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he was used to.

      “Yes, well, no candidate should be younger than twenty-five and no older than her mid-thirties.” She would have to be his wife as well.

      “That narrows down the pool significantly.”

      Enzu chose to ignore his assistant’s mocking words. “Previous experience with children would be preferred, but is not absolutely necessary.”

      He did realize it was unlikely an educated woman in a career now, unless it was one related to children, would have experience with them.

      “Oh, and while I will not immediately rule out someone who has been married previously, she cannot have her own children that would compete with Franca and Angilu for attention.”

      Franca had experienced enough of that sort of neglect and Enzu was determined she never would again.

      “The candidates should be passable in the looks department, if not pretty, but definitely no super-model types.”

      The children had already been subjected to the beautiful but vain and entirely empty-headed Johana as mother and stepmother.

      His brother Pinu’s taste in women, from his first serious affair, which had resulted in Franca and a mother who had been only too happy to walk away once Enzu met her financial demands, to the wife who had died with him in the crash, had been inarguably abysmal.

      This time around Enzu would be choosing the woman and he was confident he could make a far superior decision to the ones Pinu had made in that department.

      Gloria did not reply to Enzu’s completed list of requirements, so he went on to enumerate the compensation package he’d worked out for the successful candidate.

      “There will be both financial and social benefits for the woman taking on this new role. Once both children have reached their majority without significant critical issues,” he emphasized, “the mother will receive a stipend of ten million dollars. Each year she successfully executes her maternal duties she will receive a salary of $250,000 paid in monthly installments. She will receive an additional monthly allowance to cover all reasonable household and living expenses for her and the children.”

      “You really are prepared to buy them a mother?” Gloria was back to looking gobsmacked.

      “Sì.” Hadn’t he said so?

      “Ten million dollars? Really?”

      “As I said, the bonus is dependent on both children reaching their majority without going off the rails. It will be paid when Angilu turns eighteen. But if one of the children chooses to follow in my brother’s footsteps, she will still receive half for the successful raising of the other one.”

      He did realize there was a certain amount of self-will in the path a person chose to take in life. He and his brothers couldn’t have been more different, though they’d been raised in almost identical circumstances.

      “And she will be your wife as well?”

      “Sì. In name at least.” For the sake of Franca and Angilu’s sense of family and stability.

      Gloria stood, indicating she was ready to return to her work. “I will see what I can do.”

      “I have every confidence in your success.”

      She did not look reassured.

      * * *

      Well, that could have gone better.

      Audrey brushed impatiently at the tears that wanted to fall. When had crying ever made a difference?

      Neither her tears nor those of her then twelve-year-old brother had made a difference to Carol and Randall Miller. Pleading had only been met with disgusted impatience and implacable resolve unhindered by any emotion, much less love.

      Maybe she should have waited a few weeks until Christmas and asked then. Weren’t people supposed to be filled with charity during the Christmas season? Somehow she didn’t think it would make any difference to her parents.

      Audrey should have known they weren’t going to change their minds now. She’d been an idiot to think that Toby being accepted into the prestigious Engineering School’s Bachelor of Science program at MIT would make a difference.

      But she hadn’t even asked for any financial assistance, just a place for Toby to live while he attended school. If her parents didn’t want him commuting to the MIT campus in Cambridge from their Boston home they could have provided living accommodation in one of their many real estate holdings throughout the city.

      They’d categorically refused. No money. No help in any way.

      Wealthy and emotionally distant, Carol and Randall Miller used the carrot and stick approach to parenting, with an unwavering conviction in the rightness of their opinions and beliefs. When that didn’t work, they washed their hands of what they considered failure.

      Like they had with her and Toby.

      It had nearly broken her brother to be rejected so completely by his parents, but he’d come back from the abyss stronger and determined to succeed and be happy. And, at twelve, he’d had more certainty about what he wanted to do with his life than Audrey at twenty-seven.

      She had no grand plan for her life. Nothing beyond raising Toby to believe in himself and to be able to realize his dreams. Audrey’s own dreams had been decimated six years ago.

      She hadn’t just lost the rest of her family when she’d taken Toby in. Audrey’s fiancé had broken up with her. Thad hadn’t been ready for children, he’d said, not even a mostly self-sufficient young boy.

      When her parents withdrew their financial support Audrey had been forced to take out student loans to finish her third year at Barnard, but a final year had been well beyond her means. She’d had no choice but to transfer her credits to the State University of New York and complete her degree there.

      She’d had to get a full-time job to support herself and her brother. Time and money constraints meant that it had taken her nearly four years of part-time online coursework to finally get her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature.

      Her parents had been right about one thing. It was a supremely impractical degree. But she wasn’t sure she would have finished university at all if she hadn’t been studying something she loved so much. Her coursework had been her one break from the stresses and challenges of her new life.

      She and Toby had that in common. They both loved learning. But he was committed to excelling in a way she never had been.

      With a determination her parents should have been proud of, Toby had earned top marks in school and worked on gaining both friends and confidence in his new environment. He’d said he was going to be happy and her brother was one of the most genuinely joyous people she knew.

      She couldn’t stand the thought of him losing that joy once he realized they simply couldn’t make MIT happen.

      It wasn’t fair. He deserved this chance and Audrey just couldn’t see any way to give it to him.

      Only the best and the brightest even got considered for MIT, and those who truly stood out among this elite group were accepted. The private research university accepted fewer than ten percent of their applicants for incoming freshmen and transferring from another school was almost impossible.

      Which made any plan that had Toby attending a less expensive state school to begin with and moving on to MIT such a remote possibility as not to be considered at all.

      Toby hadn’t just gotten accepted, either. He’d won a partial scholarship. It was a huge deal. His high school administration and counselor were over the moon, but not Carol and Randall Miller.

      They hadn’t softened their stance toward their son one bit. The one question they’d asked had been if Toby still claimed to be gay. When Audrey had told them he did, they’d made it clear they wanted nothing more to do with their youngest son. Ever.

      Worse,

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