I nearly choked.

Renee looked at me.

“Apparently.”

Lily narrowed her eyes.

“He doesn’t know anything about girlfriends.”

Renee smiled.

“I’ve noticed.”

That was the beginning.

Soon Lily was sending Renee pictures of school projects.

Renee helped her build a model satellite for science class.

For the first time in years, I heard two female voices arguing over glitter at my kitchen table.

I stood at the sink pretending I wasn’t listening.

Then Charles Montgomery contacted me.

Thirty Million Dollars

He chose a steakhouse downtown.

Private room.

No witnesses.

Charles was in his early sixties, gray-haired and calm. He didn’t insult Renee.

That would have made things easier.

Instead, he talked about responsibility.

“Renee is very talented.”

He cut his steak.

“But companies like Sterling Global cannot be managed emotionally.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

He placed his knife down.

“Your arrangement is becoming inconvenient.”

A folder appeared beside his plate.

I didn’t touch it.

“What’s that?”

“Thirty million dollars.”

I stared at him.

“For what?”

“Walk away.”

He wanted me to confirm privately that the relationship was fake.

He wanted enough information to undermine Renee before the next shareholder meeting.

I pushed the folder back.

“No.”

Charles didn’t look surprised.

“You have a daughter, correct?”

My hand stopped.

He took a drink of water.

“Lily. Ten years old.”

I stood so quickly my chair scraped the floor.

“Don’t say her name again.”

Charles raised one hand.

“Daniel, I’m discussing your responsibilities. Thirty million dollars gives a child extraordinary security.”

“We’re done.”

I left.

That evening, I drove directly to the hospital.

Renee was asleep when I arrived.

Her skin looked almost gray.

A nurse stopped me outside the room.

Renee had developed a serious infection.

For the next several hours, doctors moved quickly.

I sat in that same chair.

At one point, her blood pressure dropped badly enough that three nurses came in at once.

I moved into the hallway.

There was nothing I could do.

So I waited.

Just like before.

Near dawn, the doctor finally came out.

She was stable.

I went back inside.

Renee opened her eyes sometime later.

“You look terrible.”

“Thanks.”

“You could’ve gone home.”

I looked at the chair beside her bed.

Then at her.

“Charles offered me thirty million dollars yesterday.”

Her expression changed.

“For what?”

“You.”

I told her everything.

The restaurant.

The folder.

Lily’s name.

Renee listened without interrupting.

When I finished, she turned toward the window.

“I’m sorry he mentioned your daughter.”

“That’s what you’re worried about?”

She looked back at me.

“She’s not part of this.”

I thought about the contract.

The twelve million.

The cameras.

All the rules we’d written down to make sure nobody confused business with something real.

I reached into my jacket and placed my copy of the agreement on her bedside table.

Renee looked at it.

“What are you doing?”

“Changing the arrangement.”

“Daniel—”

“I’m not taking Charles’s money.”

“I know.”

“And I’m not leaving because he wants me to.”

She was quiet.

“The contract still stands.”

I shook my head.

“No.”

I slid it toward her.

“Keep your money.”

Renee stared at me.

The monitor beside her kept beeping.

Same sound.

Same hospital chair.

Same hour of the morning when people said things they couldn’t take back.

“Then why are you staying?”

I sat down beside her.

For once, I didn’t have a practical answer.

“Because you shouldn’t have to call the wrong number twice.”

The Morning Our Secret Became Public

Three weeks after I told Renee I didn’t want her money anymore, my phone started ringing at 5:42 in the morning.

I was making Lily scrambled eggs.

She was sitting at the kitchen island in her pajamas, reading the back of a cereal box.

My phone buzzed again.

Then again.

“Dad, your phone is going crazy.”

I wiped my hands and looked.

Seventeen missed calls.

Andrea.

Two numbers I didn’t recognize.

My supervisor.

Then I saw the news alert.

STERLING CEO PAID MAN $12 MILLION TO POSE AS BOYFRIEND DURING HEALTH CRISIS.

I stopped reading.

Lily looked up.

“Is that about Renee?”

I turned the phone facedown.

“Finish breakfast.”

“Dad.”

“Please.”

She knew from my voice not to argue.

I called Renee.

No answer.

Andrea picked up immediately.

“Where are you?”

“Home.”

“Stay there.”

“Where’s Renee?”

A pause.

“Hospital.”

I grabbed my keys.

“I’m coming.”

By the time I reached the hospital, reporters were already outside.

Someone had leaked the original agreement.

Not a rumor.

Not a description.

The actual document.

My signature was on television before eight that morning.

So was Renee’s.

Sterling Global’s stock fell hard after the market opened.

Inside Renee’s room, the television was muted.

She sat upright in bed, reading something on a tablet.

“Turn that off,” I said.

“I run the company.”

“You’re also getting a blood transfusion.”

She lowered the tablet.

“Both can apparently happen at once.”

Andrea stood near the window.

She hadn’t said a word since I entered.

I noticed she wouldn’t look at Renee.

Then Renee noticed too.

“Andrea?”

Andrea’s face changed.

She put both hands over her mouth.

“I’m sorry.”

The room went silent.

Renee set the tablet down.

“What did you do?”

Andrea started crying.

“I gave him the contract.”

The USB Andrea Left Behind

I expected Renee to yell.

She didn’t.

That somehow made it worse.

Andrea explained that Charles had found out about her father’s medical debt.

Her father had undergone several surgeries. The bills had piled up. Charles had approached her quietly and made it clear he knew exactly how vulnerable her family was.

He wanted the agreement.

Andrea gave it to him.

“How long?” Renee asked.

“Two months.”

“You’ve been giving him information for two months?”

Andrea shook her head quickly.

“Not everything. The contract. Your schedule. Some internal emails.”

Renee looked away.

Andrea reached into her purse.

She placed a small black USB drive on the table.