Bought by Midnight

rifting from the hallway-soft piano notes twi

re Egyptian cotton, the mattress cradled her like a cl

indows framed like a silver skyline ,the walls were an

ellery and a gold pair of earrings with an exqui

his stress for me"? Sophia

ke over plans by unleashing your inner beau

urned like a spl

Damon Wolfe

t morning, she was his

. A signature that sold a year of her life for

the adjoining closet, where a row of d

g she'd ever worn. Still, she pulled on a silk blouse, tailored s

e-reading the Financial Times, dressed in another dark su

she said

s head. "You

ss wall behind him. The skyline was breathtak

l schedule. Breakfast, then an

linked.

. We'll be photographed, asked questions about our 'wh

m. "Should we practice

twitched

playful despite her ner

spilled wine on my shoes.

id no, because I thought you

. "But als

look. "You ad

gged. "Tru

esso-first date in Central Park, late-night calls that turned into sun

the studio, Sophia almost

afted smiles. Sophia posed with Damon in front of minimalist backdrops-her hand i

whispered, "You two actuall

ghtly. "Feels th

rt of her felt scrubbed, polished, and presented. But as

ze lin

n up well

"Is that your versi

ile. "You di

thing to approval s

"Maybe I'll survive

was an unexpected sanctuary-floor-to-ceiling books, worn leather chairs

m the shelf at random. Halfway through the first chapt

iding," D

ering," sh

olled. He looked less like the icy billionaire and mo

"You really don't like talk

hing worth t

. "You were once in

something cro

adly," he s

happ

. "She didn't want my world. And I

he understood that more

t be able to have it," she said softly. "Not because you do

from her, his eye

it you want m

is gaze.

elp me win this war. And

een them. The air shifted-not quite romantic

quietly, "that this arrangement will

own at her with somethin

e not as naïve

leaving her alone in

watching the city pulse beneath her. She felt changed already

someone

a man with a past. To a future wrapped

wasn't

anym

her life, the stakes were high