Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 28998 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 145(@200wpm)___ 116(@250wpm)___ 97(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28998 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 145(@200wpm)___ 116(@250wpm)___ 97(@300wpm)
“You the hot mechanic?” she asks. “You don’t look anything like the guy they used. The guy with bad breath.”
“Wait, the guy who used?” I ask, practically shaking.
“Aurora, show him the photos,” Grady tells her.
She casually pulls out her phone, flipping forever through her gallery. Finally, she stops on one and shows it to me, and my jaw drops.
It’s…me…but not me. A guy who looks like me, standing with Aurora, way too close, outside the shop where I first met Mira. Shit, “we” are even kissing in the last one.
“What the hell…” I mutter. “What is this? Tyler paid you to do this?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know his name. He paid me in cash to pose with this other guy, then they sent me hard copies of the photos with instructions on how to get them to some girl.”
“Some girl,” I repeat.
“Yeah,” she nods, unfazed by any of this.
“And how’d you get them to her?” I ask. Adrenaline is blowing through my veins. I’m about to lose control as I start to put the pieces together. “E-mail? Text?”
Aurora shakes her head. “No, a courier service. Real discrete, like something rich people would use, you know?”
It’s all starting to make sense now.
Tyler, that son of a bitch.
He staged a photoshoot and then he Photoshopped or deep-faked my face onto whatever dude they hired to be me. Then he had Aurora send the pictures to Mira and made her think I cheated.
My fists clench so tight I can feel blood seep through the skin. “Do you know the address?”
There’s no way she knows. Tyler would want to insulate himself from this the best he can. And it’s no surprise when she shakes her head. “Nope, sorry.” She glances over at Grady. “Can I go now?”
“No,” I snap. “I need those. Send them to me.”
I give her my number, and she texts the photos over. I’m burning inside. It’s like holding a weapon—the same weapon Tyler used to destroy my relationship.
He nods. “Thanks, Aurora. We’ll be in to see you tomorrow. Expect a big tip.”
She winks and struts off, drawing glances from the rest of the room. But I’m not even watching. I’m focused as something primal rises up inside me.
I’m going to kill Tyler.
But first, I’m going to get back my princess.
Mira.
11
FINN
It’s past midnight when I park down the block from the Coolidge estate. I keep to the shadows like last time, my hood up, until I find the same spot where I went over the wall. Again, the ivy scratches at me, pulling at my clothes. I land in the yard like a ghost and sprint up the grass to Mira’s window, which is glowing golden yellow like the light from a warm lamp.
I find the same trellis from last time and scale it, then tap on the glass and wait. I tap again, then notice it’s slightly ajar. I push it in slowly and see Mira curled up in bed, her eyes swollen and her face stained with tears.
She’s been crying.
Tyler, you son of a bitch.
“Mira.” The second she hears me whisper her name, she jolts up.
“Finn?” Her voice is hoarse and raw. “How did you—?”
“I had to see you, Mira.”
She scrambles back across the bed, driving the knife deeper into my heart. “Get out now! You don’t get to be in here after what you did to me!”
“I didn’t do what you think I did,” I say slowly, crossing the room with my hands up. “Mira, it was all fake. All of it. Tyler—”
“No!” She shakes her head violently. “I saw photos. I held them in my hands! Look!”
She reaches behind her to the end table, grabs the stack of photos, and hurls them at me. They land at my feet, and I can’t help but think about just how awful it must have been for her to have seen them without explanation—without understanding. It must have felt like pure betrayal.
“They’re fake, Mira,” I tell her, inching closer as I pull out my phone. “Tyler hired a stripper named Aurora to do a fake photoshoot. I met her tonight at the clubhouse. She even sent me the originals.”
“Bullshit!”
“Look,” I say, extending my phone to her. “I promise. I would never lie to you, my love.”
She blinks back at me, trembling for a moment before snatching my phone from my hand. I watch her face as she swipes through the pics from Aurora. “I swear to you, Mira, on everything I am that I haven’t touched another woman since the moment I set eyes on you.”
I can see the hesitance in her eyes. The reluctance to believe me. But there’s something else there too; she wants to accept my explanation. She wants to take me back. For everything I’ve said to be true.
“Finn…”
“I can introduce you to Aurora,” I explain slowly. “She’ll confirm everything.”