Page 104 of Fake it With Me

“Liza! Finally! I’ve been trying to reach you. What’s going on? Should I process the payment for the Sullivan job?”

“No. Don’t process it.”

“What? Why not? You fulfilled the contract.”

“The job ended early. And I don’t want the money.”

There was a long pause. “You don’t want a hundred and fifty thousand dollars?”

“No. Things didn’t work out the way they were supposed to. I wouldn’t feel right taking it.”

“Liza, that doesn’t make any sense. You were there for almost a month. You did everything you were supposed to do. I haven’t received any complaints from the client.”

“I don’t care about the contract. I don’t want it. Please just… close the account. Mark it as complete without payment or however you need to handle it. But I don’t want the money.”

“What about the San Francisco job?”

“I’m not taking that either. Or any other jobs. I’m done with Faux. I’m sorry, Della. You’ve been great, but I can’t do this anymore.”

She tried to talk me out of it, told me I was being irrational and I shouldn’t make decisions when I was emotional. But I was adamant. I didn’t want Darek’s money. Taking it would make everything he’d accused me of true, that I was only there for the paycheck and my feelings were fake. I didn’t want to feel like he paid me to fall in love with him.

If I couldn’t have his love, I at least wanted to keep my integrity.

After I hung up, I walked along the beach and cried. Then I pulled myself together and went back to the cabin to work on my dissertation.

What else was I going to do? If I could just finish my dissertation, I could get my doctorate and maybe find a job that would let me rebuild my life.

A life without Darek and Daisie in it.

The thought made me want to cry again, but I was running out of tears. I had cried so much this week that I felt hollowed out.

36

DAREK

Isat across from Aaron in his downtown office. The space was all dark wood and leather, designed to project confidence and success. He had an office in the city, but also the one in Cloudhaven to cater to the clientele around town.

“So we got it,” Aaron said, sliding a tablet across the desk toward me. “The original security footage from the yacht club.”

My heart started pounding. “And?”

“See for yourself.”

I picked up the tablet and hit play. The video showed the dock at the yacht club. And there we were, Daisie and me on her birthday. I watched myself turn to look at the yacht while Daisie leaned forward to look at the water.

But unlike the doctored still image, this showed my hand clearly gripping the back of her life jacket the entire time. My hold never wavered, never loosened. She was never in any danger because I had her. The water wasn’t choppy at all. It was calm, barely a ripple. And there were no whales anywhere in sight.

“Wow,” I breathed.

I had been there, and I knew what the truth was, but after seeing that picture so many times, I was seriously questioning my own recollection. They made me feel like I was losing my mind. I started to second-guess the weather and if I even put a lifejacket on her.

“Grant really did a number on this,” Aaron said. “He changed the background, made the water look rough, and photoshopped your hand out entirely. If your girlfriend hadn’t noticed those whales, we might never have questioned it.”

“She’s not my girlfriend.” The words came out automatically, defensive.

Aaron raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. “Right. Well, whoever she is, she saved your ass. This video proves beyond any doubt that the photo was fabricated.”

“Have you filed the suit?”