Chapter 113: Chapter 113: The Actress’s Fee

"How much do you get paid?" James said.

Maeve turned to look at him. She had almost forgotten he was there.

"For a Floor run," James said. "Standard rate. What’s your number?"

She looked at him for a long second.

Then she glanced at Finn. "He thinks money is the thing."

"James—" Finn said quietly.

"I’m asking a real question," James said.

Maeve studied him. She was reading him properly now, the way she had not when he had first sat down.

"One million dollars," she said.

She said it the way you say a number you expect to finish the conversation.

Finn straightened on the sofa. "Maeve. That’s—"

"Non-negotiable," she said pleasantly.

"That is three times your standard—"

"It’s Floor 15, Finn."

James said, "Okay."

Maeve looked at him.

"Two million," James said.

The room went quiet.

Not dramatically. Just for a second, the way rooms do when something shifts.

Maeve did not move. Her expression didn’t break, but something behind it changed. She had expected them to flinch at the number, maybe argue it down, maybe leave. She had said one million specifically because it was the kind of number that ended the conversation cleanly.

"Two million dollars," she said.

"Yes."

She looked at him carefully. He hadn’t said it like he was showing off. He’d said it the way someone says a number they had already decided on before they walked into the room.

"Are you mad," she said, "or just very recently rich?"

"Neither," James said. "I need you for one floor. That’s the price."

She was quiet.

Finn looked between them then He opened his mouth.

"Half upfront," Maeve said.

"Fine," James said.

Finn closed his mouth.

Maeve set her cup down and looked at James steadily. "I am not signing anything that ties me to Team Zero beyond Floor 15. No guild contract. No exclusive arrangement. No PR appearance afterward. I come to your preparation, I attend the test, and if I decide the team is worth my life, I do the floor. After that, I’m done and we go our separate ways."

"Agreed," James said.

"And if I attend the test and decide I don’t want to proceed—"

"The deposit comes back," James said. "Half upfront goes back to me if you pull out after the test. You don’t get paid a million dollars to watch someone hit a training dummy."

Maeve raised an eyebrow.

"Non-negotiable," James said.

She looked at him for a long moment.

Then she laughed. Short and genuine, the way people laugh when something actually surprises them.

"Finn," she said. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"I know," Finn said.

"I like him."

"I know," Finn said, in a slightly different tone.

Maeve extended her hand across the table.

James shook it.

"The test is tomorrow morning," Finn said. "Hale Estate. Nine o’clock."

"I know where Hale Estate is," she said. She picked up her tea. "Who else?"

"Ronan Cleary," Finn said. "Guardian. D-rank arena. His discipline is solid."

She nodded once. "Who else?"

"Cillian Ward."

She stopped.

"The storm brawler," she said. "The A-rank."

"Yes."

She thought about that for a moment. "He’s not easy to work alongside."

"Have you tried?" James asked.

"No," she said. "But I know his type. Efficient, independent, doesn’t like being told where to stand." She set the cup down again. "I can work with that. Easy teams don’t survive anything worth surviving."

She looked at James one more time.

"Don’t be late tomorrow," she said.

James and Finn came down the driveway five minutes later.

The gate swung open as they approached. Behind them, Maeve’s front door was already closed.

Finn waited until the gate clicked shut before he said anything.

"Two million," he said.

James kept walking.

"James."

"I heard you."

"She named that number to get rid of us," Finn said. He caught up and fell into step beside him. "That was a shutdown number. She did not expect anyone to say yes."

"I know."

"Then why—"

"Because we don’t have three weeks to negotiate," James said. He stopped at the car. "One week to the stream. Less than months to the Blood Writ. Floor 15 is still open, the side story clock is running, and neither Ronan nor Ward has any natural resistance to what the Saintess does. Maeve has cleared Floor 14. She has the right class build for it. She knows how to read a support situation that isn’t just healing." He looked at Finn. "Two million is expensive. It is still cheaper than dying because I was too careful with money."

Finn looked at him.

Finn looked at him.

"Where is this money coming from?" he said.

"Leave that to me," James said.

"James—"

"I said leave it."

Finn was quiet.

"You spent two months ago not knowing if you could cover your team’s entry gear," Finn said. "Now you’re spending two million on a support contract."

"Yes," James said.

He opened the car door.

Finn stood on the other side, looking at him over the roof.

"She’s going to be unbearable about this," he said finally. "She won because she named a number and you doubled it. She will never let you forget that."

"She also agreed to come tomorrow," James said. "Get in."

Finn got in.

He didn’t say anything for almost a full minute as James pulled out onto the road and back toward the city.

Then, quietly: "I should have introduced you as someone boring."

"She already knew who I was," James said.

"Still." Finn looked out the window. "Two million."

James didn’t answer.

He was already thinking about tomorrow.

The next morning, Hale Estate.

James and Finn were in the training wing when the front door opened at two minutes past nine.

They heard her before they saw her.

Heels on stone. A clean confident rhythm, not hurried, not loud..

Maeve appeared in the doorway of the training wing in a dark fitted jacket and high-waisted trousers, hair down this time, a small bag over one shoulder. No armour. No obvious gear. But around her left wrist was a bracelet set with pale stones that pulsed faintly with a blue-green light

"Good morning, boys," she said.

She stepped into the room and looked around at the equipment, the training platform, the rack of gear along the wall. Her eyes moved carefully. She was reading it.

James’s phone lit up on the bench beside him.

He looked down.

BREAKING: ACTRESS MAEVE CALLAHAN REPORTEDLY JOINS TEAM ZERO FOR FLOOR 15 ATTEMPT

He stared at the screen.

Finn came up beside him and looked over his shoulder.

"Oh," Finn said.

Maeve had already noticed his expression. She glanced at the phone and then looked back at James

"Darling," she said, "I’m afraid my movements tend to attract attention."

Finn said something under his breath that was not suitable for anyone in the room.

James looked from the headline to Maeve.

Maeve smiled like headlines were weather.

They had not tested the team yet.

The world had already decided there was one.