Four- Manners and Millions

Vivian's POV.

Delete the account.

Delete the account.

My finger had been hovering over the button for the past thirty minutes.

But what if it’s not him?

What if I’m imagining it?

No. I’ve been taking my meds. He’s not a figment of my imagination.

Still, after I recoiled from the window yesterday and looked again.....he was gone. Just like that.

Like I was going crazy.

I don’t even know anymore.

“Amazing work, honey.”

Lisa’s voice wraps around me the second I step into the showroom.

I quickly sign “Sorry I’m late, Traffic was a lot.”

She smiles, brushing a loose curl behind her ear. Lisa knows sign language because her daughter is Deaf. It’s one of the reasons I chose her to be my agent. I didn’t have to explain myself with her. She just......got it.

“It’s fine, honey. Besides, it’s kind of over.”

I paused , brows raised, and gave her a look.

“Someone already paid for everything,” she adds with a shrug.

“This just started an hour ago” I signed.

“I know. But technically, it ended thirty minutes in. Now people are just looking at the sold tags and sipping cocktails like it's a museum.”

It’s not like I’m not grateful. I am. I do need the money. But still, it didn’t feel right.

“Was it anonymous?” I asked.

Well, things like this usually are and with the masked man on my street, I just wanted to know to be honest

“Actually, no. He’s still here,” Lisa said.

I swallowed hard on nothing. Did he want to meet now?

“He said he wanted to see you. He’s been waiting for you. His waiting area. Go see him,” Lisa said, practically yanking my coat off in a rush.

“He seemed old, but he didn’t look like it. And his aura…..it screamed billionaire. Maybe he wants you to commission something for him so be polite,” Lisa said as she led me to the waiting room.

Once we got there, she let me walk in alone. I swallowed thickly on nothing again.

I scanned the room, and my eyes landed on the man. His suit was molded perfectly to his body. He was looking out the window, his back turned to me. If he didn’t turn around, I’d have to touch him to get his attention.

I stood there for about a minute before taking a hesitant step forward to reach for him.

“The view here is lonely, don’t you think?” he said at last, still not turning around.

Responding felt pointless when he wouldn’t even look at me.

“I loved your pieces, by the way…...Vivian Ashby.”

He said it without even looking at me. I wasn’t going to bother at this point. Then, finally, he turned around—and I was hit with a strange wave of familiarity.

I knew him.

I looked a little closer. Of course. My last event… he was the host. He’d seen me assault a man twice my size.

And those two annoyingly good-looking guests at that same event had cost me my job.

“Oh, you still won’t respond? Oh, right…...you don’t speak,” he said. I caught the sarcasm in his voice.

He looked at me like he knew more about me than I knew about myself. There was a streak of white in his hair, just at the side. He seemed older, but he certainly didn’t look it.

I pulled out my phone and typed a quick message.

"Thank you for buying my paintings"

Then I turned the screen so he could see it.

"You're welcome, but I'm a businessman, and I don't exactly like to beat around the bush. I'm here to offer you a deal—one that could help both of us."

"What type of deal?" I asked.

"Hmm. Well, I need you to teach my grandchildren manners."

I was still very confused, and I think he noticed the look on my face because he continued.

"It'll only be for a year, but the benefits will last a lifetime. There will be a monthly payment of a hundred thousand dollars. Your college will be fully paid for—any course of your choosing, of course. And most importantly, I saw you have a loan of about three hundred thousand dollars. Agree, and it'll be sorted right now. But as I said..."

I might have been dreaming. I quickly typed on my phone:

"You want me to teach your grandson manners?"

He looked at my screen and smiled. It was almost predatory.

"Not son. Grandsons."

"Isn't it better you hire someone who, I don't know......can actually talk?" I showed him the screen.

He gave a sharp tsk. "Action is louder than words in my world," he said.

"How old are they? "I asked, showing him my phone again.

"You'll find out eventually. With my offer, I can keep that much discreet. I'm a businessman—I don't like wasting my time," he said, pulling out a folded piece of paper from his jacket. He opened it, and I saw it was a contract.

I went through it. From the little I understood, he was very serious. He would pay off my loan, give me a mouth-watering salary, keep me in school, and even provide a place to stay. Just how horrible were his grandsons?

They'd probably be in high school. He didn’t look that old. In a few weeks, I wouldn’t have a house anymore. I wouldn’t have friends. I went over the contract again.

"What if I’m not able to train them? "I asked, showing him my phone.

I had to be sure. If it didn’t work out, he could ask me to pay him back.

"You will......besides, there's no clause in there for if you fail because I know you won't. The only thing is, you cannot back out of this contract until it is over," he said.

He wasn’t wrong. How bad could this be? They were just high school kids. If I couldn't do it, I’d still get paid. All I needed to do was show up for a year. By the end of it, I’d have a degree, a job, and a million dollars in my account—compared to the five dollars I had right now.

I stretched out my hand. He placed a pen in it, and I quickly signed before I could change my mind.

"There's one more thing I need from you for this contract to be valid, even though it already is..... your voice," he said.

I immediately looked at him, more serious now.

"I can't talk" I showed him my screen.... Wondering where this conversation was headed

"You and I both know you can. You just barely do. I'm not one of the many people you can trick. You're selectively mute, Miss Ashby... so talk."

I just stared at him. What was wrong with this man?

He hummed quietly, then pulled out the contract like he was about to rip it in half.

My dreams, my goals, college, purpose, having enough money to take care of myself, buy my meds—all of it flashed before my eyes.

I opened my mouth.

"Wait," I shouted.

He smiled, then reached out his hand. "Is this a deal?"

I took his hand and said, "We have a deal."