No, she didn't.
She had no idea who the handsome stranger was when he stepped through the door of her dank rathole in the basement.
His proposal came as a complete surprise, but she was grasping at straws and would have said yes to any outlandish idea to save her father.
Besides, she was feeling light-headed and sluggish after selling three pints of blood on the black market.
She didn't have the time or energy to think it through.
The rational part of her tired brain told her it could be a scam, but she took the deal anyway.
The hospital called her the next day and said all her father's outstanding bills had been paid.Exclusive content from .
Kira, grateful and relieved, carried out her duty to play the part of Mrs McCarthy.
She knew her place and never asked too many questions.
After she fell for Austyn, she actively avoided thinking about this.
Somehow, she just knew that if she peeked behind the curtain, she wasn't going to like what
she found.
But Gideon refused to let her stick her head in the sand. 'Do you have any idea of Austyn's net worth? He didn't get to be the richest man in Stamford and the top ten richest in the country by making decisions on an impulse. "What...what are you saying?"
'I'm saying it wasn't a coincidence. I'm saying there's a reason he married you. A reason he didn't tell you.'
'He did tell me,' Kira said defensively. 'He said he saw me struggling with my father's medical bills and decided to help me."
He'd called her a charity case.
Kira, offended, dropped the subject.
And you believed him?' Gideon was exasperated
He'd always known Kira had a trusting nature.
It was one of the things he loved about her.
It was also what got him back into her life-she believed him when he said he would settle for being a brother.
But now he realised that there was a fine line between trust and gullibility.
Someone else had discovered this trait of hers and was exploiting it for their own benefit.
'I think I'm done talking to you.' Kira felt the air in the car getting thin. 'You should
She scrambled out of the car and banged the door shut.
go
home."
Sucking in a big lungful of air, she sprinted into the apartment lobby and didn't look back.
Gideon watched her run away.
After living with her for four years, he was familiar with all her little tells.
She looked away, lowered her head and blinked faster when she lied.
When she didn't want to confront an unpleasant truth, she took to her heels.
She had to know Austyn was holding out on her, yet she chose to turn a blind Gideon leaned back in his seat and exhaled.
eye.
It was okay.
He still had time.