Hannah nodded. She hadn’t even told Chloe the good part yet.
“And you said yes, right? Please tell me you said yes, Hannah.”
“Well…”
Chloe threw her hands up to her head. “Oh, come on! You didn’t refuse, did you? God help me, please tell me you didn’t turn the guy down.”
Hannah couldn’t help but giggle as her friend’s hoop earrings bounced around in her excitement. “Well, let me finish.”
Chloe ran a finger across her lips, pretending to zip her mouth up and throw away the key. Then she sat back with her arms crossed over her ample chest.
“In exchange for the performances, he offered me 500,000 dollars…”
Chloe opened her mouth to speak as her eyes went wide, but Hannah held her hand out to stop her.
“And I told him I’d sleep on it.”
“Oh my God!” Chloe jumped up from her chair. “You told him you’d think about it? Five hundred thousand dollars? Oh my God, girl. That’s half a million dollars!”
Chloe stretched her words out for effect. She paced the room with her hands on her head, talking more to herself than to Hannah. “I can’t believe you. Most people don’t make that much in their entire lifetimes—I know I won’t. You might, because you’re good. You’re—” She stopped and turned to Hannah. “Sensual!”
“Chloe?” Hannah tried to reel her friend in.
“What?!” Chloe snapped.
“I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t know what?” Chloe asked.
“I didn’t know he was for real. I thought he was just a fan, or a stalker. A really good-looking, nice-smelling stalker. I had no idea when he made me the offer that he could actually back it up.”
“Okay,” Chloe said, sitting back down across from Hannah. “So you can make it right. Just call him and tell him you’ll take it.”
Hannah smiled slightly and looked away. “Yeah, about that…”
“Please tell me you got his number. Hannah,” Chloe got off her chair and knelt down in front of her best friend, mock-begging her. “Please tell me that you took the phone number of one of the richest bachelors in the city who just walked up to you and offered you half a million bucks for six weeks’ work. Please, please, tell me that you had the sense to take his phone number.”
Hannah pressed her lips together and shook her head.
Chloe got up and started pacing again. “No number. Nope. It’s just ten little digits, maybe seven if it’s a local number, but no, that would be too much. She can remember the lyrics to a thousand songs, but ask one guy for his number? Nope. Not a chance.”
Hannah got up and put her arm around her friend, laughing as she spok
e. “Okay, relax. I told him I was singing again tomorrow night and that I’d have my answer for him then.”
Chloe turned and hugged her friend. “Thank you, sweet Jesus!” They pulled apart and Chloe looked at Hannah. “I’m sorry for overreacting. It’s just that, well, I want the best for you. You’re my best friend in the whole world. And you’re so darned talented. All I want is for you to succeed and be happy.”
“I know,” Hannah said. “And when I make it big, you’re gonna be my agent!”
“I thought I already was?” Chloe said with a grin.
Just then, Harvey’s voice came over the intercom. “Chloe, get your butt out here. You’re on in five.”
The two friends looked at the intercom and then at each other and rolled their eyes.
“Yeah, you better take that offer,” Chloe said. “We can’t both spend the rest of our lives here working for Harvey from Hell!”
Chloe blew Hannah a kiss and then disappeared through the door to go perform her set.
Hannah quickly changed out of her dress and gathered up her belongings, then walked down the dim hall to the sound of Chloe’s voice flowing over the speakers. She got outside and took the subway back to Brooklyn, her mind buzzing with possibilities after the unexpected turn her night had taken.
FOUR
Back at her and Chloe’s apartment, Hannah tried to put Sadiq out of her mind, but he kept resurfacing. She took a shower, made herself some dinner and finally decided to do a little research on the stranger that had suddenly appeared in her life.
She opened her laptop and typed ‘Sheikh Sadiq, New York’ into her browser. She didn’t have his last name, but was surprised to find that with just those words, pictures of the handsome stranger flooded her computer screen.
Hannah clicked on one of the links and saw the face she had seen earlier smiling up at her from her computer. The pictures on the search were taken in better lighting and after seeing just a few of them, Hannah realized that the chiseled good looks she’d glimpsed in the gloom of the Blue Moon were nothing compared to how he looked in daylight.
Sheikh Sadiq bin-Haled al-Halam, her search informed her, was the 28-year-old heir to the monarchy of El-Shakanish, a principality in the Middle East. He had received a very expensive private education in the United States, and after graduating from Yale, had decided to stay in the States and handle his family’s business affairs from there.
It appeared to Hannah that Sadiq was more of a playboy than a businessman. Nearly every shot had him tuxedo-clad at a charity gala, society gathering or celebrity fete, smiling broadly with a new beautiful woman on his arm at every event.
She scoured the internet for information on his ties to the music world but found very little. She was certain that he wasn’t an established producer, talent scout or agent, so why was he so interested