Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 108362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Hold up, what? Now, I was even more confused. “But that day at the café, you acted like it was your first time seeing him. You asked if he was single.”
“I know, I just panicked seeing him there. I wanted to make it look like we were strangers.”
“How exactly do you know him?” Isla interjected, her shoulders tensing. It was clearly difficult for her to hear about her colleague. They’d been a team for years, and now, somehow, Jace’s dad had discovered he was behind the catfishing scam. But he and Margie were involved? Did that mean they were in on it together? My stomach twisted over on itself just thinking about it.
“I met him a little over two years ago. It was after an Astro concert in London. I’d gone there to hurt Jace,” she confessed, shame etching her features.
My blood ran cold. “Hurt him how?”
Another chill tiptoed down my spine when Margie just stared at me, not answering for a long moment before she said, “It was wrong. I know that now, but I was so full of hate at the time and—”
“So, you really are Cai’s sister?” I stated.
She shook her head. “No, I’m his … he was my …” A tear fell down her cheek. “Remember the baby I told you about? He didn’t die as an infant. I was so young, only fifteen, and my parents took him from me, raised him as their own. My Cai,” she wept, and more tears fell. “I loved him so much, but I couldn’t live with the lie any longer. It was eating me up inside. So, I left with a man I was seeing at the time. He was moving to Canada, and it felt like the perfect opportunity to start a new life and forget the past. I was doing okay over there, got my college degree, and had a decent job in IT. I’d broken up with my boyfriend, but my life was good. I always kept an eye on Cai, watched his social media to see what he was up to. When I saw he died, all the old hurt came back. I fell into a depression, couldn’t keep a routine, got let go from my job, and did some things I’m not proud of.”
“What did you do?”
“It’s not important,” she replied evasively. “What matters is that I lost my boy before I ever got the chance to tell him he was m-mine.”
My stomach sank as I listened to her speak, and I felt for her, truly. I couldn’t imagine ever going through something like that, couldn’t bear the thought of living without Zara. Everything suddenly made so much more sense.
“For a long time I believed that if Cai hadn’t driven Jace home, he might still be alive. We might’ve been able to know each other properly …” She trailed off, her features desperate. “Shannon, you have to understand that I no longer hate Jace like I once did. I don’t blame him anymore, but I got in too deep with Samuel, and now, it’s all just a giant mess.”
I pressed my hands against my thighs to stop them from shaking. “Just tell me everything. From the start.”
Margie nodded, swallowing before she continued, “That night in London when Samuel and I first met, I was going to attack Jace after the concert. I had a weapon, and I’d looked up just the right place to strike so he’d …” She trailed off again, and cold horror seeped into my bones. This wasn’t my friend, my Margie. The woman I’d grown close to had once tried to attack Jace, end his life? How was this possible?
“Samuel saw me that night. He spotted me approaching Jace and got in my way, disarmed me. I thought he’d call the police, but instead, he brought me to a restaurant and bought me dinner, and I told him the entire story of why I’d come to hurt Jace. He asked me lots of questions about myself, and I told him all about the qualifications I’d gotten while living in Canada, my career. He seemed very interested in my job, particularly the online security and computer stuff. He told me there was another way, that if I helped him we could hurt Jace even worse.”
“Why did he want to hurt Jace?”
“He didn’t, not really. Jace was just a convenient identity for him. Samuel made his money by luring people into romance scams on the internet, and Dixon was one of his false identities. He’d been doing it for a few years, but he wasn’t as technically savvy as he’d like to be and ended up getting found out back in the U.S. He only started doing the security gig because the money from his previous scams had dried up. He needed a new identity and a famous rockstar was the perfect bait, especially since he had inside information on Jace while working for the band. So, he set me up with an apartment and helped me get a new job in Dublin by faking a few references. After how I left my last job in Canada, I couldn’t use them for a reference,” she said with a slight shudder, and I wanted to ask what exactly had happened when she got fired from her previous job, but she continued, “Samuel said if I could help him cover his tracks online and keep his identity hidden, he could destroy Jace’s career by scamming his fans. Samuel would pocket the money, and I’d get my end of the bargain once Jace’s reputation was ruined. He’d get what he deserved for killing Cai.”