Chapter 1 - The $10,000 Kiss
Diane Harper had spent two years learning that desperation could turn almost anything into arithmetic.
Rent was arithmetic.
Groceries were arithmetic.
Electricity was arithmetic.
Her ten-year-old sister’s future was arithmetic.
And on that particular morning, the numbers refused to work.
At 5:30 a.m., Diane’s alarm screamed from the nightstand beside a stack of overdue notices. She reached for it without opening her eyes and nearly knocked over the glass of water she had been too tired to finish the night before.
Her entire body hurt.
She had worked a double shift yesterday, attended two evening classes at the community college, slept for barely four hours, and now had another fourteen-hour day waiting for her.
But exhaustion had stopped being an excuse a long time ago.
Diane climbed out of bed.
The apartment was small enough that six steps carried her from the bedroom to the kitchen. She switched on the light and looked at the envelopes spread across the table.
Three months of unpaid rent.
$4,500.
Sadi’s after-school program for the next three months.
$2,100.
The orthodontic treatment Diane had been pricing for weeks.
$3,800.
Total: $10,400.
Diane stared at the number she had written on the back of an old grocery receipt.
Then she laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
Because sometimes the alternative was crying.
She put the bills aside and started making pancakes.
Twenty minutes later, small footsteps shuffled behind her.
“Diane?”
Diane turned.
Sadi stood in the doorway wearing her school uniform, her brown hair tangled around her sleepy face.
“Morning, troublemaker.”
“I’m not a troublemaker.”
“That sounds exactly like something a troublemaker would say.”
Sadi smiled.
That smile was the reason Diane kept going.
Their parents had died in a car accident two years earlier. Diane had been twenty-four. Sadi had been eight.
One telephone call had transformed Diane from an exhausted college student with plans for her future into a guardian, provider, cook, tutor, nurse, and substitute parent.
She had never regretted taking responsibility for Sadi.
She only regretted that love did not pay bills.
“Are you working tonight?” Sadi asked.
“Charity ball.”
“Rich people?”
“Very rich people.”
“Like people who own boats?”
“Probably people who own boats for their boats.”
Sadi giggled.
Diane placed pancakes in front of her.
But Sadi’s smile faded.
“Diane?”
“What?”
The girl pushed a piece of pancake around her plate.
“The girls at school made fun of my teeth again.”
Diane stopped moving.
“They called me Rabbit.”
Anger burned through her exhaustion.
She crouched beside her sister.
“Look at me.”
Sadi reluctantly did.
“There is nothing wrong with you.”
“But my teeth—”
“Are teeth. We’ll get them fixed because you want them fixed, not because some mean kids decided you need to look different.”
“When?”
That one word hurt.
Diane smiled anyway.
“Soon.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
After Sadi left for school, Diane looked again at the number on the grocery receipt.
$10,400.
She folded it and put it in her pocket.
That evening, Diane entered a world where ten thousand dollars apparently meant nothing.
The charity ball occupied the top-floor ballroom of one of Manhattan’s most exclusive hotels. Crystal chandeliers hung over marble floors. White roses filled enormous arrangements. Champagne flowed as casually as tap water.
Beyond floor-to-ceiling windows, Manhattan glittered beneath the night sky.
Diane adjusted her black-and-white waitress uniform and collected a tray.
“Harper,” her supervisor whispered. “Table six needs champagne.”
“Got it.”
She moved through the crowd with practiced invisibility.
She had learned something during two years of serving wealthy people.
The best waitress was the one nobody noticed.
Unfortunately, someone noticed her.
Catherine Voss.
Catherine wore a glittering red gown and enough jewelry to cover Diane’s rent for years. She stood with three friends near the bar, but her attention was fixed across the room.
Diane followed her gaze.
A man stood near the windows.
Tall.
Dark hair.
Black tuxedo.
He wasn’t smiling.
He didn’t need to speak to command attention. People approached him carefully, shook his hand respectfully, exchanged a few words, then moved away.
Diane knew nothing about him.
Catherine knew considerably more.
His name was Ravi Greedy.
And Catherine hated him.
