Ruby bit her lip. Yvonne’s probing gaze made her skin hot.

“Don’t go too crazy,” Yvonne said. “If you want something big like a car, ask me first.”

Ruby nodded. With all these demands, she couldn’t help but feel like Yvonne was treating her like a child rather than her wife. However, something told Ruby that Yvonne would treat her actual wife the exact same way.

“I need a shower before work, so I’ll leave you to settle in. Have a look around. Make yourself at home. You’re free to do whatever you want during the day, but I need you home tonight. We need to discuss our cover story.”

Ruby nodded again. They’d talked about coming up with a cover story when they’d gotten on the plane in Vegas, but they’d been too tired to do anything but sleep during the red-eye flight. It had been Ruby’s first time flying first class and she’d slept through everything.

“We’ll also need to make this arrangement of ours official,” Yvonne said. “I’ll draw up a contract. Usually, I’d have my lawyers do it, but we should keep that part of our arrangement between us, for obvious reasons. I think both of us would feel more secure with our agreement in writing.”

“That’s a good idea,” Ruby said.

“I’ll leave you to it. Let me know if you need anything.” Yvonne headed to the end of the hall to what was presumably the master bedroom.

Ruby entered her bedroom and sat on the bed. Distantly, she heard the sound of running water as Yvonne turned on the shower. She looked around her. This was her life now. She’d packed her bags and left her old life behind overnight. But she’d had very little to leave behind in the first place.

And it was all because of him, her last client. Because of him, Ruby had lost everything. She had no friends, having drifted apart from them all while trapped in a toxic relationship. She hadn’t spoken to her family in a long time either. She still had some loose ends to deal with, like her apartment and all her things, but that was all.

Her old life was well and truly behind her. He was well and truly behind her. She had all Yvonne’s money at her disposal. She had all the spare time she could possibly want. She had the opportunity to repair all the damage he’d done, to rebuild her life again.

The only problem was, she had no idea how to do that.

* * *

Yvonne rode the elevator up to the Mistress Media offices. As usual, she was one of the first people there. Soon, the sprawling top floor office would be swarming with activity.

Mistress Media was the vision of Madison Sloane, the company’s CEO and Yvonne’s closest friend. Madison had started Mistress years ago, and in the space of less than a decade, the female-led media company had grown from a single publication to an international empire.