A Beautiful Lie (Unlocked #1)

by Amelia Rowe

  “Luke?” Dr. Knutson’s voice jolted me back to our conversation.

  “Yeah.”

  “I told you you’re not incapable of love.”

  When we hung up, I considered whether to join Nina or to sleep on the couch and deal with the ramifications of that in the morning. I spent what felt like hours going back and forth between my options when Nina turned to face me. Her eyes, still heavy with an incomplete sleep, fluttered open and she smiled up at me.

  “Come here.” My internal struggle shattered into pieces the moment she reached her hand out to me. No, I would never be the perfect guy that she deserved, but I was willing to try and be better than any guy she’d ever known.

  Still rigid with anxiety, I willed myself to get into the bed. Pushing back against my chest, Nina reached for my arm and wrapped it around her waist. Settling her head back onto the pillow, she closed her eyes and interlocked her fingers with mine.

  After a brief silence, she whispered, “We all have wounds, Luke.”

  When Nina refused to leave the following morning, I realized that I had no option but to hide out with her while the story of Perrot’s exhibit died down. Alicia initially thought nothing of my request to work from home for a few days so I could focus on the case.

  Even though I’d gotten Nina to finally open up to me, she had closed herself off from the rest of the world. Lucky for her, I didn’t have the energy to interact with the outside world either. My phone call with Dr. Knutson had left me in a strange place. So my apartment became a refuge for the both of us. We wrapped ourselves between the sheets and fell into a pattern of dozing off to sleep for a few hours, then waking to make love. I allowed myself and my memories to get lost in Nina, growing more numb to their affect as the days went on. With each passing hour, I needed her more frequently and she seemed to need me just and much in return.

  No, Nina’s picture being splashed across the Internet wasn’t exactly a positive development for the Patrick Blake investigation, but within two days the world had moved on. Thanks to the twenty-four hour news cycle, a new viral story was making the rounds and occupying everyone’s attention. Still, she refused to leave my apartment until the fifth day.

  Adam would probably kill me whenever he decided to show back up. But in the almost two weeks since I’d tracked her down, Nina had undergone something of a transformation. At first she’d wanted nothing to do with my grand plan, and now she was fully invested in the plan and me.

  Finally, I convinced her to accompany me to headquarters.

  “This is a bad idea on so many levels,” Alicia criticized, looking over into the conference room across the hall where Carter was walking Nina through the blueprint of the Jasper Hotel.

  “What do you mean? She’s been brilliant these last few days!” I wasn’t sure if my defense of her was genuine or protective.

  “She’s not the problem, Luke. You are. We spent all of this time, energy, and resources trying to track her down, and now you go and start sleeping with her.”

  Alicia’s accusation winded me. I feigned confusion and failed spectacularly.

  “Don’t BS me.” As if on cue, Nina glanced away from the blueprints and shot me her sweetest smile. “Dear God,” Alicia sighed.

  “Look, at least she’s here. At least she’s willing to help.” At least she’s better than we found her, I wanted to say, but didn’t. The truth was, Adam would have been wrecked if he’d returned home to find his sister with no prospects beyond being Tomas Perrot’s personal punching bag.

  “This one is a quick study,” Carter said as he and Nina emerged from the conference room, with Chloe, Bradley, and Elliott following behind. “She has the entire blueprint memorized.” Being a guy who moved solely in the dark, Carter wasn’t exactly the kind to come out and praise someone. So to hear it from him meant something. I sensed Alicia relax beside me.

  “We need to head over to tech now.” Alicia started to lead the way to our technology wing. It was Adam’s favorite. “Get Nina acquainted with the equipment.”

  We stopped in front of the large steel doors and Alicia punched in her access code. Only a few of us were allowed access to this room. Anyone running ops and any of the directors could get in here at any time to access Adam’s arsenal of top-of-the-line surveillance equipment.

  “Holy smokes,” Nina muttered beside me. Her eyes danced from table to table, wall to wall, dazzling at all of the tools.

  “Over here.” I pulled her toward the cameras.

  “These are so tiny,” she exclaimed with sheer delight, beginning to reach for one.

  I grabbed her hand before it made contact. “The smaller they are, the more expensive they are.”

  She lowered her eyes like a child who had just been chastised, a sweet, doe-eyed invitation to continue the punishment, but it wasn’t the right time.

  I pulled our smallest camera, a single contact lens, from the shelf. Adam had invested way too much money in it the year before. Nina sat through the lesson about turning the small gadget on and off with restrained patience. I could tell by the tapping of her fingers and twirling of her hair that her mind was elsewhere. Even though I told myself to remain calm, something about this change in her was alarming.

  “Your turn,” I prompted her when Carter held out the small contact lens to her.

  “Hmm?” She snapped out of it. Even though she looked up at me and smiled, all I saw behind her eyes was emptiness. “Oh right, I just pop it in and we’re live.”

  Carter shot me a look of incredulity. Making sure that everyone involved understood the details was his number one priority and Nina was a bit too relaxed. He didn’t typically spend too much time around women, or other people for that matter. But by the time Alicia met us back in the conference room Nina had mastered the art of the spy camera.

