Page 21 of The Enemy of My Enemy Is… My Fake Boyfriend?

"They will. Karma will come around," Astrid said.

"But—but the cheating allegations?" Annalise's cheeks were tinged with pink. "We're just going to let that slide? No fucking way."

"I'm going to deny that. Politely. Yet unequivocally." Damn. Look at that big word. Who was a dummy now?

Annalise's pretty dark eyes narrowed at me. "How?"

"A source leaking it. There's an article set to go live this week giving my side of things."

Astrid's worried eyes caught mine over her spoon loaded with strawberries. "So it'll be like a he said, she said situation?"

"No. Not really. More like just a straightforward denial, and then the source talks about how, um, wonderful I am."

God, this sucked. When my mom had spelled it all out to me, it'd sounded great, like the exact right thing to do. But now I had this sinking feeling that we were doomed. While I'd wallowed around in my apartment, Chase had beaten me to it, strategizing, calculating, and he'd clearly won.

"Youarewonderful," Astrid said in a strong voice.

Was I though? What exactly had I done with my life? Had I helped people or made the world better somehow? Had I done anything for anyone other than myself or the few people I truly loved?

Annalise's spoon clattered against her bowl. "Life is a journey to each of us hopefully becoming wonderful."

Leave it to my big sister to sum it up. She didn't sugarcoat things, and she wasn't going to lie about how amazing and selfless I was when I really wasn't.

Not exactly loving this conversation, I decided to change the topic. "So how are you feeling about the new job?"

Her face lit up. "I'm nervited."

"Nervited?" I asked.

"Yeah, you know. Nervousandexcited."

I'd never heard that word before, but it really did sum up a certain swirly feeling I'd had in the pit of my stomach many times.

"I can't believe you're going through with this," Astrid said. "I could never."

"Well, I'm sick and tired of everyone recognizing me and our last name. And for once, I just want to make it on my own and see how I do on my own two feet. No talk of me getting all the juicy assignments or a promotion because I'm a rich daddy's girl. If I succeed, it'll one-hundred percent be because of my own hard work, brains, and talent."

"And you're sure nobody knows who you really are?"

"Yep. New name, new look..." She flicked her shorter locks. "Well, there is Nina in HR who's in on everything, but you know I trust her completely."

Astrid and I exchanged a look because, honestly, this whole thing was on the crazy side. I understood where she was coming from, but it seemed like a bit much with the potential to blow up in her face. Eventually, it had to get out, and then it would all crumble down around her and all of her hard work would be for nothing.

But I would never say that. We were sisters. We were best friends. And we always stuck by each other no matter what. And besides, it would only tick her off. If Annalise had her mind set on something, there was absolutely no way of stopping her.

"Well, I can't wait to hear all about it," I said. "And I know you're going to do great."

She smiled at me. "Thank you."

There was another knock at the door, causing the three of us to exchange confused glances. No one could come up here without authorization.

"Maybe it's the food delivery guy?" Annalise suggested. "Did he forget anything?"

"Not that I know of."

I rose up from my spot on the couch and quietly crossed the living room, trying to be stealth so whoever was out there wouldn't know for sure someone was inside. Nerves rose up at the thought of who could be outside.

Some really tenacious reporter? A stalker? Oh, God, what if it was Chase coming to collect for all his destroyed belongings?

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