ELENA
"Don't look at it," Maya said.
"I've already looked at it."
"Then stop looking at it."
I put my phone face down on my desk. Picked it up again. Put it down again. The headline had been the same for forty minutes and it was not going to change no matter how many times I read it.
BILLIONAIRE'S SURPRISE BRIDE: LOVE OR ARRANGEMENT?
The story had gone up at six in the morning. By seven it was on three news sites. By eight it had been shared enough times that my mother had seen it, which I knew because she had called me at eight-fifteen in the particular voice she used when she already knew the answer was no.
"I'm fine, Mama," I had said.
She had not believed me. She was not wrong.
"Read it again," I said to Maya. "The third paragraph."
Maya looked at me like she was deciding whe
