Liam holds up his wineglass and hits it with a fork. Everyone quiets down.

“I know I told you all that you’re here to celebrate my thirtieth birthday.” He looks down at his watch. “Which is happening in just over an hour.”

Everyone claps.

He smiles and waits until everyone quiets down again. “But…I admit I have an ulterior motive. The real reason I invited you all here, the reason that makes turning into an old man pale in comparison, is that I’ve met the love of my life. Yeah, I’m engaged.”

He lets everyone gasp and whisper to each other. He grins as he acknowledges the applause, whoops, and catcalls.

He finally raises a hand to quiet everyone down. “The engagement has been low-key. She didn’t want me to make a big deal out of it, but she finally agreed to let me spill the beans tonight.”

Everyone remains quiet. The way he’s telling it, it sounds almost like he’s joking, but why would he joke about something like this? And of course he’s engaged. As if I actually thought I had even a one percent chance of ever dating a man like Liam, that hope is completely crushed now.

“Who is she?” a man shouts out. “Tell us!”

“Patience, patience…” Liam says. “She’s actually here now, undercover.”

Everyone starts whispering amongst themselves and looking curiously around the room.

“Rich people are so stupid,” I whisper to Maria. “Like anyone really cares who this jackass is marrying.”

“Who do you think it is?” Maria asks.

Cecy scoffs, and I cross my arms, mumbling under my breath, “Some rich woman who inherited a fortune.”

After Liam finishes speaking, he disappears from the room.

James purposefully walks right up to me, grabs me by my arm, and hisses into my ear, “Come with me.”

Cecy and Maria give me confused looks, as James leads me toward that back kitchen that has the pantry larger than my apartment.

When we reach the kitchen, he hustles me into the pantry.

Liam is standing inside.

James crosses his arms and watches us.

“James…” Liam says.

“Really?” James asks.

Liam nods, exasperated. “Go keep an eye out for Cynthia.”

James huffs out, leaving me alone with Liam in the big pantry.

“What is this?” I ask.

“This is going to sound really crazy,” Liam says. “You’re probably going to think I’m messing with you…”

I sigh. “Yeah, it sounds like you are.”

“I’m not,” he says. “I don’t have time to tell you all the details, but I need you to understand that I am one hundred percent serious about this. Dead serious.”

“About what?”

He takes two steps forward, until he’s right in my face.

“Give me your hand,” he says, locking eyes with me.

I realize I’m holding my breath. Is he going to confess his undying love to me--after only having met me a few hours ago--and kiss me? Is he going to tell me he can’t marry his fiancée after having talked to me for twelve minutes?

And then maybe I’ll find out I’m actually a princess, and--

He takes my hand and opens it, until my palm is facing up. He puts his hand in mine, and I feel him place something cold and metallic in my hand.

“I need a fake fiancée,” he says. “And I need one now.”

“A fake fiancée…” I stammer.

“I’ll pay you, of course.”

“You want to hire me?” I ask, trying to contain a nervous giggle. “As a fiancée?”

“Yes,” he says. “I’ll pay you a million dollars.”

My head is spinning.

“You can buy the apartment, just like we talked about in the garden. Not ever have to worry about paying rent--”

“Five million,” I say.

He snorts. “What?”

“Five million,” I snap. “I know you can afford it. Like you said, there will be apartment fees. The extra $4 million should cover those for life.”

“Three,” he counters.

“Five,” I say.

“Okay, five,” he says. “Whatever.”

As if $2 million were just two dollars.

“Once I put this ring on your finger, you’re committed. Okay?”

“Do I have to marry you?”

He shakes his head. “I’ll explain everything to you later, but you only have to pretend to be engaged to me for a year at most.”

“You realize, Mr. Billionaire,” I say, taken aback, “That in my world, ‘pretend to be married for a year,’ should never be preceded by ‘only,’ it’s totally crazy.”

He looks at me with the hint of a smirk, and he lifts his chin up, probably so he can literally look down his nose at me. “I understand that, Amber, which is why I’m offering you an amount of money that is normal in my world, for you to do this favor for me. Where else in your world could you make $5 million dollars for a year’s work?”

I sigh, but I’m not sure if I’m sighing in relief, or because of something else. I don’t have an answer for him—he’s right. I’ll never see this kind of money again in my life, and it is actually only a year.

