Chapter 5 - The Deal of the Ghost
Maya stared at him, her mind scrambling to find the catch. "With you? In your house?"
"My estate in Westchester," Julian said, not turning around. "It has twelve feet of stone walls, twenty-four-hour security, and my personal staff. Derek Vance can't get within a mile of it without my permission."
"And what do you want from me?" she asked, her voice dropping into a defensive, suspicious whisper. "People like you don't give away safety for free. What’s the price?"
Julian turned around. The firelight caught the hard lines of his jaw, the dark intensity of his eyes. For a moment, he looked exactly like the monster the city feared.
"I have a problem, Maya," he said. "My associates—the men I do business with in Chicago and Miami—think I’ve become too cold. Too isolated. They believe a man who lives alone in a fortress is a man who is preparing for a war they don't want to fight. They want me to show that I am stable. That I have something to lose."
"A wife," Maya whispered.
"A fiancée," Julian corrected. "A woman who lives in my home, who accompanies me to dinners, who shows the world that Julian Sterling is a man of peace. I don't have time to court a woman of my own class, and frankly, I don't trust any of them. They want my money or my head."
"And you trust me?"
"You have nowhere else to go," Julian said simply. "You have no family, no money, and a predator at your heels. If you betray me, you lose your protection, and Derek finds you. That makes you the most loyal partner I could ask for."
Maya looked at the window, where the rain was still falling in a relentless sheet. She thought of the cold, damp subway stations, the constant fear of every footstep behind her, the memory of Derek’s hands on her throat.
Then she looked at Julian. He was dangerous, yes. A man of blood and shadows. But he had looked at her under that table and chosen to pull the cloth down.
"How long?" she asked.
"Six months," Julian said. "Until the shipping contracts are finalized. After that, I will give you a new identity, fifty thousand dollars in cash, and a plane ticket to any country in the world."
Maya took a deep, shuddering breath. She extended her small, trembling hand across the desk.
May you like
"Six months," she said.
Julian reached out, his large, warm hand completely engulfing hers. "Six months."
