Although Valentina thought she would have difficulties sleeping with another person in her bed, she had a comfortable night of sleep.
She woke up to her doorbell ringing and glancing at the still sleeping Luca, she hurried to go open it before the child was woken up.
As soon as she cracked it open, she saw that it was Kaiser Grayson who was at her door. Valentina leaned on the door frame and coolly glanced at him.
"Good morning Mr. Grayson, what do you want?" Valentina asked rudely. Her eyes were narrowed as she stared at him, and Kaiser thought that she didn't know how nonthreatening she looked as she stared at him.
She was dressed in a brown fluffy onesie that clung to every inch of her body and exposed her exquisitely shaped legs and feet. Her jet-black hair was tousled messily and framed her face while gem green eyes stared at him with a hint of annoyance while her cherry blossom pink lips were pouting. As she leaned against the door, she exuded a sexy yet cozy atmosphere.
After their meeting yesterday, he had spoken with Leo Howard to get some advice on the situation and had come to make peace in the morning.
"Good morning Miss Valentina. Apologies for coming back so early, but I had to speak with you. May I come in?" Kaiser responded gently.
Valentina glanced at him in silence for a few minutes before shifting from the doorway.
"Come inside before somebody sees you," she muttered. Since a lot of artists lived in the building, it was better for her not to be seen with a man before rumors spread.
Valentina sat down at the dinner table and Kaiser sat next to her in a similar setup from the previous day.
"Luca is still sleeping." Valentina started.
"Thank you for taking care of him. I hope he wasn't trouble." Kaiser replied bowing his head.
"He was no trouble and perfectly-, you know what we're not here for small talk. What are you here for Mr. Grayson? Here to offer to buy me again?" Valentina asked with a sardonic twist of her lips.
Even though he could hear her mocking tone, Kaiser couldn't bring himself to be upset with her. After all, he was the one who offended her yesterday. Still, he was here to make a deal and in his whole life, he had never ended up on the losing side of a deal.
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"I'm here to apologize and to make a deal with you." He replied firmly.
"Well let's start with the apology."
"Yesterday I deeply offended you and for that, I apologize. Offering to buy you was an insult to you and your character. Regardless of my reasons for saying so, it disrespected you when you've been nothing but polite. Please just take it as foolish words from a man worried about his son."
"Acceptable. You mentioned a deal?" Kaiser watched her brush a loose curl from her face.
"Yes," Kaiser leaned forward and stared at her intensely, "I want to buy your time."
Hearing words that were not much changed from the previous day, Valentina felt like hitting the man in front of her. She had thought that his apology was sincere but clearly, he had learned nothing.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Valentina asked incredulously.
"Hear me out fully. Following the advice of the psychiatrist, I've concluded that my son needs you and has formed a dependency on you. Since I can't buy you as a person, I want to buy your time for three months."
"Wha-?"
"Let me finish. For the next three months, I will hire you as a part-time caretaker for my son. Naturally, you won't need to take care of the menial things, rather it's a form of emotional support until he no longer needs you. Of course, you'll be well compensated, and it won't interfere with your work or personal obligations."
"Thank you for the kind offer but I refuse." Valentina immediately refuted, "I don't mind texting with him occasionally or phone calls now and again, but anything more than that is inconvenient to me and my life. Even if you don't rate it, I am pursuing a career and that takes priority over everything else. Sorry." She was truly trying to limit her interaction with Kaiser and the Grayson family.
Kaiser glanced at her before arching his brows and coldly smiling, "I had you investigated, Miss Salazar. A struggling up-and-coming actor currently signed with Black Rock Entertainment. You seem diligent and have a good look for entertainment. Given how long you've been contracted to them, you should have had a modicum of success. But it seems you're being suppressed and the rumors about you are horrible. Breaking your contract only cost XXXX-amount which I'm sure you would have paid off if it were possible since it's clear you have no future there. How about if you accept this job, I'll pay you enough to break the contract?" When Valentina heard Kaiser's words, she thought it sounded like the devil speaking. Although she had lucked out with the past role thanks to the system, the original Valentina struggled for months to even hear about an audition. It was something that had been weighing on the back of her mind for a while on how she would escape. Her contract stipulated that she was signed to Black Rock Entertainment for the next 10 years.
The clever wording of the contract stated that her treatment was conditional to her work performance. The more jobs she completed; the better resources would be allocated to her. However, it was extremely difficult for her to get work. She wasn't told about jobs and even if she managed to get a minor role, for some reason it would fall through. Different filming delays happened through someone causing those issues, and bad rumors of her continued to permeate throughout the community. It had driven the original Valentina mad.
Valentina wanted to get out of that hellish atmosphere. Her best bet for achieving the original Valentina's goals was to go to a comparable company like Black Rock Entertainment. And it seemed that opportunity was landing in front of her on a platter.
Before she could fully follow that train of thought, the devil continued, "Additionally, I'll give you an introductory letter to Platinum Entertainment so you should not experience a downgrade in work quality. Of course, whether you can successfully get roles and rise as a star will be up to you. All you have to do is interact with my son for the next three months in the capacity of a mental support part-time caretaker. Sounds good right?"
It sounded good. Almost too good, causing Valentina to glance at Kaiser suspiciously. He had leaned back on the chair and looked like a boss speaking to his subordinate.
"So, Miss Salazar, do you agree?" Kaiser asked her, his eyes twinkling humorously.
The devil. He was most definitely the devil!