Page 51 of The Undercover Billionaire's Baby

“I hurt you,” I said.

“So, it was all lies?”

“Not all lies. One big lie, but what I felt was?—”

“Don’t.” The sharpness of Lana’s tone cut me off dead. She got to her feet and drew her sheet closer, and the look on her face made me wither inside. Her anger had soured into disgust. She was looking at me like I was a cockroach, and I felt like one. The lowest of the low.

“What’s your name?”

“Sam Elkins, but can we sit? Can I get you?—”

“Just answer my questions.”

“Anything you want, but I swear, I can?—”

Lana held up her hand. “Why did you come here?”

“My dad, uh…” I swallowed. Where to even begin? “There’s no way to tell you this where I don’t sound?—”

“I don’t care how you sound. I just want the truth.”

So I told her the truth, starting with my big meeting. My big meeting, which ended up being just me and Dad. I told her how Dad had sent me out in the world, and how chance and Craigslist had brought me to her. Lana just stared at first, like I was an alien, but she’d stopped darting glances toward the back door. She stood tense at first, one hand raised against me, but she slowly lowered it as I went on.

“So you didn’t stalk me? You’re not, like, some creep?”

“Not that kind, at least.”

“So if I google the Elkins Group, if I google Sam Elkins…” She cast about for her phone, but of course she didn’t have it. I unlocked my own and handed it over.

“Do it,” I said.

Lana tapped in my name. Her eyes flared with anger. “You said you’re a carpenter. Was that lies as well? Is Rex’s deck going to cave in the first time it snows?”

“No! I mean, yes. I mean, I’m not— it’s a hobby. But Rex’s deck, I promise you, it’s all up to code. All the work I did out here, I know how to do. I did Dad’s deck six years ago. You can ask him, it’s fine.”

Lana’s expression was pure disbelief. “You want me to call up your billionaire father and ask how his deck is?” A raw laugh burst out of her, making me jump. “I guess he could afford anyone and he went with you.”

“I swear, Lana, I’d never?—”

“So, what was I? Some peasant to slum with while you wait out your exile? Or was it pity? I’m your project, your?—”

“No!” I lurched toward her, unsteady with shock. I bumped into the table and shouted in pain. Lana watched me coldly, clutching her sheet. I shook my head, trying to clear it.

“Listen… I mean, please listen. Let me explain. If you only believe one thing, please believe this. Please believe what I feel for you is entirely real. And I’d never have lied to you if I could’ve known. If I’d known I’d fall for you. If I’d known you at all. At the time, I thought — and please know, I know this sounds stupid — but I thought, how is this worse than any other white lie? Like when you put five years’ experience on your CV when you only have three. Or you say you have no pets, because what’s one little hamster?”

Lana’s eyes widened. “You brought a hamster in here?”

“No, no, no hamster. But that kind of lie. I thought, what’s one little fake name if I still pay my rent? I thought… Yeah, you’re right. What was I thinking?”

Lana didn’t say anything, but her expression had softened.

“I should’ve said something sooner. I wanted to. I?—”

“Yes, you should.” Lana hitched up her sheet. “But I’ve told lies like that before. Lies that felt white. At my grant interview, I talked up our fun run. I implied I had experience with community fundraising, which unless you count going door-to-door selling Girl Guide cookies… yeah. I don’t. Total lie.” A slight smile graced her lips, then died away. “That doesn’t mean I forgive you yet, or I’m not angry.”

“But you said ‘yet.’ So you might forgive me?”

Lana’s smile twitched back to life, a sad little smile that made my chest hurt. “You’re still leaving,” she said. “Did I hear that right? You’re going home to take over the Elkins Group.”

---