Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 485

The only person I could truly trust was my mother. She was the one person in the world who knew where I was. But calling her now, telling her about any of this, would only make her worry. I had told her I was working on something big, that by the time I returned, our lives would change forever. And now, if I called her, shaking and half dead, to tell her my heart was about to stop, she would go out of her mind with no way to help.

No. I could not do that to her.

So I decided to go all in. What did I have to lose? If I did not take more of the pill, I was going to die anyway. One way or another, my life depended on that number in my hand.

I dialed it.

It rang. And rang. And rang.

No answer.

"What the hell," I muttered, and dialed again. Still nothing. I called over and over, my thumb stabbing the screen, and every time the line rang out into silence. In the end I gave up on calling and typed out a message instead.

"I was referred to you by Cara Langley. I want to buy the pill."

The message delivered. I waited, watching the screen, my heart pounding, my palms slick. I checked the time, and my stomach dropped. According to the countdown Cara had given me, I had about fifteen minutes left before the next episode hit.

I called the number again, and this time, the call was answered.

The man waited for me to finish, utterly unbothered, as though he fielded screaming customers every day of the week. "You are mistaken about something. First of all, my pills are meant only for elites. People for whom a million dollars is nothing but pocket change. Moreover, my pills are sold in batches. Each batch is packed with thousands of pills inside, and each batch costs a million dollars. That is the cheapest tier I have. So if you cannot afford it, then I suggest you never call this number again."

The line went dead.

I stared at the phone, my heart hammering against my ribs. A million dollars. How could I spend a million dollars? Even if it came with a thousand pills, even if it was the bargain of a lifetime, it was still a million dollars. Yes, I had more than twenty-five billion sitting in my account at this very moment, and a fifty billion cheque I had not even cashed yet. But this money felt different. This was the money I had bled for.

Back when I was still married to Dominic, I had worked so hard for every cent I had, had clawed for it with both hands. I had done ridiculous things for Julian, degrading things, things that made me want to scrub my own skin off afterward, just to earn two hundred thousand, three hundred thousand at a time. All my hard work over years and the time I spent with Julian had rewarded me well, yes, but I had poured almost all of it back into myself, into branded clothes and expensive hair and the kind of beauty that made men open their wallets without a second thought.