Sasha begs you to stay

"No! No," Sasha says, shaking her head and hands as she beckons for you to stay. "Maybe you have something else? I'm sure we can work together." You try not to smile and maintain a serious, businesslike expression as you sense she's almost ready to be exploited, but you continue walking , hoping Abby will catch on to your plan.

Abby does, as she stands and also implores you stay. "John, she's right. Surely there's something we could use her for? She came all this way after all," she says. You couldn't have scripted her words better as you pause and pretend to be thinking.

You wait an appropriate amount of time before turning back, rubbing your chin thoughtfully as you do. "I don't know... There is something but..."

"I'm sure I can do it! Give me a chance!" Sasha pleads. She has even set her drink down and is holding her hands clasped together in front of her chest in a begging manner.

"Yeah, maybe Sasha will do it. What is it?" Abby asks, still pretending.

"Well, it's that thing with Vladimir..." you say, feigning **** to bring up the subject.

"Oh," Abby utters. Her expression changes from eagerness to solemnness, and she looks sideways at Sasha.

The change in Abby must be befuddling to the Russian, who simply asks, "Vladimir?"

"Yeah, he's... I... No, I shouldn't involve you," you say, turning again to leave. This time, Sasha rushes over to grab your trailing arm and pulls you back. You only put up a little of resistance before relenting. You look back to find Sasha's bright round eyes staring right at you and even though you're in the middle of tricking her, you feel your heart melt in that instance. Suddenly, you're not entirely sure about the plan.

You're snapped out of your thoughts when Abby speaks. "I'm not sure if she'll be right for that. Sasha's really more into fashion and brand promotion," Abby says.

"No! No, I can do it," Sasha insists.

You consider her for a moment, before you lead her back to the lounge and sit her down opposite you and Abby. "First of all, this gig pays better. You'll get a million dollars upfront," you say. Abby was the person who had come up with that number, which she thought was a reasonable sum for a person willing to marry a mafia boss and bear their children. From the way Sasha's eyes light up at the mention of the amount, Abby's math might just be correct. "The problem is... well, there are certain conditions involved, many of which you might not like. And once you agree, there's no backing out. In fact, if you agree, you're going to have to start in a couple days and won't even have time to go back to Russia."

Sasha nods her head eagerly, hanging onto every word you say. You're almost there, you think, but you don't want to get ahead of yourself. You still have to sell her on the idea of becoming Vladimir's wife.

"Okay, I get that you're eager, but slow down. You'll want to hear what the deal is before you agree, okay? Promise you'll give it some thought before you say yes," you say, sounding very serious. Sasha looks slightly confused, but she acknowledges your warning. Then, you go on to tell Sasha a story you had concocted with Abby this afternoon, letting Abby jump in to fill in any blanks.

What you proceed to tell Sasha is actually pretty close to the real thing, except you have to change some details like you having an estate full of women bound to you by contracts. You also omit the part about Daria. Instead, you claim that in the course of your business, which you only vaguely describe as "investing," you occasionally are **** to deal with bad elements like the mafia. You go on to tell Sasha that affairs between you and Vladimir had gone so badly that his future wife to be is now gone. You imply that she had cheated on Vladimir with you and is now somehow dead because of you. Sasha appears both horrified and sympathetic as she listens. So now, Vladimir has threatened to kill you and your family despite your riches and the only way to appease him is to find him a suitable wife who, as Vladimir says, must be beautiful and Russian.

"So, that's where we are. I have 2 more days to find someone suitable or Vladimir's going to set the mafia on me. As you can imagine, it's been harder to find a beautiful Russian willing to marry Vladimir than I thought, so I'm willing to pay them to do it if it'll save me from the mafia. Oh, and did I mention that Vladimir's former wife to be was a lingerie model? He said he'll only accept a woman as or more beautiful than her. Can you believe that? If I show up with a woman he doesn't like in 2 days, he might even kill me on the spot," you say in faked exasperation.

Sasha hasn't said anything in a while and it's difficult to tell how she's processing the story.