  “Keep this on you at all times when you’re in there,” I instructed.

  “Now to the important part.” Alicia put a folder in front of each of us and joined us at the table. “Inside you will find details of the plan we are about to carry out. It’s important to stick to everything that is written in here. Deviation from even a single detail could put the entire operation in jeopardy.”

  “What about law enforcement?” Carter asked, flipping through the pages. “Do they have any idea we’re going in?”

  Alicia and I shot each other a look of guilt.

  “We’re solo on this one,” she said.

  Instead of objecting to the challenge of running the operation without any backup from NYPD or the FBI, Carter’s eyes narrowed in concentration. This was his time to shine.

  “Depending on what Nina finds, we’ll bring them in at the end.”

  Nina’s lips pursed as she read through the details.

  “You got me a job interview already?”

  That was how we were getting her into the Jasper Hotel, under the guise of applying for a job. Thank God the hotel seemed to always have an array of available jobs, likely due to the fact that employees either proved themselves to be loyal, or not.

  “The interview is tomorrow at ten o’clock. Basic front desk position. Something you’re overqualified for, certainly,” Alicia assured her.

  “So then I get in there, start the interview, and casually drop the bomb that I’m his daughter?”

  Alicia nodded. “We did some research and discovered that his personal assistant conducts all interviews at the hotel. Of course, we’ll give you a fake résumé – you graduated with a degree in Business Administration, by the way. Just say you read his book in a class at school and something about the details spoke to you.”

  Nina shifted uncomfortably.

  “Remember, this part isn’t a lie,” I told her. “You really are his daughter. You’re just fudging the details about how you discovered this.”

  That seemed to put her at ease. Either way, Nina Parker was not the kind of girl who needed help when it came to lying. I was sure of that.

  “The only thing I wouldn’t mentio
n,” Alicia began with trepidation, “is the exhibit.” A heavy silence fell over the room. If Nina was embarrassed, she didn’t back down. “Learning something like that would probably drive him insane.”

  It was likely the entire universe had read about the Gigi Noir from the exhibit. I’d had to shut off all technology just to escape any mention of the sensational disaster it had been.

  “Well, I’ll read through this tonight and let you guys know if I have any questions.” Nina began to get up. “But I’ve got to get going.”

  Her movements were abrupt. Alicia looked unsteady as the rest of us rose to see her out. Seeking some sort of explanation, Alicia shot me a questioning glance.

  “Let me walk you out,” I said to Nina.

  We walked in silence to the bank of elevators. Once inside, I pinned her to the wall and pressed my mouth to hers. She kissed me back, but with an air of detachment.

  “No place is a bad place,” I coaxed her to indulge my advances. These were the spontaneous moments I’d always imagined getting to enjoy if I’d ever found a relationship, but she seemed disinterested. She pushed me away with a giggle and crossed her arms.

  “We’re in public,” she chastised me as the elevator shot down to the lobby.

  “I’m game if you are,” I tried again. But it was too late. The doors slid open and we spilled out into the lobby.

  “I’ll meet you at nine-thirty tomorrow,” she said, with one last kiss on my cheek. “I have some errands to run.”

  “Dinner later?”

  “I want to rest tonight, before everything, you know? If that’s okay.” Her ability to disconnect from me so abruptly was alarming. Still, I didn’t want to push it. So, with one last glance, I let her go.

  16

  Nina

  It was a big day. The biggest. I was going to meet my father. I’d gone from a sad little orphan to potentially having two living family members, and I would meet the first one that day. I tried to calm my excitement by reminding myself that I was investigating him. But I also didn’t stop myself when I rejoiced in the morning, feeling a little brighter, when the winter day didn’t feel as cold.

  There was an enduring hope.

  Whether I wanted to admit it or not, I was hopeful, for the first time in maybe my entire life. Ever since the exhibit a heavy depression had encased me. For days, the only comfort I’d had was my time alone with Luke. But now, there was the possibility of something that had never been.

  Luke was waiting for me in the lobby. As usual, he looked suspicious of me. Over-concerned about my well-being.

  “You look…nice.” His voice clipped at the end of that statement. I’d done as Alicia asked and worn something presentable for the job interview. Thank goodness I’d saved the pair of black work pants I’d worn during my time serving as a barista during college. The button-up shirt was easy – I just took one from my old costume bag. But I’d made sure to pick out any remnants of glitter folded under the collar and pressed it to perfection.

  “Just following the rules.”

  We kissed but it was strained on both sides. I pulled away and recognized dread in his eyes as he glanced at my outfit again. There was something hanging between us, something unnamed.

  “I can’t risk being seen with you,” he began as we walked in the direction of the hotel. “I’m too closely tied to Watchtower and we just can’t risk it. So when you go in there, don’t utter a word about me.”

  “That’s too bad, I always dreamed I’d be able to introduce my boyfriend to my father.” My joke was poorly timed, as was my throwing out there the label of boyfriend.

  He pulled me into an alley and pushed me against the wall.

  “Nina, just promise me one thing.” His eyes were serious, as was his grip on me. He was searching my eyes, as though trying to find something that wasn’t there. “I know you won’t admit it, but I see your optimism. I know you’re hoping for something that doesn’t exist.”

