't reply to

ately. Not

front of Tessy's crumbling apartment building. No text. No call.

. Gabriel is e

ly for a second. T

ng the I

where people lived. It looked like a museum

, glass, and steel. C

oking down on its subjects. She tried not to gawk, but her worn f

e chair by the window, reading somet

tes early," he sa

she replied flatly

p, his eyes scannin

e

, crisp, and terrifying. The word CONTRACT stared up a

aid. "Or don't. But

file, her hands

les of

of Agr

n: Six

es as husband an

ogether

tic expe

y unless mutual

lity breach means fo

live here?" she

ge while my 'wife' sleeps in a

imacy unless agreed

our protectio

"You assume I'd wan

row. "Statistical

ant b

back out

will have already been cleared

you ba

won

her shiver. He wasn't used to br

," he said, watching

't smile

s his face. Amusement? An

own at the c

ane. Unreal.

it was her

tightened ar

ger be her own. For six months, she'd belong

si

come to the ice pa

ed to a small drawer and pulled out a ring box. He op

ing it on her finger with clin

. "This looks like it cou

smart, you'll hold onto i

p at him then

an needed to buy a stranger to play his wife.

said n

nod

was officially Mr

performance h