Page 69 of Until the Sea Runs Dry

“I’m actually here on business.”

The flash of disappointment his words caused filled her with surprise.

“This is for you.”

He handed her a thick white A4 envelope.

“It’s the contract Trevor drew up.”

“Already?”

“I think he has a couple of standard ones ready to adapt for any scenario,” he replied. “He likes to be prepared for all eventualities.”

Jane tested the weight of the packet in her hand. It weighed more than a few sheets of paper should have. Opening it, she took out the paper-clipped document that must have been at least 50 pages long. Logan caught her shocked look and quickly explained.

“Is mostly just legal jargon. There shouldn’t be anything in there of concern.”

Her eyes skinned over the unfamiliar legalese, the words swimming through her head like a black cloud.

“I thought it was just going to be a simple memo that would say we both agreed to this, and maybe a confidentiality clause. This is much more than I expected. I don’t even understand what half of it means?”

“Do you need me to get you a lawyer to talk you through it? Trevor assured me that there’s nothing out of the norm in there. He said this is the usual type of deal that gets shopped around for things like this.”

“You’ll have to give me a moment to read through it.”

She expected Logan to leave, but he headed toward the kitchen. “Go ahead. Do you have any coffee left?”

Jane pointed to the coffee machine, her eyes already focused on the contract. She read through the pages as fast as she could, trying to make sense of the complicated terms while Logan drank coffee and played with Loki, to the puppy’s unending delight.

When she was done, she felt as if her head would explode.

“This is crazy. Do you know what you can do to me if I break this contract? Look at this passage here.” She showed him the paragraph that particularly concerned her. “See what this says?”

Logan barely looked at the words before glancing away.

“I would never come after you if something happened. This is just Trevor, looking out for my interests. It’s what he’s paid a lot of money to do. Please, don’t take this personally. This is just... “

“Business,” Jane finished for him.

“Right.”

“But if Trevor is looking out for your interests, then who is looking out for mine?”

At least he didn’t try to brush that remark away, though she was taken aback by the lack of interest he showed in the actual contract itself. He’d not bothered to read the section she’d pointed out to him.

“If you’re not happy with it, or the sum of money suggested, we can forget the whole thing. I can call them right now and tell him the deal is off. Just say the word and I’ll make the call.”

To make good on this, his finger hovered over the call button. Any other person and she would have thought he was full of bluster, but there was something in his eyes that made her believe him. Then there was the undeniable fact that he’d already gone out of his way to help her.

“I trust you. Do you have a pen?”

“You don’t have to sign right this minute, Jane. We can wait until the morning…”

She shook her head. “I’d rather just get this over and done with. Besides, I literally have nothing to lose.”

He handed her a Mont Blanc pen that weighed almost as much as she did. She signed the contract and handed it back to him.

“What now?” Jane asked. “What happens next?”

Logan tucked the contract into his pocket.

“I suspect Adele and her team will be in touch tomorrow. She’ll likely rehearse your story with you in case you are stopped by anyone curious enough to ask where you came from. There’ll be interviews of course, though we’ll arrange those when you are ready.”

A jolt of shock sent her teeth chattering. “Interviews? There wasn’t anything about interviews in the contract.”

“It kind of comes with the territory, but we won’t do any that you are not fully briefed on. We’ll make sure to get questions from the journalists ahead of time so that we can prepare the answers. We won’t let them ask anything we haven’t agreed prior. I’ll handle all this. You just have to come along for the ride.”

He made it sound so simple and easy.

Why did she feel as if she had just made a deal with the devil?

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