h

omplete strangers, most of whom were spoiled, rich brats who thought "maid" meant "personal servant"? The wo

I picked it up, glanced at the screen, and made a mental note to drop it off at the front desk. Lost and foun

to my apron and pulled out a phone, only to realize it wasn't mine but the one I'd

D made my st

the h

in this soul-sucking

trying to steady my breath as

ago," the voice on the other end said quickly, her words rushed but familiar

l reality snapped back into place. "How

Carrie. You need to find the money soon. If we wait the full three months for the surgery,

against the glass and stared blankly at the streets of New York below

er. The only family I

ht alone was enough to make my chest tig

. "I'm working as hard as I can, every hour I can get. But I don't have anything. Nothing I

the window as if the streets of N

e low with shame. "It's just me. Me and whatever hours I can put in scrub

, clenching my f

take him aw

We'd been in and out of hospitals, scraping together money, making endless paymen

g hotel rooms and humm

ery single day, I might lose the one p

hing about this situation felt right. As much as I tried to keep my emotions bottl

't affor

't save my brother's leg. Crying wouldn't ge

o making the bed like nothing had happened. Like my world wasn't

ey

ord on a piano. I looked up, and the sight before

as, without exaggeration, the m

mewhere between my brain and lips. Nothing came out. I just s

ck suit that hugged his frame like it had been stitched directly onto his body. The cut was impeccable, classic and modern all at once, the jacket nipping

e a color invent

provided the perfect contrast, a flash of light beneath the darkness of the suit. His tie was missing, and somehow that made him lo

s eyes were sharp, a deep gray, stormy and unreadable set beneath thick brows that gave him an almost regal intensity. His hair was dark, nearly black,

control, the kind that didn't need t

as smooth as it looked... or maybe to confirm he was real. Because standing there, he didn't look real.

reboot and remind me I needed to actually say something. Ju

d here," he said, his voice smooth and con

even though I hadn't looked away for more than a second. My mind scram

e as a cellphone. For all I knew, he wasn't the one who stayed in the room. Even if he had, how could I be sure the ph

trying not to me

ket of my apron and pulled out the phone. I he

when he

ll, amused laugh, rich a

going to st

it me like

use

om before, but the infuriated kind that burned. I looked up at him sha

o made assumptions, who mocked the working class like it was a sport. But I didn't. I couldn't. Because one slip of th

s. Every single bitter,