“Here’s $100—Can you be my mom today?” a billionaire boss’s son asked—until a shy woman replied, “Keep it. Billionaires pay in secrets.”

The SUV went dangerously quiet.

Julian studied me. “You understand that no one speaks to me this way.”

“That sounds lonely.”

The words came out before I could stop them.

For a moment I thought I had gone too far. But Julian looked out the rain-streaked window, and when he spoke, his voice was lower.

“Yes,” he said. “It is.”