“What else?” I ask.

“What do you mean?” he says.

“You’re going to announce that I’m your fiancée, and suddenly all these rich people are going to talk to me. I have to pretend like we really know each other. Like we’ve been ‘low-key’ engaged for however long already.”

“Oh,” he says. “I’m good at this kind of thing. I’ll take charge. There’s only one person you have to really convince, the only one who really matters.”

“Who is that?” I ask.

“Cynthia Frost,” he says. “I want you to avoid talking to her as much as possible. Under no circumstances are you to speak with her if I’m not right by your side. Do you understand?”

“Not really, no. Who is Cynthia Frost?”

He sighs. “Just trust me. I promise you, I will explain it all later.”

I shake my head. Trust him? Sure, I’ll trust him. Considering how well we’ve started out on trust, with him lying to me in his garden.

“For five million, I’ll do whatever you say, Liam.”

He slides the ring onto my finger. “Probably not exactly how you imagined you would be proposed to, huh? In a tiny little pantry, and I’m not even down on one knee.”

“You seriously think this pantry is tiny?” I ask.

He laughs. “You know what? I will get down on one knee.”

I roll my eyes, but he stoops down until he’s on one bended knee.

“Amber,” he says. “Will you marry me?”

“You’re really going to give me five million for this?” I ask.

I realize he doesn’t even know my last name.

He grins and nods. I can’t help but notice just how dazzling his smile is. Just as striking as the rest of him. Not that I’d ever admit it to him, but I’d probably have accepted his offer even if he was only paying me $3,000. Hell, I should be paying him.

“Uh,” I stammer. “I do.”

“No, that’s what you say at the wedding,” he smiles. “This is the proposal. We won’t go as far as a wedding.” He smiles again.

“Yes,” I say. “I agree. I’ll be your fiancée.”

He stands back up and takes me by the wrist. I feel my heart slamming against my chest as he takes my hand into his and brings it closer to his face.

Is he going to kiss me? I thought this was fake.

Then he looks down at my finger. No, he’s not going to kiss me. I’m such an idiot. He narrows his eyes at the ring, and he pulls on it a bit.

“It’s kind of tight,” he says. “Try not to let Cynthia scrutinize the ring too much.”

“You told me to not even talk to her, so why would she be looking at the ring?”

“Right,” he says, nodding. “Good reasoning.”

“And I think the only thing anyone’s going to notice is this huge, honking-ass diamond. I swear I can feel it weighing down my hand.”

“Yeah,” he says. “Don’t lose it.”

I snort. “That’s what you’re worried about?”

He gives me a serious look. “I’m worried about a lot of things right now, Amber, but mostly about Cynthia seeing right through this whole sham.”

I consider asking him if I’ll still get paid if she does call our bluff. I should have solidified the terms before I let him put the ring on my finger. I guess that’s why I’m a part-time bartender and not a CEO or something.

“We’re running out of time,” Liam says. “We need to be able to pretend we’ve been dating for at least a few months...so let’s get to know each other really fast. I’m assuming you already know enough about me.”

I scoff. “Why would I know anything about you?”

“I’m Liam Lions,” he says.

“I didn’t even recognize you in the garden,” I say. “Are you really that arrogant?”

He sighs. “Okay, so you think I’m arrogant. Make sure you get that across to Cynthia.”

As if that will be a stretch of reality.

“So you agree that you’re arrogant?” I ask.

“What’s your deal?” he asks. “This bartender thing can’t be all you do, right?”

I glare at him. “Not everyone is filthy rich.”

“So...this is all you do then? Noted.”

“I’m taking classes part-time,” I say, in an effort to redeem myself.

It’s very part-time. Tuition costs too much, and I never have time to take more than one or two classes per semester.

“What are you studying?”

“Well,” I say. “I was studying journalism, but then I realized that wasn’t so smart, so I switched to math, but that wasn’t very grounded--or applied--so now I’m thinking about focusing on education--”

“So you’re indecisive, a waffler,” he says. “Got it.”

“You asshole,” I snap and smack him on his arm.

“I’m arrogant, you’re a waffler,” he says, and then he grins. “And you think I’m an asshole, but that didn’t stop you from falling for me. Seems my arrogance paid off.”

