Page 69 of Return Billionaire to Sender

She blinks, looking caught out. She doesn’t answer for a long time—long enough that I think she might not answer at all. Then she says, “My methodology is proprietary.”

My heart races. She is so perfectly maddening!

“In fact, we should get to it,” she says.

“No,” I say.

“No?” she asks.

“I’m done with the video,” I say. “It’s ridiculous. I’m done with it, Elle.”

She stiffens. “What do you mean? You have fifteen hours left…”

“Let’s stop this. No more games.”

It’s time.

I throw my napkin onto my empty plate and pick up my water. Elle has a bottom line just like anybody. A price just like anybody. It’s simply a matter of finding it.

“A hundred thousand,” I say.

Her eyes widen. “What? What do you mean…”

“You know what I mean. A hundred thousand for me to watch the video in my own way on my own time,” I say. “We’ll enjoy the rest of the dinner and I’ll watch the video in my room.”

She blinks. “A hundred thousand? You’re telling me you’d pay me ahundred thousand dollars?”

“For me to manage the video portion of the lesson myself. You’d have full deniability.”

“A hundred thousand, and you’ll play it with the picture and sound off while you shave or something.”

“The video will be playing with me right there in the vicinity. Surely that meets whatever job description you’ve been given. You will still be making me watch the video, in a sense. Postal anecdotes and conversation, fine, but the video. No more video. Enough.”

“I can’t do that,” she says.

I say, “I’m being serious.”

“I know,” she says. “Still.”

I’m stunned. She’s turning down a hundred thousand? “Why not?” I ask.

“Because you have to watch it,” she says. “In fact, we should get to it.” She’s setting it up.

I sit up. Did she really just turn that much money down? “Two,” I say. “Double. Two hundred.”

“No, thank you,” she says, not as quickly, though. She’s fast-forwarding the thing, locating the spot where we left off.

A chill comes over me. What does it mean that she’s turning down this kind of money? Suddenly I can’t stop. I need to know her price. “Three.”

“No.”

“Five.”

She frowns. “Do I have to give you an X for today?” she asks.

“Are you not taking me seriously here? Because I assure you, I’m being serious,” I say. “You understand that, right?”

“I’m just not interested,” she says. “Not everybody is interested in money.”

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