Page 63 of Pretend for Me

“Wish me luck,” I said with a cocky grin. It was takedown time.

“Good luck, but please be careful. I worry about you. I just got you back.” Cassie sighed, tenderly.

Pulling her into a bear hug reminiscent of the ones I used to give her when we were kids, I lifted her face to mine. “I love you. Please don’t worry. You have me.” I bent down to give her a kiss.

Cassie leaned into the kiss, and when she tore herself away, she nodded. “Okay,” she muttered as I got into the elevator.

As the doors began to close, she gave me a smile and a wave, and I tried to match it with one of my own even though I felt like I’d left my heart behind.

I climbed the stairs carefully,wanting to handle the next part sans interruptions. After I knocked at the door, I waited a moment before I heard a soft “come in.” Entering the room quietly and quickly, I closed the door behind me.

Standing in the doorway, I took a moment to really look at Liz. She was frail—the thinnest she’d ever been—the dark circles under her eyes indicated her lack of sleep, and the biggest giveaway of her decline was the oxygen tube threaded in her nose.

“Hello, honey, could you be a dear and help me clasp this?” she asked, a bracelet hanging from her shaking hand.

I nodded solemnly. While I was angry at Wyatt for his illegal business dealings, I didn’t know Liz’s part in any of this. Until I found out the depth of her involvement, and maybe even after, she held a special spot in my heart.

Taking the bracelet from my adoptive mother, I wrapped it around her wrist and fastened the clasp.

“Ma, I have something I’d like to talk to you about,” I started. I just wanted to know the truth.

Now it was Liz’s turn to nod solemnly. “I figured this time would come soon. It was inevitable,” she muttered, tears filling her eyes.

“You know?” A gasp fell from my lips as I was struck dumbfounded. I crouched down to be eye level with where she sat in her wheelchair.

“Know?” Liz admonished, fiddling with her cashmere cardigan. ”It was my idea. An insurance policy. What a joke that was.” Liz laughed, bitterly.

My eyes widened, my jaw hanging slack. Her idea. These people were ruthless. Just when I thought I had one redeemable “parent.” I furrowed my eyebrows, trying to make sense of it all.

Liz took a deep breath and started, “You have to understand, when the company had its first dip in stocks, not long after its inception, investors started pulling out. It almost crippled us. We weren’t sure if we would be able to pay the rent, let alone the employees and take a salary as well.”

She wheeled herself to the opposite side of the room to grab her evening bag. “I told your father how we needed a safety net. This was right around the time our son, Drew, passed away. That’s when we created Nardini Industries. After skimming money off the top, we created quite the nest egg. We let it rest for a while as we attempted IVF. You know how well that went.”

I couldn’t believe my ears—Liz was the mastermind behind all of the illegal business dealings.

“Before we secured the IPO for Adams Point, we were audited. At that time, Parker decided to ask more questions because he had some concerns about the direction the company was going. In business, loose ends can unravel the whole plan, so we knew we needed a way to ensure his silence. Arthur had a connection in the tax department, and he reached out to them to help us quickly make any discrepancies go away, but we needed a fall guy. Who better than the disgruntled CFO.” Liz paused, struggling to maintain her breathing. She looked around for her inhaler.

I passed it to her from the vanity and gestured for her to continue explaining this convoluted web of lies. Blackmailing her brother-in-law because he actually had a moral code was a new low.

“We became a little bit paranoid after the audit, even though Arthur assured us everything would be fine. So we decided to adopt, figuring that was a positive thing we could show the public in case of a crisis. On top of the fact, your father needed a protégé since Parker could potentially go to jail. So we adopted you.” Liz wheeled herself closer to where I stood, shell-shocked, and grabbed my hand, looking me directly in the eyes.

“What I wasn’t anticipating was how much I would grow to love you or how I would want to protect you. Or ultimately how scared I was to lose you too. This leads me to my last indiscretion.” She dug around in her evening bag, pulling out acrumpled piece of paper. It was tattered and discolored. Even a little shabby, I could make out my name written in Cassie’s familiar scrawl on the front—Cassie’s letter. “I only did what I thought was right. It turned out to all be for nothing. Look at me.” She waved her arm feebly along her broken body.

“How could you—” I started as I yanked my hand away from hers and plucked the letter from her hands. Disgust didn’t cover the magnitude of my emotions at the moment.

The door flew open with bang. “What the hell is going on in here?” Wyatt bellowed, tapping on his watch. “Nice of you to join us.” He turned to face me, rolling his eyes.

“Lizzie, do you need anything before we leave? Rowena has your bag packed with all your meds.” Wyatt went behind Liz to start pushing her wheelchair toward the door.

Liz shook her head, giving me a pointed look to put the letter I was clutching away.

Hastily, I tucked the paper into my suit pocket. Reading it would have to wait until later. Now I had a bastard to take down.

The trip to the Harrises’mansion was a short car ride. In the limo, you could hear a pin drop. Nobody conversed, and I had an eerie feeling about it all.

The driveway was filled with spotlights and trapeze artists doing some kind of performance. I rolled my eyes. These parties really were ridiculous.

As we entered the opulent home, we were greeted with a mime doing tricks. I snorted and muttered to Rowena, who had accompanied Liz as a caretaker, “I guess this really is the circus.”

---