Page 35 of Yours, Forever

I hated the way this affected her, especially since she was right. I had never known what it was like to count pennies, and would likely never have to.

Well, fuck it. There was an easy solution.

"Look me in the eye, Eva."

My firm voice grabbed her attention—she lifted her serious, shuttered eyes at me. In the muted light of the kitchen at night, they glinted dark.

My gaze was steady on her. "Do you honestly believe you will stay with me until the end? Do you genuinely mean to fulfill the deal?"

Her nostrils flared. She nodded.

"Then," I said, "if something goes wrong, I will not ask for the money back. Just… don't divorce me ahead of schedule, all right? Stay with me for as long as you're willing, past the year mark."

Her gesture didn't change right away; she watched me with intense eyes a while longer, before her face softened.

I struggled with the silence, so I added more. "In the short time we've been in each other's lives, you've already shown me loyalty. I'm going to trust it. If you want, we can reach out to Leon and Anika to make it official. Leon will probably suggest I ask for any money you haven't spent, instead of none… we'll see what Anika has to say. In any case, I don't want you to feel trapped by any of this. The money is yours. Use it."

She seemed to struggle with something of her own. She frowned. "I don't know how to take this, Max. Should I be happy? I guess so, but I'm here thinking, wow. You have so much money that you can let go of five million without concern, just because I want you to win in this mysterious thing you have with your dad."

"How else am I supposed to launder my father's money if it's not by giving it away to the right people?"

The wrinkle between her eyebrows intensified, full worried furrows now. "Laundering?!"

I laughed. "Relax, darling. I don't mean it literally. Please, don't you know by now that I enjoy a turn of phrase?"

"Oh, wow." She chuckled, a relieved hand on her chest. "I can barely keep up with you sometimes."

"Don’t resist. I'll take you by the hand. You'll be okay."

She smiled but rolled her eyes. "Right, right. You call yourself a filthy billionaire, then you talk about laundering. I thought you were implying your money comes from criminal origins."

"That's not it, but thank you for your confidence." I smirked; she did too, but didn't interrupt me. "I call it dirty money because it's all unethical. My dad made the money by investing in weapons and war efforts, hiking up pharmaceutical prices, underpaying employees, and looking sideways when someone reported poor treatment of cheap labor overseas. You know, standard issue billionaire stuff."

"Sounds like a great guy." She scoffed, then drank the rest of her tea.

"Most of my money used to come from his money. A lot of it still is, especially until this little problem gets resolved in two years. Changing this fact is a big goal of mine."

"I think I get it now. When you introduce yourself as an investor; that when you go around seeding capital into small businesses, what you're doing is transferring wealth from his funds to yours... and sharing it with others."

The flutter in my stomach wasn't supposed to come out of nowhere, but the fact she'd put it together made me feel like she got me in a small way. I checked the stitches with which I'd secured my heart in place, lest it wanted to fall at her feet all over again. It was one of my weaknesses, this craving to be understood.

It would do me better to remember she wasn't offering to see beneath my skin, into those spaces I kept private and away from most people. We were only having a friendly conversation.

I nodded, took our mugs, and put them in the sink. "I've invested in many places through the years. My friend Gabe'sfamily business being the largest one. I'm still making money—at this level of investment it's hard not to, overall—don't get me wrong. But this is what I mean when I say, use your money. Money isn't bad. It's how we make it, and how we use it. Whether we hoard it or share it. There's no reason anyone has to be a billionaire; we should be a dying breed as far as I’m concerned, but it doesn't mean we should reject financial comfort."

"It's nice to know this about you. Despite the scare you gave me ten minutes ago, I also think I married well." She dropped her head to the side. "Is the tea working for you?"

"No. But I have sudden bouts of insomnia like this."

"I hope you get sleepy soon. I'm going to bed now. See if I can go back to sleep. Thanks for the conversation."

"Thanks for the tea."

She smiled, turned, and walked away.

"Good night, Eva."

Chapter 11