I roll my eyes again, but I have to admit--if only to myself--that he’s got a charming wit about him.

“Are you old money or new money?” I ask.

“You really don’t know anything about me?” he asks in surprise. “Don’t you ever read Fortune, or Bloomberg, or--”

He looks at me, and he can read the answer on my face, so he stops talking.

“I’m both,” he says. “My grandfather built this company from the ground up, and my father inherited it, then my father did seemingly everything in his power to burn it to the ground.”

“Why?” I ask.

“It’s not like he was trying to,” I say. “It’s just that my grandpa gave him everything he could want in life, and he never had to work for anything. So once he was in charge, naturally everything went to shit.”

“How hard is it to buy and sell property?” I ask. “Doesn’t the value just always go up?”

Liam laughs. “My dad got the genius idea of developing in China. He lost half of his money to bribes and corruption, and then the property he developed turned out to be so far outside the city center that it sat as a ghost town. Most of the units didn’t find buyers.”

It’s at that moment when I suddenly remember the headlines, about Lionel Lions Jr. hanging himself.

I bite my lip, not wanting to mention it.

“So I inherited an empire...of sorts. I had a lot of assets to work with, but also a lot of debt to recover from. It was sink or swim, but I managed to turn it all around.”

“How?” I ask.

Liam looks at the ring. “Partly by making a deal with the devil. If I’m not engaged by midnight, I have to marry Cynthia.”

“Why didn’t you just get engaged sooner?” I ask. “I thought you were supposed to be smart. Doing stuff last minute doesn’t seem like a brilliant move for a successful CEO.”

He laughs. “You got me there. I got cocky. Cynthia Frost faked her own death to catch me with my pants down...or up, in this case.”

“She faked her own death?” I ask, all of a sudden feeling in way over my head.

“For my social class, it’s not particularly crazy,” Liam says. “Though Cynthia is a bit more crazy than most, which is why I want you to talk to her as little as possible. She’s going to try to catch you in a lie.”

“I’ll keep my mouth shut,” I say.

Liam nods. “Just stand there and look pretty.”

“You think I look pretty?” I blurt out, but Liam is already opening the pantry door.

“Let’s go,” he says.

* * *

On the way back to join the party, we run into James who is escorting Cecy and Maria toward the back door.

“Her?” Cecy says, pointing at me.

“Shhhh,” James says.

Maria stops and looks at me. “No way.”

“I thought we were paying them off,” Liam says.

“I did,” James whines.

“Not enough, apparently,” Liam says, frowning.

“Yeah,” Maria says, putting her hands on her hips. “I need another $100,000 to forget that it’s Amber. The same Amber who didn’t even recognize Liam Lions—”

“Shhhh,” James says, putting a finger to her mouth.

Liam nods. “Give them both another hundred.” He smiles wide. “You’ll both not just be quiet, but forget everything, right?”

“Forget what?” Maria says, playing her role of faking confusion.

Just as James shoves them forward, Cecy looks at me and mouths something to me. It looks like “Lucky,” but I’m not much of a lip reader.

We wait in a “small” room, another “extra” room that’s larger than my apartment. I can hear the muted bustle of the party through the wall, but the room is empty of people. Instead, it’s full of books. The walls are covered in bookshelves full of hardcover books, and there are several leather couches with accompanying side tables placed throughout the room. The floors are freshly waxed hardwood.

“This is the reading room,” Liam says. “You’ll wait in here for James. I’ll make the official announcement, and then James will escort you out. Cynthia will probably be on us right away, so be ready.”

“Ready to keep my mouth shut. Got it.” I look around the room admiring the walls of books. “You have a reading room. Do you have a room for every possible thing you do?”

“What do you mean?” he asks.

“Like...a knitting room--”

“I don’t knit,” he says, raising an eyebrow.

Is he trying to be dense? He must know what I’m trying to say. “You know what I mean,” I snap. “Like do you have a special room just for eating?”

“A dining room?” he asks, grinning wide.

“Most people eat in a kitchen,” I say. “I don’t even have a kitchen.”

“I hope you’re just getting all this talking out of your system,” he says, with a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. “I’m going now, Amber. Be ready. The show is about to begin.”