One week earlier, she had approached Ravi at another social gathering after months of trying to attract him.
He had rejected her.
Publicly.
Harshly.
People had laughed.
Catherine had not forgotten.
Now she watched Ravi with a smile that had nothing to do with happiness.
Then her eyes returned to Diane.
“There,” she murmured.
One friend frowned.
“The waitress?”
“She’s perfect.”
“For what?”
Catherine lifted her champagne.
“Revenge.”
Minutes later, Diane heard a voice behind her.
“You. Waitress.”
She turned.
Catherine smiled.
“What’s your name?”
“Diane, ma’am.”
“I have a proposition for you.”
“I’m working.”
“It’ll take ten seconds.”
Catherine opened her purse.
Then she removed an envelope.
“What if those ten seconds were worth ten thousand dollars?”
Diane almost laughed.
Then Catherine opened the envelope.
Cash.
Real cash.
Diane’s heartbeat changed.
“What do I have to do?”
Catherine nodded toward the man beside the windows.
“Kiss him.”
Diane stared at her.
“What?”
“Walk over there and kiss him.”
“Absolutely not.”
She turned.
“Ten thousand dollars.”
Diane stopped.
In her mind she saw a tiny apartment.
An eviction notice.
Sadi hiding her smile behind her hand.
Ten thousand dollars.
Almost exactly the number written on the grocery receipt in Diane’s pocket.
“Who is he?”
Catherine’s answer came without hesitation.
“Nobody important.”
Diane looked at the man again.
“He doesn’t look like nobody.”
“He’s a wealthy businessman with an ego. That’s all.”
“Why me?”
“Because it’ll be funny.”
Diane studied her.
Something was wrong.
She knew it.
Every instinct told her to walk away.
Then she remembered Sadi asking one question.
When?
“When do I get the money?”
Catherine smiled.
“Half now.”
She placed five thousand dollars into Diane’s trembling hand.
“Half afterward.”
Diane stared at the cash.
Three months of rent.
Just sitting in her palm.
She tucked it carefully into her apron.
“One kiss?”
“One kiss.”
“And then you give me the rest?”
“Immediately.”
Diane exhaled.
Then she started walking.
With every step toward the windows, her stomach tightened.
The man noticed her when she was six feet away.
His dark eyes settled on her.
Diane nearly stopped.
There was something unsettling about the calmness in his expression.
“Excuse me?” she said.
He turned fully toward her.
“Yes?”
His voice was deep and controlled.
Diane swallowed.
“I’m sorry about this.”
His eyebrow moved slightly.
“About what?”
Diane thought of Sadi.
She stepped closer.
Placed one hand lightly against his cheek.
And kissed him.
For perhaps one second, nothing happened.
Then the entire ballroom fell silent.
Not quieter.
Silent.
Diane pulled away immediately.
Ravi had not moved.
His expression was unreadable.
Diane’s face burned.
“I’m really sorry.”
She turned toward Catherine.
The smile had disappeared from Catherine’s face.
That frightened Diane more than anything.
“It was a dare,” Diane said quickly. “She paid me.”
Ravi looked past her.
At Catherine.
Catherine gripped the envelope.
Then Ravi returned his attention to Diane.
“She paid you?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Ten thousand.”
Something almost resembling disbelief crossed his face.
Diane tried to step away.
“I’m sorry. I really need to go.”
Ravi caught her wrist—not violently, but firmly enough to stop her.
“You don’t know who I am.”
It wasn’t a question.
Diane looked around.
Everyone was staring.
“No.”
For the first time, Ravi appeared genuinely interested.
“What’s your name?”
“Diane Harper.”
“Why did you need ten thousand dollars badly enough to kiss a stranger?”
“That’s none of your business.”
One corner of his mouth almost moved.
Almost.
“Interesting.”
Diane pulled her wrist free.
“Catherine?”
Catherine didn’t move.
“You owe me five thousand dollars.”
Still nothing.
“Catherine.”
A man standing nearby whispered something to his companion.
Diane heard two words.
“Ravi Greedy.”
Her stomach tightened.
