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“I’m still happy to be on board.” She sighs deeply. “I just wish you hadn’t lied.”
“I never imagined it would come back to bite me like this. Rick kept droning on about it in public… I couldn’t stop him and tell him I’d lied. I couldn’t risk losing his funding. Sure, it’s too late now since I bought him out but… here comes John with everything I need to retire smoothly while also leaving one hell of a legacy behind. HeartMatch is the most successful dating app currently on the market. Its success margin is beautiful… we’re laughing at our competitors, and you’ve seen the last quarter’s subscription figures, right?”
“Oh, yeah… Christmas bonuses be coming,” Piper chuckles, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “I just wish it wasn’t all built on a lie.”
“Well, the app works so well because of us and because of the funding we got. The lie itself was a means to an end, but we never deceived the users, remember? Our screening processes are what get people meeting the right matches for them. Not that stupid lie. I just had to sell the project, that’s all.”
“Fair enough,” she concedes. “What next, then? John wants a family date. You and the missus and junior. What the hell are you going to do? You can’t show up without a family now, not without pissing the man off. And you heard him. If he feels slighted, he will end you.”
I scratch the back of my head. “Had I known he was going to be such a traditionalist, I swear I would’ve taken less money from Parvati or Jason. They both had enough to take HeartMatch on to the next level.”
“Meh, I don’t like Parvati’s business style. And Jason’s dating app is a bit of a hot mess. I don’t think either of them would’ve made a good match for this place.”
“See? So you understand why it had to be John.” I can’t help but grin with misplaced self-satisfaction. My humor soon fades as the truth begins to settle deep within me, but instead of falling prey to panic, I give myself a moment to look around and simply admire what I have. “John has the vision to keep HeartMatch as honest and soulful as it has been up to this point. The one place where people can still find real connections, and where we’ve got an AI system so smart, it’s able to filter out the weeds.”
When I first set foot in this building, it was a clothing factory with bare brick walls and wrought-iron banisters. I’ve kept most of the original elements of the architecture, and so my office is a clash between industrial and contemporary—one old brick wall contrasting against two smooth, cream ones, and a third that’s all black-framed windows with a terrace door. Beyond, the bay stretches out in green and blue hues beneath a clear late spring sky.
The floor was uneven cement when I got here, and we added a hardwood layer on top. The lighting is minimalistic and efficient, designed by some famous Norwegian artist whose name I am never able to recall. I picked the furniture from a high-end store outside of Chula Vista—the teak surfaces work perfectly with black iron details and mirrored chrome handles. This is my domain. My throne. The center of my existence.
And the day has come for me to put my crown down and go live the free-spirited life I’ve dreamed of ever since I was a kid. It’s gonna take some lying to get it done, but I’ve managed before. Only now, the stakes are infinitely higher.
With that in mind, I get my lawyer on the line. I leave the conversation on speakerphone so Piper can chime in as well. She’s been by my side for so long, it would be disrespectful not to let her stick around for this. Besides, Piper is the only one in the entire company who knows the truth.
“Todd… How did the meeting go?” Shauna’s nasal voice comes through. She’s a petite woman but with enough inner strength to dominate an entire courtroom. “Did John give you a final proposal?”
“Yeah, Piper will email it over to you in a hot second. But here’s the thing… There’s a bit of a morality clause in there that might end up blowing up in my face. Is there any chance I could skirt it, maybe? Have it removed from the contract?”
“Hmm… I don’t think so.”
Piper and I exchange glances. “Didn’t take you long to dismiss it,” I grumble.
“Morality clauses are an iffy thing and ultimately left to interpretation. Even without it, he could still find a way to use something similar against you if the deal falls through somehow, mainly because this is a very public acquisition process, and I can already see your stocks fluctuating. It will all settle once the papers are signed, of course, but John Douglas-Mackie is a power player with at least another decade of business experience on top of yours. I worked for him, remember?”
“I do remember; it’s one of the reasons I enlisted your firm to assist me in the sale.”
“Therefore, heed my words. Whatever it is you’re planning to do or not to do regarding this sale and any morality clause in it… don’t. Let me have a read and get back to you with a final impression, but don’t count on me to save your ass. John is exceptionally particular with these things. Anything he perceives as a prejudice can be interpreted as such in a court of law.”
Especially if said prejudice involves me lying about the initial success of my own dating app. Because that’s what this is all about.
In a sense, Piper does have a point. I did build HeartMatch on a lie. A tiny white lie that opened some doors and brought forth our true potential. But it was still a lie. And if John finds out now, after I lied some more about it… No. I can’t have that.
“Great. Thank you, Shauna,” I reply and quickly hang up.
I hear her sharp inhale as she’s about to say something, but it’s too late. Piper will handle the rest, and then the audit can begin.
“You’re so screwed,” Piper says with a heavy sigh.
“I am—unless I find a fake wife and child.”
“You make it sound so easy,” she scoffs, shaking her head slowly. She’s only half-amused; the rest of her demeanor reeks of pity.
“An actress would work. Though, frankly, I’d prefer a more personal approach,” I reply, the wheels in my mind grinding back into motion. “Don’t you have a girlfriend with a kid, maybe? A son, ideally. Come on, you know I’d pay a ton of money for such a favor. Whatever it takes. It would just be easier with a… let’s call her a civilian, rather than a professional actress. Those are usually known to blurb to the media for extra clout, and ratting on me would be the crème de la clout.”
Piper thinks about it for a moment. “My sister would’ve been great, except she has a daughter.”
“Do you think John didn’t hear the ‘I have a son’ part? We could pretend he didn’t hear right.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she laughs. But then her eyes grow big and round as she remembers something. Or maybe someone. “Hold on… I think I’ve got exactly what you need. Exactly who you need.”
