"A shared interest," she said.
"The marriage benefits you materially. It benefits me politically. The twelve months is a defined period with a clear end point. I am not suggesting anything beyond the terms of the documents you signed."
"The documents I signed thinking I was selling a painting."
"Yes." He said it without flinching. "I understand that the circumstances of the signing were not what you believed them to be. I understand that's not a small thing. I am not asking you to pretend otherwise." A beat. "I am asking you to consider that the arrangement, despite its origins, serves your interests as well as mine."
She looked at him for a long moment. The grey zone street moved around them, a group of people spilling out of a bar two doors down with the loose laughter of a good nigh
