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I shake my head. “There must be some mistake, Alec. Who told you this?” Even as denial fills my mind, a part of me is putting two and two and they are adding up to four. My skin becomes icy cold and my legs feel as if blood has stopped flowing.
“Ivy,” Alec says. “They met this week and Olivia told her everything.”
My lungs constrict, making it hard to breathe. If this is coming from Ivy, then it must be true.
“Tell me and don’t leave everything out.”
Alec tells me how the couple Ivy had agreed to surrogate contacted the magazine that Olivia writes for to tell their story. I can’t wrap my head around the fact that I’ve been fooled. Olivia’s face with different expressions floats through my mind. It takes listening to the whole story to believe that the woman I fell in love with does not exist. I keep my feelings tightly wrapped though red-hot anger consumes me. I’m smarter than this. I’m experienced when it comes to women. I can sense a woman who wants to use me from a mile off.
“I’m sorry, bro. I know you loved her and wanted a future with her,” Alec says.
My hand moves of its own accord and I raise my fist and bring it down to my desk, sending papers and files flying everywhere. Searing pain tears at my hand but it’s nothing compared to the pain ripping through my insides.
“Jace, relax!” Alec says.
I jump to my feet. “I gave her a fucking ring. I proposed to her.” I pace my office, unable to sit still while my life falls apart. My chest feels as if it’s been split in two. I turn to Alec. “Is her name really Olivia James?”
“Yes,” Alec says.
I return to my desk, open a web browser, type her name, and add writer at the end. The first image I see is Olivia’s. I scroll down. There are several links to her articles. I click on one. It’s Olivia all right. There’s a picture of her next to her byline.
I’ve been made a fool of. An ice block forms around my heart. I become numb. I can handle numbness. It’s better than the pain which is nothing like I’ve ever experienced before. A dull ache forms behind my brow.
“What are you going to do?” Alec says, jolting me back to the present.
I’d forgotten that he was here. This is not like the problems I deal with day to day. I can’t brainstorm different ideas and then decide on the best one. This is a whole different ball game. I allow the image of Olivia to come into my mind and I know what I have to do.
“I have to see her and confront her. I want her to look into my eyes as she admits that she lied to me.” I say this with a lot of courage but I’m feeling anything but. I feel shattered, like an eggshell that has just been stomped.
She looked into my eyes and told me that she loved me, dammit. I don’t bother turning off my computer, and I simply grab my phone and my keys.
Alec stands up too. “I’m really sorry, Jace,” he says as if Olivia has died and he’s offering me his condolences.
It’s not too farfetched. Except Olivia is not dead because she never existed in the first place. Alec and I leave my office and when we’re in the elevator, I ask him. “Why did she say yes to my proposal?”
Alec shakes his head, looking as sad as I feel. The elevator comes to a stop and we part ways. I head to the parking lot and my car. I step on the gas, driving faster than I usually do. My first stop is Olivia’s apartment. Her car is not in the downstairs basement. I check my phone for Lifestyle magazine, input the address in my GPS, and head that way.
Mini videos play in my head. Olivia asleep with a hint of a smile on her face. Olivia throwing her head back to laugh when we had lunch in the farm restaurant. All lies. I grip the steering wheel tighter. I know that journalists go undercover to uncover injustices they believe have been done but why did she lie to me that she shared my feelings? Why did she make a fool of me?
It takes driving around the building that houses the magazine to find Olivia’s car. It’s parked in the rear and if I wasn’t looking for it, I wouldn’t have seen it. I park a few spaces away and turn off the engine, leaving the radio on even if I’m not listening to music. Every part of my body hurts. Betrayal hurts. Humiliation hurts. But worse is opening your fucking heart to someone and having it trampled on.
I don’t know how long I sit there before I see her walking toward her car. I wait until she’s opening her car before I step out of mine.
“Olivia.”
She whirls around and her expression of horror is all I need to know that everything that Alec told me is spot on. She opens her mouth to speak but nothing comes out.
“Why, Olivia?”
Tears flood her eyes and that resurrects my anger. “Stop it. You’ve acted enough. You don’t need to do it anymore. It’s over. I bared my heart to you, dammit! You’ve made me a fool, and for what? A fucking story? What kind of cruel person are you? Who are you?”
“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” she says. “I didn’t lie about loving you, Jace. I do love you.”
A bitter laugh leaves my mouth. “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”
She folds her arms across her chest and looks so small, so vulnerable. A feeling of protectiveness comes over me and I want to gather her in my arms. I shove those feelings away and remind myself who I’m dealing with. A woman who would do anything for her career.
Anything, including selling her soul.
