Page 23 of The Fake Dating Plan

Me:Fuck you.

Caiden:Lmao!

I threw the phone on the table and watched it as it cluttered on the desk. Why was everyone so concerned about my relationship with Emilia? Nothing happened. Well, a little bit of something happened, but that was it. What mattered to me about her was what she brought to the table. And that was Heron. Speaking of which, I got into my seat, opened my laptop, and went to the emails. Bonnie, who had been looking into Heron, had sent an update. It was the first in a bunch of unread emails. The subject read:Heron International Financial Statements.How he had got those, considering his company was private. I dared not ask. I clicked open the document and couldn’t help smiling when I saw how bleak they were. Compared to the previous year, he had been selling off investments and desperately needed cash flow. No wonder he wanted to sell off Steel Cute. He didn’t have enough money to sustain the investment, small as it was.

I called Bonnie.

“Is this all you could find?” I said.

“It was the best I could do in the limited time you gave me. Is there anything you want to do with it?”

I could work with what I had. Maybe leak this to the press like we did with the Lyndells, but even that strategy felt lame and it could easily lead back to me. Plus, it could be a flash in the plan. Heron, unlike Julian, doesn’t have a bunch of scandals following him, and doing a drip-drip strategy is not workable when you only have one thing. Also, bad financials didn’t affect a private company the way they did a public one.

“No,” I said. Not yet, anyway.

“Can I ask something?”

“Go ahead.”

“Why him? Why Heron? Your paths don’t seem to have crossed before.”

“Let’s just say I hate his guts.”

At lunchtime, I got another call. This time from Francie. “Not you too?”

“Me too, what?” Francie’s voice sounded like it was being carried by the wind.

“If you’re calling me about her, I will hang up.”

“I don’t know who Her is, but I wanted you to know I’ll be coming back to town if a few and would love a place to stay when I do.”

“Why? Are the alps not doing it for you anymore?”

“They’re doing fine. Just need a place to stay.”

“Why not book a hotel? It’s not as if you stay for more than two days.”

“Do you have a place to crash or not?”

“You can come to my place. I have free room and board.”

“And endure your sex sounds. No thanks.”

“Lucky for you, I’m single.”

She was silent for a moment. I thought the line was dead. “You? Single? What happened?”

Emilia. “Nothing. I’m just not in a relationship right now like any other human being.”

“You’re not normal. You’d fuck everything that moves if you could. Is it her?”

“Not you too.”

“I may not take part in the group chats, but I lurk.”

“So that’s why you called. God, this meddling family!”

“We’re all worried about you, that's all.”

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