Page 111 of Keep Your Friends Close and Your… Work Enemy Closer?

"Oh, please. You can't just turn it on and off like that."

There was no denying that, and there was no point in trying. Not with Mona. She knew me too well.

An unexpected pang of guilt shot through me because I realized she knew Cordelia. Not really me. I'd been lying to her for so long, I was starting to believe it myself.

God, what a fucking mess.

That was it. I needed to come completely clean with her, tell her the truth about absolutely everything so she could see the full picture. The only thing was I had no idea how she'd react to my confession aboutme. Max was one thing, but this was way more personal. I'd been deceiving her the whole time I'd known her, and that was for sure going to hurt.

But it was a risk I needed to take.

"Aaaand there's something else you need to know," I ventured to say.

She nearly spit out her drink. "What? There's more? Is Veronica secretly a spy from another country? Maybe James from accounting is a superhero. Or maybe you're really a princess in Luxembourg. Is that it? You're an undercover princess?"

And now it was my turn to nearly choke. "Not quite. But you're kind of on the right track about me."

Her eyes bugged out of her face. "You're fucking undercover too?"

"Um, would you hate me forever if I said yes?"

"Um, no. I'd be very curious as to why, though."

I explained everything to her, my real name, my whole reasoning, and she hung on my every word, listening intently while I prayed she understood. And when I was finally done, she shook her head.

"I'm still processing. I mean, one person undercover is hard enough to believe, but two? That's just... if I were reading it in a novel, I'd just have a hard time buying it, you know? That's asking for a whole lot of suspension of disbelief."

"I know. I get it. It's absolutely wild." I locked eyes with her, imploring her with my gaze to still be my friend. "But I hope you can believe me when I tell you how sorry I am that I lied to you. I went into it only thinking about the career aspect and proving myself, never expecting to make such an amazing friend."

She looked at me for a long moment, before sighing. "It's okay. It's just really, really weird. I guess this is why you've never invited me over to your place, isn't it?"

I nodded.

"I thought you had roaches or rats or something," she admitted with a smile. "And instead, you probably live in a penthouse suite."

"No, not a penthouse. Not even close."

She finished her last bite of pizza, the wheels clearly turning in her head as she ate, then glanced at me again. "So what are you going to do now?"

"That's just it. I don't really know. I never thought it through this far. And now, I just have no idea what to do."

Shaking her head once more, she reached for the dessert menu. "We need sweets to figure this all out."

"Agreed. Maybe one of everything." I grabbed the little drink menu while she looked over the desserts. "And more to drink too. We need to brainstorm."

She laughed. "Yes. More, more, more. Because I do know one thing."

"What's that?"

"You're paying for all this, little miss rich girl."

Any remaining tension melted away as we both laughed and gratitude flooded me that she'd taken my big lie in stride. Now if I could just figure out how to proceed with the rest of my life, I'd be all set. But that probably wouldn't be as easy.

Oh, who was I kidding? Itdefinitelywouldn't be as easy.

Twenty-Nine

Annalise

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