The name sounded familiar.
She searched her memory.
Then one of the hotel employees rushed toward her.
“Diane.”
His face was pale.
“What?”
“What did you just do?”
“It was a stupid dare.”
He stared at her.
“Do you know who that is?”
“No!”
The employee lowered his voice.
“That’s Ravi Greedy.”
Diane waited.
When she still looked confused, he leaned closer.
“The Ravi Greedy.”
Her blood went cold.
She had heard the rumors.
Everybody had.
Businesses that changed ownership overnight.
Politicians who returned his calls.
Nightclubs where his name could open doors no money could.
People whispered that Ravi controlled an organization stretching across the city’s underground economy.
Some called him a businessman.
Others called him something else.
A mob boss.
Diane slowly turned.
Ravi was still watching her.
Catherine began backing toward the exit.
Ravi noticed.
“Catherine.”
She froze.
His voice wasn’t loud.
It didn’t need to be.
“You’re leaving before paying your debt.”
Catherine’s face drained of color.
“I was only joking.”
“You offered her ten thousand.”
“It was just entertainment.”
Ravi glanced at Diane.
“Was it entertaining?”
“No,” Diane said.
Something changed in his eyes.
He held out his hand toward Catherine.
“The envelope.”
Catherine hesitated.
“Ravi—”
“The envelope.”
She walked over and placed it in his hand.
Ravi removed the remaining cash.
Five thousand dollars.
Then he handed it to Diane.
“There.”
Diane stared at him.
“You’re giving it to me?”
“You completed your side of the agreement.”
Catherine looked furious.
Ravi ignored her.
Diane accepted the money.
Ten thousand dollars.
Almost enough to save everything.
She should have felt relief.
Instead, she felt as if she had stepped through a door she could never close again.
Ravi leaned slightly closer.
“Now we have another problem.”
Diane’s breath caught.
“What problem?”
His gaze remained steady.
“You kissed me because someone paid you.”
“Yes.”
“And Catherine believed I would punish you for it.”
Diane glanced toward Catherine.
Ravi continued.
“Which means she didn’t choose you randomly.”
“What are you talking about?”
Ravi’s expression hardened.
“She wanted you frightened.”
Diane said nothing.
“And I want to know why.”
“Why would she care about me?”
“That,” Ravi said quietly, “is what we’re going to find out.”
Diane shook her head.
“No. There is no ‘we.’ I have my money. I’m leaving.”
She walked away.
Nobody stopped her.
Twenty minutes later, Diane stepped out of the hotel into the cold Manhattan night.
For the first time all evening, she could breathe.
She checked the envelope.
Ten thousand dollars.
Real.
Tomorrow she could pay the rent.
Tomorrow she could call the dentist.
Tomorrow things might finally become easier.
Her phone rang.
Sadi.
Diane smiled and answered.
“Hey, sweetheart.”
But nobody spoke.
“Sadi?”
Silence.
Then a man’s voice came through the phone.
“Is this Diane Harper?”
Her smile vanished.
“Yes.”
“This is Daniel Morris, your building superintendent.”
Diane’s heart began pounding.
“What happened?”
“You need to come home.”
“Is Sadi okay?”
A pause.
“Your sister is fine. She’s with Mrs. Alvarez downstairs.”
Diane closed her eyes.
“Then what happened?”
“Someone broke into your apartment.”
Diane went completely still.
“What?”
“They didn’t take the television. Didn’t take your laptop either.”
A cold feeling crawled along her spine.
“What did they take?”
“That’s the strange part.”
Another pause.
“Nothing.”
Diane looked through the hotel’s glass doors.
Inside, Ravi Greedy stood across the lobby.
Watching her.
The superintendent continued.
“But whoever came inside left something on your kitchen table.”
“What?”
“A photograph.”
Diane’s voice became a whisper.
“Of what?”
Daniel answered.
“A photograph of your parents.”
Diane stopped breathing.
“And someone wrote a message across the back.”
“What message?”
Daniel hesitated.
Then he read it.
May you like
“Ask Ravi Greedy what really happened the night they died.”
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