TERMS AND TEMPTATIONS
644 Words
It took her two days.
Two full days of thinking, tossing, snapping at her brother, and staring at the black card Reuben left behind like it was cursed.
She didn’t want to be that girl — the one who accepted help from a man like him. She wasn’t stupid. She knew what he was. What his world could do to someone like her.
But rent was real.
Sickness was real.
And the fear that someone else might come after her before he did? That was real too.
So she showed up.
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The building wasn’t labeled — just tall, glass, and guarded. Men in black suits barely glanced at her before buzzing her in. She was escorted through polished halls, into a private elevator that climbed too silently. Her palms were sweating.
She kept telling herself: you’re here to talk. Just talk.
The elevator dinged.
She stepped out.
And there he was.
Reuben sat behind a sleek desk, sleeves rolled up, forearms resting casually on the wood like he wasn’t the most terrifying man in the city. His tie was gone. A few buttons undone. His eyes — locked on her the second she entered.
“Caroline,” he said.
Her name in his mouth again.
She swallowed. “This is just a conversation.”
He nodded slowly. “Of course.”
She stepped forward. “If I say yes to this... job—”
“When,” he corrected gently.
She ignored him. “If... what exactly does it involve?”
He stood, moving around the desk.
“You show up when I ask. Sometimes here, sometimes elsewhere. You handle a few tasks — simple ones. I’ll have someone teach you the details.”
“And in exchange?”
“You get paid. Protected. No one touches you.”
She hesitated. “What if someone tries?”
He stepped closer — too close.
“They won’t.”
Something in the way he said it made her skin burn. He wasn’t guessing. He was promising.
“I want it in writing,” she said, trying to sound braver than she felt. “That you won’t ask me to do anything illegal.”
Reuben raised a brow, impressed. “You really think I’d hurt you like that?”
“I think you’re used to owning people.”
A pause.
Then he smiled.
“You’re not wrong.”
He reached for a small folder on the desk and handed it to her. Inside was a simple contract — clear, professional, tight. No mention of crime. No threats hidden between lines.
“I don’t lie on paper,” he said. “But off paper?”
Caroline glanced up.
He stepped in again, voice lower now. “Off paper, I’ll tell you this — I want you close. I don’t know why yet. But when I want something, I take it. That’s who I am.”
Her breath hitched.
He leaned slightly down, brushing a stray curl behind her ear. She froze.
“No one’s touched you before, have they?” he whispered.
She stiffened. “That’s none of your business.”
His jaw tightened. “It is now.”
Caroline stepped back. “I didn’t say yes.”
“You didn’t say no either.”
She grabbed the pen from the desk.
He watched, quietly — eyes dark and unreadable — as she signed the bottom line.
Then, she dropped the pen, looked him dead in the eye, and said:
“You want me close? Good. Watch how close I get before you lose control.”
She didn’t wait for his reply. She turned and walked toward the elevator, back straight, heart pounding.
Behind her, Reuben’s voice was barely a breath — but it caught the fire in her spine like gasoline:
“You're already under my skin, Caroline.
And I haven't even touched you yet.”
- Writer
