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“How?”
“Expensive and slanderous ads about mental health care.”
“From a hospital?”
“Last year, the company bought an inpatient facility. He’s trying to say that therapy doesn’t work, so people should go straight to more expensive care.”
“The policy his own company offers doesn’t cover inpatient stays,” I said. “And he’s pushing for that?”
“He’s not a good man, Amy. And he’s trying to get doctors my company employs on his side. I was going to handle it by letting him burn himself out, but now I have another idea.” His eyes landed on me.
“You both are doing all of this because of your little high school thing?”
“After college, I was content to never think about it again, but he keeps pushing.”
“Really?”
“Would you put it past him?”
No. I wouldn’t. “So I’m your ploy to make him madder? He’s not going to stop.”
“He missteps when he’s angry, and if he takes an ad too far, it backfires on him. It’s in both of our interests to make him as miserable as possible.”
“With marriage? I don’t think that’s a normal thing people do.”
“I wasn’t under the impression that you werenormal.”
That shut me up. He was right about that one. “So we get married, and I get a job?”
“We get married, and you get more than enough to live off of. No job needed.”
“And what about when you have your revenge and you’re done with me? I still need income at the end of the day.”
“We’ll sign a prenup that makes sure you don’t have to work for a long time.”
“I thought prenups kept me from taking all of your money.”
“They’re really agreements on how to split assets after divorce. We can do what we want to.” He shrugged nonchalantly.
“And how long are we doing this for?”
“Do we have to put an expiration date on it?”
“Don’t you want to?”
“I’m not worried about it. We can do this however long we need to.”
I shouldn’t have been shocked that he would be willing to do this for a long time. While he said he was content to let go of his rivalry with Calvin, he’d also spent years still in it. Even if it wasn’t by choice, he was a patient man.
“Fine. If we’re throwing all logic out the door, why not time too? No limit on how long this charade can go on for.”
My heart raced. Marriage,really? God, Lily would kill me. I couldn’t get married to a guy for money. Didn’t that go against a rule of love somewhere?
Since when do you follow rules?
Levi’s words played through my mind and they hit me hard. When I’d met Lily and she told me she’d gotten married for the same reasons, I told her I would do it too. Of course, she was offered a million dollars and I had a feeling Levi would not give me that much, but still.
Thiswouldsolve my problems, at least temporarily. I was on the cusp of something I desperately wanted.