“I have until the end of May. I raised half in a day. I’ll set up another presentation, and I’ll have the rest. Then all of Ludington’s is mine.” I bluffed my heart out. “But what I’m offering right here, right now, is half the company and six hundred thousand dollars. You’ll own the LA operation. I start a New York office.”

He laughed. “You think you can compete with the big houses?”

“They do everything. Their names aren’t synonymous with political fundraiser auctions. Ludington’s will be. I’ll undercut them on commission. They take fifteen to twenty percent, I’ll take ten.”

“You couldn’t hack it in New York four years ago.”

“As a newbie. Now I have an auction house that’s a known name in its niche.”

“Obviously, I’ll have to discuss this with my attorney. It’s not the deal I had in mind when I came here.” The look in his eyes said he thought I was a fool. “Would you walk me out, Emsley?”

I stepped out onto the front stoop with him and wrapped my arms around myself. A cold mist was drizzling from the night sky. The air had a wet-dog tang, the smell of city streets in the rain.

Trey didn’t seem to feel the chill. His cheeks were flushed with heat. “You’re never going to make money here with the kind of competition you’ll have in New York. And I thought you were smarter than to trust strangers. I have no idea who these people are or why they talked you into this. They’re exploiting you.”

“For what? My vast fortunes?”

“Your ideas.”

“You’re the one walking away with half my company.”

“It’s all you ever cared about, isn’t it? The company. I was just a convenience. I was there, in the house, and you didn’t have to go far, waste time on actual dating. Minimal TAFB, Time Away From Business. I was just an easy solution to a problem.”

“You weren’t.” I shook off his words. I wasn’t going to go down that rabbit hole while standing on the front stoop in a drizzle. “Does it matter, at this stage?”

He drew back. “You’re right. It used to matter to me, but it doesn’t anymore. Diya sees me in a way you never have.”

“I’m happy for you both.” My response came out snarky, so I tried again. “I mean it.”

Trey glared at the half-open door behind me. “Are they really going to cough up all that money, or was that just bluff and bravado back there? Sign the contract, Emsley. Then you’re out, like Diya, free and clear. As long as you’re bent on staying in New York, why not start over completely? Go into something less competitive.”