Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 108362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“He never killed him.”
“I know that now,” she whispered, lowering her head. “I was in a very bad mental headspace when I first met Samuel. All I wanted was revenge, but then when I realised he didn’t really care about me, was just using my expertise to help him scam people, I saw the truth. I realised that Jace wasn’t the villain, and he didn’t deserve what we were doing to him. When I tried to back out of the arrangement, Samuel threatened me. He knew how attached I was to you and how much our friendship meant to me. He said he’d expose me, tell you everything I’d done. I couldn’t stand the thought of you discovering the truth, Shannon.”
A tear fell down her cheek, but I refused to soften. She might’ve had a rough life, but that was no reason to do what she’d done, to lie to me for so long.
“If all this is true, and you really changed your mind about Jace, then why did you try to run me over?”
“I never intended to actually do it. I just wanted everything to go back to the way it was. I thought that if I could frighten you enough that you’d rethink your decisions,” she said, like it was perfectly logical and reasonable. “If you could see that letting Jace back into your life meant putting yourself and your daughter in danger, then things could go back to how they were. You’d push Jace away and go back to only communicating through his mother. Then maybe Jace would leave and go on tour, bringing Dixon away with him, and we could go back to being best friends without the threat of you finding out I’d lied.”
“What about the night you tried to hurt Jace? Would you have gone through with it if Dixon wasn’t there to stop you?”
She nodded as a flood of shame broke through. “I just wanted the pain to stop.”
“Jace wasn’t the reason for your pain, Margie.”
I tried to empathise. Having your child taken from you and being forced to pretend to be his sister was one of the worst things a mother could go through, but she could’ve done some real damage in a lot of people’s lives if she’d hurt Jace. Hell, she’d done damage by helping Dixon cover his tracks online with his catfishing scam.
“How many people has Dixon taken money from using Jace’s identity?” I asked, needing to know.
“I’m not sure, at least a dozen. You have to believe that I wanted to stop helping him. It didn’t feel right knowing he was taking money from innocent people, but if I stopped, he’d tell you the truth about me, and I knew you’d never want me in your life once you found out.”
“Do you know how we can contact them? The catfish victims?”
Margie nodded. “He has multiple accounts but I can hack in and get their information.”
“This is so fucked,” Isla muttered, running a hand down her face.
“Would it make you happy?” Margie asked, and she suddenly seemed so childlike. “If I helped you find the victims, would there be a chance that you could forgive me?”
My stomach hollowed at her question because at the back of my mind, I knew there was no way for us to move on from this, not with how she’d lied and especially not after the car incident. Maybe she really did only intend to scare me, make me believe that having Jace around put Zara and me in danger so I’d push him away, but still. The fact that she’d try to control my decisions in such a dangerous and reckless manner was enough to make me never want to see her again.
Instead of answering, I replied, “What I really don’t understand is why you befriended me? Why lie? If I’d known the truth about who you were to Cai, it wouldn’t have stopped me from becoming your friend. I would’ve only empathised and cared for you more.”
“Because I’d started a new life. I couldn’t be Melanie anymore, not after … no, I had to start fresh. When I heard that Jace’s wife had divorced him, I knew he must’ve done something terrible to you. I thought I’d find a kindred spirit, someone who’d been wronged by him, just like I had. We even worked in the same industry; it felt like fate.”
“So, you what? Found out I’d be attending that conference and bought a ticket just to meet me?”
Margie nodded, her eyes falling to the floor. Even this small detail made my skin crawl, to think she’d targeted me in such a way was unsettling, even if all she really wanted was a friend. Friends didn’t lie about their true identity. She’d come here to tell her story, perhaps thinking she could salvage our relationship, but there was no salvaging this. The fact that I’d let her babysit Zara on numerous occasions was terrifying. But I wouldn’t say any of that right now. She was too unpredictable. My heart went out to her for what she’d been through; however, it didn’t excuse her actions, nor did it make me any less terrified that I’d welcomed this woman into my life when I knew nothing about the real her.