I go to my office and pour myself a drink. I know my building will be surrounded by reporters, and I can’t deal with them right now. I don’t care how bad this hurt my business or my fortune, I’m just mourning the loss of Ruth.

And I can’t even act like Dmitri took her from me, or that I somehow got screwed over. It was my fault all along. How in the hell did I think I could have something real with someone I started seeing through such a false pretense?

I’d started to think of myself as untouchable—that’s what started the damn bet in the first place—and tonight is just the universe’s way of repaying me for my hubris.

If I’d never made the bet with Dmitri, I still would have gone into that store and seen Ruth. I would have been somewhat interested, but I’d never have asked her out. I’d have just dismissed her out of hand, and I’d never have seen her again.

I don’t really believe in fate, but if I did, it would seem that we were fated to never be together. I could either have met her without the bet, and never pursued her. Or I could have met her through the bet, and been with her while this dark secret drove a wedge between us.

There was no happy outcome from that, was there? Sure, I could have told her the truth earlier on, but judging from her reaction tonight, she probably would’ve just dumped me the moment I told her. Even if I had confessed early on.

I hear a ding coming from the lobby, and I put my drink down onto my desk and get up.

Could it be Dmitri? Would he really come here to me in the middle of the night to gloat? I should have seen it coming. He had it in his power to make this happen, so why risk that I win the contest and thus the bet? He got exactly what he wanted without risking anything. I’m sure I’m going to lose a lot of accounts once it becomes clear what kind of person I am, and he’ll be there to swoop them all up.

“I don’t care about the fucking accounts,” I shout toward the dark lobby. “Take them, they’re all yours.”

“Did you really love her?” A voice calls out, and when he steps into the light from my office, I realize it’s Aiden.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, “Go home, Aiden.”

“Did you love her?” He asks me. “I need you to answer.”

I meet his eyes. Did Dmitri send him? If I tell him the truth, will it make Dmitri’s victory even more sweet?

No, I can tell from Aiden’s look that he’s not here representing Dmitri. He’s here as himself.

“I love her,” I say.

“I was with her last night,” Aiden says.

I lunge toward him, but he quickly adds, “Not like that, Eric. Dmitri sent me to keep tabs, to get her drunk enough that Maya wouldn’t confess to her until tonight.”

I hold up my glass to him. “Well, your plan worked. Cheers.”

“You know what he told me to do now?” I ask.

“I take it you’re at least not supposed to be here talking to me.”

Aiden shakes his head. “He told me to go be Ruth’s rebound. To get with her and hurt you more.”

I laugh. “So it’s not just about the accounts for him, is it? He just wants to see me suffer?”

“That’s why I’m here,” Aiden says. “I don’t have it in me to be so cut-throat.”

“You also don’t have enough money to retire yet,” I say. “And get your farm.”

Aiden grins. “Which is why I want to work for you. But first we’ve got to win Ruth back.”

“Jesus, farm boy,” I say, shaking my head and taking a drink. “You really are naive. She can’t be won back—I don’t even deserve her—and why work for me? I’m all but ruined.”

“My reputation isn’t tarnished,” Aiden says. “I can recover a lot of your accounts, steal them from Dmitri before he steals them from you.”

“Alright,” I say. “If I actually cared about the money or the accounts, I’d say it’s a brilliant move, but I only care about the one thing I can’t have.”

“Listen to yourself,” Aiden says. “You said you love her, and you’re going to give up on her so easily?”

“How could she be with me after hearing the truth? What kind of monster makes a bet like that?”

“Everyone fucks up from time to time,” Aiden says. “This was a bigger fuck-up than most, I’ll give you that. I figure Dmitri blackmailed pretty hard though, so it’s not like you could have just told the truth?”

My jaw tightens.

“Sure, it would have been better than what happened here,” Aiden says. “But you were ultimately trying to protect Ruth, weren’t you? At least for most of the time you were with her.”

I start to feel a glimmer of hope, which is probably the worst thing I could feel right now. I wave my hand at him as if to dismiss him. “Shows how good my protection is. I ruined her.”

“What if she loves you?” Aiden asks.

I let out a dry laugh. “Then I’ve hurt her even more.”

“Love doesn’t just go away,” Aiden says. “Even if you fuck up... bad.”

It sounds almost too manipulative to consider. If Ruth has feelings for me still, then I could get her to forgive me—against her better judgement.

But dammit, it wouldn’t be bad judgement on her part. I made my mistake already, and I sure as fuck wouldn’t let her down again. I have to show her though, words aren’t enough.

* * *

“You want to sell how much?” Ben, my broker, asks.

“All of it.”

“How much of the money do you need... we can—”

“That’s just it,” I say. “I don’t need any of it. It got in my way. It made me choose wrong.”

“So you’re going to…”

“Give most of it away,” I say, grinning.

I’ll keep enough to provide for Ruth and any future children. I laugh thinking about children. It’s not like Ruth is even speaking to me right now, so we’re pretty far away from that. Still, I’ll keep enough to be well off, but I’ll donate enough that it’s not weighing me down anymore.

“I’m sending you a list of charities,” I say. “Distribute evenly between them once you’ve liquidated.”

“What about your stake in the cooperative?” Ben asks.

“I don’t know,” I say, shrugging. “Just... don’t let Dmitri buy it up.”

“If you leave and liquidate that, he’ll be free to buy it up. You’d have to transfer it to someone.”

“I’ll transfer it to Aiden then.”

“Who?” Ben asks, sounding exasperated. “Eric, you sure you don’t want to sleep on this?”

“Get it done,” I say, “I’ll give you Aiden’s number. Make it happen.”

I hang up the phone, and I sigh relief. It’s not all gone yet, but enough weight has been lifted from me that I can talk to Ruth.