Baby, my car payment is due tomorrow and I’m short $200. Can you help me out?
I’ll pay you back next week. Promise. Allesia closed her eyes. This was the fourth time this month Dante had borrowed money.
He never paid it back, but he loved her. He was the only person in her life who made her feel wanted, wasn’t he?
Her phone buzzed again. Please, Alysia, I’m desperate. You know I’d do the same for you.
Would he, though? Alessia thought about the time her beat up car broke down and she’d asked Dante for a ride to work.
He’d said he was too busy. She’d had to take three buses and had been 2 hours late.
She thought about her birthday last month. Dante had forgotten. When she’d mentioned it, he’d said, “Oh, babe, I’m broke right now.
I’ll make it up to you.” He never did. But he was charming and handsome.
And when he smiled at her, she felt like she mattered, even if it was probably a lie.
Alessia looked at Margarit’s offer again in her mind. $500,000. She could leave Atlanta, start over somewhere new, maybe go back to school, maybe open that little cafe she’d always dreamed about, maybe stop feeling like she was drowning.
I’m sorry, Allesia texted Dante. I don’t have any money to spare right now. His response was immediate.
“Seriously, it’s just $200, Allesia. I thought you cared about me.” “I do, but I have my own bills to pay.
Whatever. Some girlfriend you are. Allesia stared at that text for a long time. Then she called Margarite Bowmont.
I’ll do it. The next three weeks were a crash course in becoming someone else.
Margarite moved Alessia into a guest suite in the mansion far from where Aurelia’s rooms were.
And the real Aurelia had conveniently left for an extended stay in Paris. Study these,” Margarite commanded, handing Allesia thick folders.
“Arelia’s background, her education, her social circles. You need to know everything.” Allessia spent every free moment memorizing details.
Aurelia Bowmont had graduated from Spellman College with a degree in art history. She spoke fluent French.
She traveled to 43 countries. She had a trust fund worth $8 million. She was everything Allesia wasn’t.
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