A Dangerous Proposition

VIVIENNE

I woke up with a headache that felt like someone had driven a spike through my skull. My eyes opened to an unfamiliar ceiling, high and vaulted, with a chandelier that probably cost more than my entire house. I was lying on a sofa so soft I could have sunk into it and disappeared, and the room around me was enormous, decorated in shades of cream and gold, with paintings on the walls tha