Page 72 of The Client
“I think he was bluffing,” Rhys says. “I didn’t think that at first, but…he has to know that if he leaks the video, Zoric will retaliate. Or worse. My dad doesn’t have a death wish. He just wanted to scare me. Push me out of the company.”
“What if he’s not bluffing and the video goes public?”
“Then I’ll do damage control. Spin a story about how I rescued you from an unfortunate situation, but then I fell for you and decided to keep you around. People will love that.”
“How nice it must be, when your lies make you look like a hero.”
“Izabela, please. I’m just trying to make the best of this. For everyone involved.”
“I understand,” I say, but I shift further away from him. “Let’s say your plan works, and Zoric lets you buy my freedom, and your father does nothing. Does that mean Zoric is out of my life for good? Will I get my passport back? Will his men stop threatening my family?”
“Hopefully yes, I’ll be able to work all of that out. All I can say is, I’m going to do everything I can to give you your life back. That’s a promise. I’m going to get that contract from Zoric, and you will have all of your rights again. I will not own you. Nobody will. And as soon as it makes sense for you to leave, you can fly home to Poland. Go back to your family and put this all behind you, try to move on as best you can.”
On the outside I’m calm, but inside, my heart is shattering even as it lifts. Yes, I want to go home, but it hurts me how obviously Rhys can’t wait to get rid of me. Why did I ever believe that I could actually mean more to him than a bit of entertainment, or a public relations playing card? How foolish to think that he might want something real with me. Something more.
At the end of the day I’m just the person that could cause the downfall of everything he’s worked for.
“How long will I have to pay back the cost of purchasing my freedom from Zoric?” I ask. “Can I set up some kind of monthly remittance, or maybe every other month—”
“You won’t owe me anything. You’ll be able to walk away, no strings attached.”
“There’s no such thing as no strings attached,” I tell him. “But we can figure out the details later. And then…if I stay with you…in this fake relationship. What will that look like?”
“The same as it does now,” he says. “Same parameters. But only as long as you want it.”
I nod. “Okay. I’ll need some time to think about your offer.”
His brows arch. I’ve surprised him. “Sure. Of course.”
“I need to be alone now.”
He collects his things and looks down at me for a moment. Then he presses the barest of a kiss to the top of my head and leaves.
I stay on the bed, curling into a ball around my pillow. As the tears fall, I try to remind myself that the most important thing is that I have survived. I try not to think about losing Rhys.
Why can’t he acknowledge that he feels something for me? I can’t be imagining the tenderness in his touch or the small ways he makes me feel important. There must be a reason why he won’t give himself over to what’s been slowly happening between us.
It will be very difficult to continue living with a man who can’t love me.
27
IZABELA
Once I’ve pulledmyself together, I go into the bathroom and splash my face with cool water, then change into jeans and a sweater. My first instinct is to call my sister, but she doesn’t know the truth about my life in America and I don’t want to say anything that will cause concern. Obviously, I can’t tell her that I will no longer be owned by my employer because my john is buying out my contract. In the end, I put my phone down. There’s nobody I can talk to.
It’s hard to believe how much naïveté was woven into my aspirations for coming to this country. I’ve grown up a lot in the time that I’ve been here. Now I know that fairy tales are just that, and if something sounds too good to be true, then it most definitely is. Which is why I’m wary of Rhys’s proposal for me to remain here as a kept woman.
Not only that, but when I asked him what our new “relationship” would be like, he said it would be the same as it is now. Meaning his life is his own, no business of mine, and that he can see any woman he wants, while I’m reserved exclusively for him. It’s not enough for me.
Despite everything that I’ve been through, my dreams of having true love and family haven’t died. I know to be smarter about things now, but I still want that for myself.
If I lock myself in with Rhys, I’ll never have it. Maybe in time, he would come to acknowledge his feelings towards me. Or, maybe with time I would begin to understand that I’m only seeing what I want to see, and he really doesn’t feel any affection towards me. That Diya was right, and I thought it wasPretty Woman. How much more of myself do I give while I wait to find out? How much more time do I allow him to consume?
All this speculation isn’t helping. It’s making me less and less certain of what I should do. I need certainties, not hopes and dreams. I need to talk to Rhys. I’ll tell him exactly what I want—what I need—if we’re going to move forward as a new fake couple. I’ll set some boundaries. It’s time I laid down some “parameters” of my own. He can take them or leave them. But if he does refuse to give me what I’m asking, then that will be an answer in and of itself.
If he says no, so do I.
My mind is made up. I’ll ask Rhys for what I need, and I’ll tell him that these things are nonnegotiable, 100% firm. He can decide if he’s willing to meet me halfway.
