“Oh no, sweetie, tell me you didn’t,” Jane said.

The girl looked as sad and heartbroken as if she had told her she had plans for moving across the globe and never coming back, or regularly thought about suicide, or killed a person. Jane really did look that horrified.

Isla shrugged, as if she hadn’t had this conversation with herself already a thousand times since pizza and beer last night, and was still feeling totally confident with herself. “I thought it through and decided this was the way to go. We’re both adults, and I have a healthy sexual appetite. Why not let this happen?”

“He’s using you,” Jane said. Her arms crossed as she stopped being the sad and sympathetic friend and turned into the super pissed-off friend. Even as Jane glared, she knew all that anger was directed at one very handsome, black-haired man who had a great set of abs, a chest most people would kill for, and a wicked-looking five o’clock shadow.

"I know, but technically, I'm using him, too."

"And he's making you get rid of your friends on Facebook. What's next, you can't call or text me without him seeing what you're sending?"

She lifted a brow. "That's a little melodramatic. I don't think it's that bad."

"You don't know that."

Isla didn't know that, but to be fair, the only way she could know for sure was if she was a mind reader, which she was most definitely not.

"I think it's going to be fine. He just doesn't want me talking to ex-boyfriends while we're together. That's it. I can talk to them again after this is all done. I hardly ever message them anyway."

And the messages she did send were usually group messages, birthday and Christmas messages, or links to funny videos. Sometimes she would like a comment or make a genuine post to ask how they were doing, but that was it.

There was no danger in her deleting those contacts because, even though she liked those people, they hardly ever spoke.

Not enough for it to be noticeable in just one month.

"I'll add them back on when the month is over and I get the family company back."

Jane was still shaking her head. She ran her fingers through her hair enough to make some of the strands stick up. Biting on her bottom lip, she stared at her with a pitying expression, looking fearful.

"You really are scared for me, aren't you?" Isla asked.

"Of course I am. This isn't normal. This is the kind of thing you see or read in some erotic fantasy novel. You're going to be In The Arms of The Billionaire Boss or whatever."

She liked that and couldn't help but smile. “You pulled that title out of your ass pretty quick. Are you writing something and not telling me?"

"Shut up! This is serious!"

But she couldn't take it seriously. She laughed.

It was only because her emotions were going up and down, but now that the papers were signed and she gave herself over to Arturo, she'd never felt freer. There was no stress, not really, now that she had to go through with the contract. She had a light flutter of butterflies in her stomach, but that was about it. Knowing she was saving her grandfather and her entire family's future created a sense of calming relief inside of her that was like the best drug.

Not that she did drugs, but the analogy seemed to fit. She hadn't felt this mellow in two years.

Seeing Jane flip out was having the strangest calming effect on her, instead of making her react in a similar fashion.

"Look, I was nervous, too. I almost didn't sign it."

"Until he tricked you into thinking you had to do it and had to sign in that instant."

"I had an hour," she said, only a little defensive about that part.

It was true, though, and she'd realized it the second she'd walked out of Calendri Corp.

He had created a false sense of emergency in her, a sense that she needed to sign those papers and sign them right then and there, otherwise there would be no deal.

And she'd totally fallen for it. He'd dug his trap right in front of her, and she hadn't seen the obvious coming.

Whatever. She was brushing it off. She'd signed the papers, and she was going to save her family now; that was all she needed.

"I can put up with his bullshit for four weeks, and you're acting like he's going to rape me or something."

"That's basically what this is," Jane said, crossing her arms.

"No, it's not, and I know you kind of have a point, maybe, on the rest of it, but this one I will genuinely fight you on. That's not what this is. He's good looking and I want to have sex with him. He's a billionaire and has girls hanging on him all the time because they want him to buy them pretty things. I've had my fair share of boyfriends who wanted to use me to get to whatever money they thought I had."

Which wasn't as much as some people thought, considering the work ethic of her family.

"But—"

"No buts, just listen. We're coming into this with an agreement that we’re using each other. I've been thinking about this a lot, and even if he says he’s doing this just because I told him to fuck off, there has to be another reason behind it. He wants a respectable girl on his arm for some reason I can't figure out."

"You just said he was a billionaire. What could he possibly want from you that he can't get from someone else? He's not going to ask you to make a necklace or a bracelet for him. He can buy plenty of those from other people."

"I haven't figured it out yet, but I started thinking about this because of what was in the contract. He's not planning on doing anything gross to me, and there was nothing in that contract that said he was into hardcore pain or peeing on me."

Jane squeezed her eyes shut and made a face as she leaned away from her. "Okay, that's really gross. I really wish I didn't know about that."

"But do you at least see my point?" Isla asked. She wasn't about to let this go, not yet. "I think there's more to this, and even if I'm wrong, I still walk away with Baciami Boutique. I can go back to work making good money selling my jewelry. My mom can make money managing the books again instead of looking for another job." And her grandfather would be happy again. He wouldn't be wasting away like he was, thinking about what he lost and having his family constantly hitting him up for loans.

Jane bit her bottom lip. When she shook her head, Isla thought for sure she still hadn't managed to get through to her.

Then Jane sighed. "All right, if this is what you want. Tell me more about this contract he made you sign. I want details so I know if the son of a bitch tries to hurt you."

She was more than all right with that. "Then will you help me pack?"

Jane narrowed her eyes at her. "You owe me so bad for this."

"I know."

"Owe me like, if you end up marrying the asshole, you'll have to transfer ten million into my account."

"We'll see," Isla said, and then proceeded to tell Jane about the contract.