  His words hit me like tiny knives, thrown all over me.

  “That’s not true,” I fought him. “He means nothing to me.” My defense was futile.

  “Nina, nobody would blame you for wanting this to work out. Nobody would blame you for wanting the fairytale.”

  Everything felt cold again. The day was dark. And I just wanted to get this over with.

  “This is one fairytale you won’t get.” He kissed my forehead and then moved to my lips. In that moment, I needed something. Anything. I wanted the world to go back to how it had looked when I woke up. I wanted to forget the entire plan and go back to Luke’s.

  “Okay.” It was the only thing that I could think to say in that moment. My lungs burned from a mixture of the cold air and the desire I had to break down and cry.

  Luke pulled away, more at ease now. He was convinced that I was all in against my father. He grabbed my hand and we continued walking in silence. My stomach began to flip when the peak of the Jasper Hotel came into view.

  “It’s all you from here.” He let go of my hand. “I’ll meet you back at your place afterwards.”

  I knew it was a normal thing that couples did, but it felt strange between us. Like we’d barely had a chance to get that far. But I nodded and then turned away. If I looked back, I might not go through with it.

  I planted myself at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the shimmering gold revolving door. Once I walked through that door, my life might change forever. A finely dressed couple emerged with smiles on their faces. Rich people. This city had so many goddamn rich people it made me sick.

  I gripped the folder holding my résumé and started my way up the stairs. The now-familiar vision of the lobby set me at ease. I turned my attention to the front desk, where the same pair of girls from the night I checked into the Jasper were standing again. However, the Dani and Elise who were giddy and giggling on my last visit were now subdued and half-awake.

  “Hi,” I managed to say, silently praying that they wouldn’t recognize me. “I’m here for an interview.” I held my résumé up as proof. “Not sure where to go.”

  Dani wiped her nose, which looked irritated from what I assumed to be excessive tissue use. The sunken hollows of her eyes made me wonder when her last full night of sleep had been.

  “My fucking arms hurt so bad,” Elise muttered from her spot behind the front desk, to nobody in particular. The scene was a stark contrast from my earlier visit. They both looked to be in terrible shape.

  “Sorry, who are you?” The brunette squinted at me. I studied them both more closely, and realized that small beads of sweat dotted both of their foreheads.

  “Nina Parker, here for an interview.”

  “Oh, right.” Dani picked up the phone behind the front desk and slowly punched in a few numbers. “Nikki, your interview is here.” She nodded and the received slid from her grasp. It took her a moment to realize what had happened and to pick it up. “She’ll be down in just a moment.”

  Without another word, she turned away from me back to Elise, who seemed to be worsening by the second. As much as I was curious about what the story was with their odd behavior, my big moment was approaching. I walked over to the large tree sculpture I’d gawked at during my earlier stay, and took a seat on the couch beneath it. I wanted that moment to stretch on into eternity. I wasn’t ready for what was about to happen.

  “Miss Parker?” A confident woman’s voice sounded behind me.

  I turned to face a perfectly manicured redhead carrying a leather binder. She was slim and all business. She looked like the kind of girl who had been born with glasses permanently situated on her face. She was beautiful and intimidating.

  “Yes, that’s me.” We shook hands.

  “I’m Nikki, Mr. Blake’s personal assistant. I meet with all candidates first before they move on to the next round of interviews. Please follow me.”

  We went through the small crowd in the lobby and veered left into a conference room. Even this room, a place for business to be conducted, was
outfitted more as a library. A rich mahogany table ran the length of the room, and a warm chandelier hung above.

  I tried as hard as possible to sense any negative vibes the place might hold. Other than the strange experience at the front desk, it just felt like a cool, trendy place to spend a weekend.

  “Please sit.” She gestured toward the chairs, taking one herself. She took my résumé and began to look it over. I grew anxious, wondering if she’d question the fudged lines on my résumé. Alicia had tweaked it to say that I interned with her husband’s law firm for the last year instead of working in the burlesque troupe.

  “You’ve got a great résumé,” Nikki complimented me. She couldn’t have been older than me. Maybe in a different world we could have even been friends. But I made a mental note to get on her good side. If anyone would have clues or information, it would be her.

  Then she removed her glasses in dramatic fashion. “But what I really want to know is what drew you to the Jasper Hotel. We get a lot of young girls coming here looking for a job.”

  I took a deep breath and realized that I was sweating. My palms were damp and the back of my neck was on fire. It was now or never.

  “I have to confess something,” I told her. This made her eyes widen, as though she was preparing for the crazy in me to come out. “I wasn’t sure what to do or who to contact. This seemed like the best way to go about it…”

  She waited.

  “I think I’m Patrick Blake’s daughter.”

  I wasn’t sure what I’d expected. Cheers? Tears? Excitement? Anger? It didn’t matter, because Nikki responded with none of that. Her facial expression remained unchanged. The bombshell revelation had barely registered for her.

  “You’re the third girl within the last year to lay that claim.” She put her glasses back on and grabbed my résumé to take with her. “What, you read the book and thought it would be a nice cash grab?”