Page 89 of The Enemy of My Enemy Is… My Fake Boyfriend?

Aria's wounded expression made my chest twist, especially because I'd never in a million years meant to hurt her. But she was right. It was an inexcusable omission. She was at the heart of this entire thing, and the fact that I didn't think of that right off the bat was unacceptable.

She made a move toward the door. "Excuse me. I need a moment."

And then she was gone.

I looked at Mr. Stratton, whose posture had completely changed, his face tight and his body stiff.

"I need to go after her," I said.

He nodded, and I took off, my frantic eyes searching the office, ignoring the stares of my employees who weren't used to seeing this kind of drama at work. "Where did she go?" I asked loudly.

Someone pointed down the hallway. "The women's bathroom."

The women's bathroom it was.

I didn't knock, just barged right in there because as far as I was concerned, this was an emergency. I had to see Aria. I needed to see Aria and make this right again somehow.

She was seated on a little couch in there, off to one side, across from the sinks and mirrors, and judging by her watery eyes, she was on the verge of tears, making my heart break even more. Her head was turned away from me, like she didn't want me to see, the present she'd so thoughtfully brought next to her on the seat.

Not sure what to do, I crossed the room and knelt down in front of her. "Aria, I am so sorry I didn't call you. I was just so taken aback that your dad showed up like that and..." I sighed, not sure how to explain it. "When he started saying good things about me, it just filled some need inside me. And the fact that it wasyour dadmade it all the more... fuck. I don't know what I'm trying to say."

She finally looked at me. "Keep going."

"I promise you, I'm not trying to run your life. I would never do that. I can't speak for your dad, I don't know every detail of your past and all that, so I'm not going to try to defend him. But as for me, I respect you and admire you so fucking much, and it was just... it was just a stupid mistake."

Her chest rose and fell with a heavy breath. "Go on."

I took hope in the tiniest of smiles on her face. Or maybe I was being delusional. "I—I really care about you. So fucking much. And seeing Chase do all this shit to you has made me crazier than usual, crazy with rage, and when your dad walked in and told me all he'd found, I had such tunnel vision, and all I wanted to do was take that asshole down. Not just for me anymore. But for you."

She swiped away the moisture that had escaped her eyes, her face set with determination. "What'd you find out?"

Ignoring the discomfort of the hard floor against my knees, I whistled. "Just about everything you could imagine between the two of us, like the fact that he's been buying fake followers and fake engagementandinflating his numbers, plus manipulatinguser data, as you know, to try to attract advertisers, and even worse, exploiting user privacy."

By the time I finished, her mouth was hanging open. "How did you find all that out?"

I shrugged, not sure how she'd feel about my methods. "Um, just a little corporate espionage on my part." I decided to quickly move on to her father's hand in it as well. "And your dad's been talking to a whistleblower who needs legal protection before exposing everything. This whole thing is about to explode in Chase's face."

Watching her expression, waiting for her reaction, I expected her to be excited and happy. Or maybe she'd be relieved. But instead, she only looked sad, and I had no clue why.

"Well, please don't hurt me in the process," she said. "With all the other stuff you've found out, there's no need to release that security footage."

"But don't you want to clear your name, prove that Chase is the cheater and not you?"

"I don't care about that anymore. If people want to think that about me, so be it. It doesn't affect me personally. My family and real friends know the truth."

There was silence while I thought about what she'd said, surprised by her admission. Her maturity was something to be admired. Among the many other traits I loved about her.

"So I guess this is it," she said, shifting herself as if she was about to stand. "You got everything you wanted. We don't have to pretend to be together anymore."

Suddenly, everything I'd been working for, my whole dream of finally getting revenge on Chase, seemed hollow. She was right. This thing was over. The whole point of us teaming up was to get revenge on our shared enemy, and now, we were on the precipice of it all coming to fruition.

So why did it feel so awful?

I expected to feel elated. When I imagined this moment, because I knew one-hundred percent it would come eventually, I'd pictured Aria and I celebrating, huge smiles on our faces, champagne flowing, the works. Never would I have envisioned this empty, meaningless void, Aria sitting across from me wearing a carefully bland expression.

Studying her beautiful features, I noted that it was indeed a fake expression, like she was trying to act neutral, like none of this mattered, like our break-up was no big deal.

But it was a huge deal to me. More than anything in the world, I wanted to stay with Aria. And deep down, I suspected she felt the same.

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