Three hours later, inside a high-end hotel room in Nassau.
Hunter embraced a thoroughly exhausted Amanda.
"Hey," he asked casually, "are your friends still at the club? Are you sure you're not going back tonight?"
It had been over a week since his last indulgence. Despite the vigorous physical exertion, Hunter looked even more energized than before.
Amanda, still recovering, shot him a look that was half-annoyance, half-awe.
She realized she had completely misjudged him. She thought she had picked up a green, inexperienced tourist, but she had invited a hurricane into bed.
Not that she was complaining. For a club veteran like her, it was a pleasant surprise.
"I'm not going back," she mumbled, resting her head on his chest. "And relax, I don't have a boyfriend."
Amanda had no idea if Hunter had noticed her arriving at the club with Jared and Bryce.
Sam, Jared's actual girlfriend, hadn't come. Firstly, Sam wasn't the nightclub type. Secondly, even Amanda had noticed the freezing tension between Sam and Jared over the last few days. They barely interacted, which was glaringly abnormal for a couple living together.
Hunter was slightly surprised by her bluntness but didn't dwell on it. He had already gathered enough about her character to know she was pragmatic and self-serving.
Remembering his plan, he asked, "You went to the club with Jared, right?"
Amanda stiffened, looking up at him in surprise. "You know Jared?"
Hunter smiled cryptically, not explaining too much.
"That guy and I have some... friction. How about you do me a small favor?"
Amanda rolled her eyes, completely unbothered by her lack of clothing.
"Let's hear it."
She was curious. This incredibly handsome Asian guy she picked up at a club not only knew Jared but immediately identified her as his companion. She was certain they had beef—why else would he have pinpointed her the moment Jared walked into the club?
"Find an opportunity," Hunter said softly, "to make sure Jared's girlfriend, Sam, catches you and Jared being... intimate."
"Whether you actually sleep with him or just put on a show, I leave that up to you."
"I won't ask you to do it for free. Once it's done, I'll give you fifty thousand US dollars."
Amanda instantly sat up, all her previous exhaustion vanishing.
"Are you serious?"
Fifty thousand dollars was no small sum, even for someone from New York. That was equivalent to her entire annual salary at her old job. Earning that much for a simple "favor"—especially one she might have considered doing anyway just for the thrill—was a steal.
But she wasn't stupid.
Her eyes darted over Hunter's flawless features. After a moment of rapid calculation, she probed, "This is about Sam, isn't it?"
Hunter just smiled, offering no confirmation.
He liked working with smart people. Smart people understood the objective and tailored their approach to achieve it. But he wouldn't admit to anything out loud. Plausible deniability was key.
Besides, he was confident that under the passive influence of his maxed-out [Reproduction]skill (which subtly enhanced his charisma and dominance over partners), she wouldn't betray him easily.
Amanda took his silence as confirmation.
She was manipulative and cunning, and she quickly pieced together the puzzle.
Even as a woman, she had felt a twinge of jealousy the first time she saw Sam. The girl was absurdly sexy with a face so sweet it was unfair.
Even Bryce—the lawyer she had just met on the plane and started sleeping with—couldn't keep his eyes off Sam. One night, while he was drunk and inside Amanda, he had actually muttered Sam's name.
It was obvious what kind of magnetic pull the Bahamian girl had on men.
Realizing Hunter was orchestrating a hostile takeover of Jared's relationship, Amanda cursed inwardly at the sheer ruthlessness of it.
But she wasn't mad. Instead, she started negotiating.
"One hundred thousand," she countered smoothly.
"For that price, I'll go to Jared's place tonight. I guarantee that tomorrow morning, Sam will see me walking out of Jared's bedroom half-dressed."
"And," she added with a wicked smirk, "I'll pretend I got so blackout drunk at the club that I have no memory of how I got there or what happened."
She had just doubled his offer without blinking.
She wasn't worried about his ability to pay. They were currently in a suite at a five-star hotel that cost over two thousand dollars a night. A random tourist couldn't afford this.
Hunter hadn't expected her to be this vicious.
If she executed that plan perfectly, Sam would never forgive Jared.
Jared had already sold her mother's necklace without permission. Now, he would be caught betraying her and sleeping with his best friend's girl under their own roof.
It was a triple betrayal.
If Sam still clung to Jared after that, Hunter would seriously have to reconsider whether she was afflicted with terminal "love-brain" (a hopeless romantic idiot) and cut his losses.
Satisfied with the cruelty of the plan, Hunter agreed without hesitation.
"Deal. I can give you twenty thousand in cash right now as an advance."
"Don't be greedy," he warned. "Your clutch is too small; carrying too much cash will look suspicious."
"The rest, I'll deliver tomorrow morning after I see the results."
"Deal!" Amanda agreed quickly.
A fleeting thought crossed her mind that she should have asked for more, but she suppressed it. For some inexplicable reason, she felt a strange, compelling sense of trust and closeness to this man she had just met.
As a certified party girl who routinely slept with men she'd known for ten hours and then ghosted them the next morning without a second thought, this feeling of loyalty was entirely new to her.
While she was lost in thought, Hunter got out of bed.
A moment later, he tossed two thick stacks of hundred-dollar bills onto the sheets next to her.
Stimulated by the twenty grand, Amanda ignored her soreness. She scrambled out of bed and began dressing herself, deliberately making her clothes look disheveled.
She noticed a mini-bar in the corner of the suite.
She walked over, grabbed a bottle of rum, took a large swig, and then splashed a generous amount over her shirt and neck.
Instantly, she smelled like a walking distillery.
She turned back to Hunter, her eyes artificially half-lidded and "drunk."
"Alright," she slurred convincingly. "I assume since you're hiring me to ruin Jared, you know exactly where he lives."
"Drop me off nearby, and leave the rest to me."
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