Page 65 of Faking It with the Off-Limits Doctor

And yet, this place reflects Alex perfectly. It’s all clean lines and contained décor. Nothing out of place. Nothing random. Everything exactly where it should be. I’ve come to realize how much Alex needs control. I’ve also concluded that what Cindy did has a lot to do with that.

He returns from the kitchen, holding a glass of wine in each hand. We both move to the sofas and sit across from each other.

“I thought I was seeing Mark tonight,” Alex says, raising a knowing eyebrow at me.

I shrug. “I didn’t know if you would see me, so he devised a plan.”

“I’ll always want to see you, Dara.”

“That’s not what your text said,” I counter.

“I was wrong.” He sighs. “On so many things. I was wrong to ask you to help me. I was definitely wrong to expect you to make such a huge decision on your own. And, I have realized, I was completely wrong to keep what we were doing secret from Mark.”

“You’re being a little hard on yourself,” I say gently.

“No, Dara. That message I sent to you was dreadful. After everything you did. After everything you sacrificed. If anything, I need to be even harder on myself.”

I shake my head in complete disagreement.

“I just struggle to trust people,” he continues. “But I have found, over these last few weeks, that I have come to trust you completely. I don’t know what spell you’ve managed to put me under to accomplish that,” he half smiles, “but it’s worked.”

“You’re not the only one who has been betrayed in life, Alex. We all have a story. I’ll admit, yours is a little more intense than most, but we have to find a way back to learning to trust people again.”

He looks at me intently then. “And what’s your story, Dara? Who betrayed you?”

“Dino Cabrini,” I say plainly.

Alex’s eyes fly wide.

“Yep,” I nod. “Not the great guy everyone thinks he is.”

“What happened?”

I sigh, now ready to tell him the truth. “The whole time I was training under him, I was learning new and wonderful things. I’ll give him credit, he’s a very talented chef, and, for the most part, a great teacher. As I progressed, I began putting together some ideas, and then I came up with something amazing that, once I got my own place, I wanted to showcase as my signature dish. But Dino found my notebook, stole my recipe, and palmed it off to the whole world as his own creation.”

“What?” Alex blurted, flying forward in his chair.

I nod and shrug.

“That’s why you left,” he gasps. “Good lord, Dara. I can’t believe it.”

“Neither did anybody else, and he was counting on that. How could an up-and-coming chef possibly have come up with something so inventive? He knew what he was doing.”

“Did you fight it?”

“I had no proof. My notebook mysteriously went missing the day of the launch. How convenient is that?”

25

Alex

Dara’s story has me nearly as stunned as when I opened the door and saw her standing there in my hallway. Almost. I’ll give it to Mark; he certainly played me well. I had readied myself for whatever my friend might bring. Instead, I’d been shocked into silence at the sight of a very timid-looking Dara.

Strangely, under the circumstances, I had felt a spark of delight beneath my astonishment. I truly thought I might never see her again, but by some miracle, there she was. If nothing else, it gave me hope that all was not lost, but still, standing clearly at the forefront of my mind, was how awful I had treated her.

We’ve cleared the air, but there’s still so much I want to say. Stuff I need to tell her. But after hearing what Dino Cabrini did, my attention is diverted as righteous anger wells up in me.

“There has to be something we can do!” I exclaim.

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