Page 70 of Misdirection

“What are you talking about?” he finally asked, an air of confusion in his voice.

Great, he was going to make a game out of this, wasn’t he?

Olive wasn’t going to play. “I know Adriana was seeing Beau.”

Jason’s eyes widened with surprise. “No, she wasn’t.”

His statement came out hard and fast.

That was when Olive realized Jason had no idea his girlfriend had also been dating Beau. He’d just found out now . . . and he looked devastated.

CHAPTER 29

Olive watched as Jason turned away from her and ran a hand through his hair. Then he wandered to the stairway and sat down hard on one of the bottom steps.

Loki whined and sat in front of him.

Dogs . . . they were so loyal. For a moment, she envied Jason for having a creature that loved him so much.

Then she remembered the entirety of this situation, and the envy disappeared as quickly as money being illegally transferred from a bank account.

Olive gave Jason a moment to gather his thoughts.

She waited until he looked at her, questions in his gaze. Then she pulled out her phone and showed him the photo of Adriana and Beau together.

Confusion flashed through his gaze. Then he asked, a slightly breathless tone to his voice, “Where did you get that?”

“It’s a long story. Let’s just say I have my ways.”

He continued to study the photo. “Is it real? Or is it a deep fake?”

That was a question Olive hadn’t considered, even though she should have. “It appears to be real.”

“I can’t believe it.” He shook his head, his shoulders drooping.

Great. Olive had come here to confront him, and now it looked like she would have to comfort him instead.

“Tell me about Adriana.” She sat down on the stairs with him, Loki in front of them. “How did the two of you meet?”

His jaw tightened as if he didn’t want to go back in time to that day. Instead, he began to absently stroke Loki’s head.

In the background, the slight murmur of a TV sounded.

“When I first came to Chicago, I stayed in an apartment while I was figuring out what I wanted to do with this place,” Jason finally started. “One night at three a.m., the fire alarm went off. Everyone in the building had to evacuate. Some of the residents got a little overeager going down the stairway. They nearly trampled a few people.”

“Adriana was one of those people?”

“Being trampled or doing the trampling?”

Against her better instincts, she chuckled. “Good question.”

“She fell on the stairway, and people weren’t slowing down. I blocked everyone from stepping on her, helped her to her feet, and carried her the rest of the way down. Her ankle was sprained.”

“How romantic.” She wanted the words to be sincere, but they came out sounding sarcastic instead.

His gaze darkened. “Afterward, she insisted she take me to dinner as a way of saying thank you. I told her that wasn’t necessary, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Olive had to wonder if Adriana had set off that fire alarm as a way of meeting Jason. She didn’t voice that question aloud, however. This wasn’t the time.

---