I slept with her that night. I woke up once at around three in the morning. From seeing her in the museum to into my bed had been a strange journey but it had been worth it.

I savored the moment for a while. She was laid on her side, facing me and she looked perfectly at peace, eyes closed, hands under her head, legs curled up under the covers.

Moving a lock of hair from her eyes, I rolled over onto my back, my hands behind my head, closing my eyes. I couldn’t have been happier.

She had been as beautiful naked as I expected. Her body was perfect, responding so openly to my every touch.

I could see no life other than with her. We had to be together forever. I never wanted her to leave the house. I had officially four more days with her come the morning before she got her million.

I lay there and made alternative plans. I would give her the million. She had earned it. I would also tell her she was living with me with forever. Already I wanted to marry her. I could picture the place full of kids. How had I never felt like the bed was empty before?

Having her next to me was the greatest feeling in the world and I went back to sleep with a broad smile on my face.

I woke up the next morning to an urgent message coming through on my phone. It cut through the silencer I’d installed so I knew it was important.

I climbed out of bed, leaving her sleeping like an angel. Retrieving my phone from my jacket pocket, I flicked to the notification screen. It was a message from Tomlinson.

“Need to see you. Now.”

I looked at the time. Seven in the morning. Did he ever sleep? I yawned as I got dressed, wondering whether to wake her and tell her where I was going.

No, let her sleep. I’d be back soon enough. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be too important. The deal was done. The contracts were signed. He couldn’t back out now. He’d probably heard about me wanting to drill for oil and once I assured him that was no longer going ahead, things should be fine. I could come home and climb back into bed next to Jodie, where I belonged.

I called Terrance and told him to bring the car around to the front. Half an hour later I was in Tomlinson’s office, looking at his pale face as he thrust a piece of paper at me. “What’s this?” I asked.

“Did you know you’d given rights for the land to your lawyer?”

“What?” I asked, looking down at the paper in my hand. “Where does it say that?”

“It’s gone through a shell company, that’s why we didn’t spot it at first. Did you do this? I’ve already heard about oil companies bidding for the rights to drill.”

“No, I did not do this.”

“Are you lying to me?”

“No, Charlie, honestly I’m not. I was thinking about exploiting the land but things have changed. I want to preserve it. I’m different now. You were right.”

“So Stempel Co. is not accepting bids from oil companies?”

“I hadn’t even heard about that. Hold on. Give me two minutes.”

I made a phone call to my people and took no time at all to work out the truth. I hung up with an anger starting to bubble up inside me. I’d been played. “It was Senior. He sorted out the small print. I trusted him. He’s given himself the rights to drill there no matter what I do.”

“Are you sure?”

I nodded. “There’s nothing solid but if we can get him to confess it’s him, we should have enough to stop the contract dead, take him to court and bleed him dry. He's not a rich man, he can't fight forever.”

“Richard Senior isn’t bright enough to do this on his own.”

“That’s just what I was thinking.”

“Someone on your staff must be working with him. Any ideas?”

“I’ll get back to you on that. For now, keep it quiet. We don’t want them running before we catch up with them.”

I put my hand out and we shook. “I thought it was you,” he said. “I really did.”

“Not anymore,” I replied. “And you can thank Jodie for that. I’ll be in touch.”

I got home to find my bed empty. Jodie wasn’t there. I shouted for her and heard footsteps downstairs. Running down I almost crashed into Gwyneth who was waiting for me. “Where’s Jodie?” I asked.

“Took her million and left.”

“What? But we’ve got four more days yet.”

“I came in and she was screaming at me, demanding the money. Said she’d earned it after putting up with your bullshit.”

“Are you serious?”

“Don’t worry. She knows the terms. She promised never to contact you again. She also said not to contact her or she’ll tell everyone what you did. I assume you know what she means?”

I tried to process what she’d told me. Was that the only reason she’d come back. Had she played me like Senior had? Was it possible they were in on it together?

“I’m going into my study. No calls.”

“Of course, Sir. I am sorry if I should have done something to stop her but maybe this is for the best and-”

I shut the door on her. I needed to be alone. I sank into my desk chair and put my head in my hands. This was what happened when I opened up my hear to someone, when I thought I had something special. I’d been played for a sucker by someone in a different class to me.

The warning signs had been there. She’d acted so well in front of Tomlinson. She was clearly just acting in front of me as well.

What about last night? About agreeing to the date? Well, that was obvious too. She came back long enough to get her money and as soon as she had it, there was no need for me anymore.

I picked up the phone. “Terrance? I want you to hire someone to look into Richard Senior. Have you still got that private investigator’s number? Good. Find out all you can about him and this shell company. I’ll email you the details and for now, keep this to yourself. Understood?”

I hung up and closed my eyes. Time to shut down again. The cold bastard was back. Emotions were for suckers.

The deal was done but I might be able to claw back some dignity, stop Senior from taking the oil out of the land. Jodie might have screwed me but I still couldn’t spoil the landscape she loved. I just couldn’t do it.

The next few days consisted of nothing but work. While I waited for Terrance to get back to me, I caught up on the deals that had waited while Jodie was here.

I watched films alone again. I slept alone again. I tried not to care but it weighed heavily on me. I thought about ringing her but what was the point? She’d only laugh at me. All I needed was for confirmation her and Senior were in on it together and then I’d know never to trust anyone ever again.

About a year later, I found myself up in the attic looking for an old file and stumbled over the Charles Dickens stuff. I’d forgotten I was supposed to look for that for her. It felt like a lifetime ago when we discussed it, back when I knew what happiness was.

I sat flicking through letters, silhouettes, a few empty inkwells, one of the bottles from the blacking factory where he’d worked as a boy.

At the bottom of the box I noticed an envelope I hadn’t spotted before, tucked in the corner, same color as the box.

I pulled it out. Inside was a pile of yellowed papers. I set them down in front of me and began to read.