Lily's Point of View
The stylist arrives at 5:30 PM exactly.
She's young. Maybe thirty. Expensive looking. She carries a garment bag like it contains gold and doesn't ask Lily any questions. Just starts pulling dresses from her collection and holding them up against Lily's body.
None of them are Lily's designs.
All of them are designer brands. Expensive labels. Clothes that cost more than Lily makes in a month.
"Xavier was very specific about what he wanted," the stylist says, holding up a midnight blue dress. "He said you should look like someone who finally knows her own worth."
Lily doesn't respond. Just lets the stylist dress her like a doll. Like she's being prepared for something she doesn't have permission to refuse.
The dress fits perfectly.
Everything Xavier chooses fits her perfectly.
At 6:45 PM a black car pulls up outside her apartment building. The driver emerges and holds the door open. She gets in without saying goodbye to her own reflection.
Xavier is waiting at the restaurant.
He stands when she approaches the table and his eyes scan her from head to feet. His expression doesn't change but something flickers across his face. Satisfaction. Possession. Like he's seeing exactly what he paid for.
"You look beautiful," he says.
Lily sits down without responding.
The dinner is at a place so exclusive that there are only eight tables in the entire restaurant. Each one private. Separated by walls that block you from seeing other diners. Xavier has the best table. Of course he does.
They don't talk about the elephant between them until after the food arrives.
"How was your day," Xavier asks like this is a normal dinner between normal people.
"You know how my day was," Lily says. "You probably had someone watching."
Xavier doesn't deny it.
"My security team reported that you spent three hours in your studio. You called the hospital twice. You cried in your bathroom for twenty minutes. You looked at your mother's medical paperwork seventeen times."
Lily sets down her fork.
"That's not protection, Xavier. That's surveillance."
"It's the same thing," Xavier says. He cuts into his steak with perfect precision. "One person's surveillance is another person's security. It depends on whether you trust the person doing the watching."
"I don't trust you."
"Yet you got in my car," Xavier says. "Yet you're sitting at my table. Yet you accepted the dress and the dinner and everything else I'm offering."
Lily has no response to that.
She eats in silence for a while. The food is incredible but it tastes like nothing in her mouth. Like her body is shutting down every sense except the ability to feel terrified.
When the main course is cleared, Xavier leans back in his chair.
"I want to make a proposal," he says.
"I thought that's what the auction was."
"The auction was how I got you in a room. The proposal is what comes next."
He pulls out a contract from his jacket. Actually pulls out a physical piece of paper like they're conducting business instead of sitting in a restaurant.
"I want you to agree to spend time with me," Xavier says. "Real time. Not an auction transaction. Not a forced agreement. I want you to choose to be in my life."
Lily looks at the contract.
"What does that mean. Choose to be in your life."
"It means you'll let me in. You'll spend time with me. You'll trust me enough to let me help you. You'll accept that I'm going to be a consistent presence in your world."
"For how long," Lily asks.
"Until your mother recovers," Xavier says. "And then we'll renegotiate."
He hands her a pen.
Lily looks at the contract. The words blur together. She's too afraid to read it carefully. Too desperate to refuse.
"You're serious," she says.
"Completely."
She signs it.
Xavier takes the contract and slides it back into his jacket like he's been waiting months for her to do exactly that. Like he knew her answer before she even read the terms.
"Thank you," he says.
"For what."
"For finally trusting me."
They drive back to her apartment in silence.
Xavier walks her to her door. He doesn't kiss her this time. Just touches her cheek and says: "I'll return tomorrow morning. We're going to your mother's hospital. We're going to tell her together that you're going to be spending time with me while she recovers."
Before Lily can respond, he's gone.
She sits on her apartment bed fully dressed and stares at the wall.
She was desperate.
He was waiting.
She signed a contract agreeing to let him into her life.
She's his prize now.
The thought makes her skin crawl but she pushes it away and reaches for her phone instead. Dials the hospital with shaking fingers.
A woman answers.
"St. Catherine Medical Center, this is reception."
"Hi, I'm calling about my mother. Sophie Chen. I wanted to confirm her surgery is still scheduled for next week."
There's a pause. Then the woman comes back on the line.
"Yes, Ms. Chen. Your mother's surgery is confirmed for March 15th at 8 AM. Full payment has been received. She's cleared to proceed with the procedure."
Lily closes her eyes.
It's real.
All of it is real.
Her mother is really going to have the surgery.
Her mother is really going to live.
And it's because of a man she barely knows who's been watching her for three years.
She hangs up and the tears come.
Not sad tears. Not happy tears. Mixed tears. Relief and shame tangled together so completely she can't separate them.
Relief that her mother will be okay.
Shame that she had to sell herself to make it happen.
Love for Xavier for saving her mother's life.
Hatred for Xavier for using her mother's illness to own her.
Both feelings are true.
Both feelings exist inside her at the same time.
She loves him.
She hates him.
She barely knows his name and he's already changed everything.
Her phone buzzes at 11:47 PM.
Exactly twenty-four hours after she posted herself on the auction platform.
A text from Xavier.
"I know you're processing. I know this feels like a trap. It is. But it's a trap designed to save you. Sleep well, Lily. Tomorrow we tell your mother the truth about us. Tomorrow everything changes forever."
Lily reads the message over and over.
Tomorrow we tell your mother the truth about us.
There is no us.
Except there is.
She signed a contract.
She got in his car.
She wore his chosen dress.
She sat at his table.
There is definitely an us now.
And tomorrow her mother is going to meet the man who owns her daughter.