Chapter 2
I woke up at eleven in the morning.
I didn’t even eat breakfast. I just threw myself together and headed out.
I was weirdly excited and kind of pumped.
It felt like meeting an online friend for the first time.
After chatting all night, we had really clicked. It felt like we had known each other forever.
She was right.
Fate between people really is wild.
The moment she saw me, she ran over and gave me a huge hug.
The first thing she said was, “You really do match his note about you.”
“What note?”
“Little Four. Gentle, intellectual writer. Summer Quinn, twenty-five.”
I snorted.
“Gentle and intellectual my ass. Thanks for nothing.”
Actually, I was just an online novelist, barely qualified as a writer.
“So, what about the other girls?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me. “What did he write about them?”
“Let me think. Number Three should be ‘pure campus beauty, drama queen Sophie Wells,’ and Number Two is ‘cold-blooded shrew.’ What was her name again? Oh, right. Jordan Evans.”
“Cold-blooded shrew?”
I blinked.
“I really want to meet her.”
Jordan Evans.
That name sounded familiar.
“She’s probably Liam’s childhood friend,” I said. “They grew up together. I think they even have an arranged marriage. Does she know about all of us?”
“Let’s go ask and find out.”
As she spoke, Lily pulled out a huge sheet of paper from her bag and spread it across the coffee shop table.
At the top, in big letters, it said:
Liam Carter Exposure Plan
Looking at it, I was stunned.
The plan detailed information on each of Liam’s girlfriends, including but not limited to where they lived, what they did for work, how they met Liam, how long they’d been together, hobbies, and more.
I was completely floored.
She had collected all of this in such a short time.
This girl was a genius. She had been born for this.
According to the plan, our next step was to find Number Three.
She circled Sophie Wells’s name with her pen.
“Let’s go to her university.”
I nodded firmly, feeling fired up all over again.
On the way there, I asked, “Won’t Liam get suspicious if we all start meeting up?”
“Nah. Today is his mom’s birthday. He’s with her.”
“If I’m not wrong, Jordan Evans is probably there too.”
“Jordan who?”
“Number Two. The shrew.”
“Oh, right.” She laughed. “Sorry. Still learning the ropes.”
We looked at each other and burst out laughing at the same time.
Strange as it was, I already found her absolutely adorable.
Being around her was genuinely fun.
And Sophie Wells really was the art school’s campus beauty.
She was genuinely gorgeous, celebrity-level beautiful.
When she saw us, she looked completely confused.
She clearly thought we were some new kind of scam.
Until Lily calmly pointed at the Chanel 19 bag on her back.
“We all have that bag. Liam bought them in France. Did he tell you he bought it especially for you? That he’s planning to introduce you to his parents? That he wants to marry you? He also took you to Disneyland in L.A. and to beaches in Hawaii. Your birthday is August twentieth. He gave you a black-and-silver Hermès Birkin last year and a Cartier bracelet on your one-year anniversary. Ninety-nine red roses. Last week he took you to a movie and handed you tissues before the sad scene.”
“Stop talking.”
Sophie looked like she was falling apart, her eyes glistening with tears.
“Why are you telling me this? What do you two want from me?”
I answered honestly.
“What would we want? Obviously, we want to show you his true colors so you stop getting played.”
She laughed bitterly.
“So what if I’m getting played? Is the money he spends on me fake? Who cares what’s real or fake? Whether he loves this one or that one, or loves several at once, I don’t care at all.”
Lily and I exchanged a look.
That was not the reaction we had expected.
After a long silence, Sophie gave up trying to explain and told us directly, “All I care about is his money. I need his money, so I’m not joining your plan.”
Then she stood up to leave.
“I don’t mind if you break up with him and I keep dating him. I’d love for him to only have me. If he proposes, I’ll say yes.”
I frowned.
“Wait, I don’t get it. You love him that much?”
Lily also stood up, getting emotional.
“He’s a cheating scumbag. What’s there to love? Aren’t you afraid he’ll catch something and give it to you?”
Sophie’s face crumpled.
“I’m not afraid. So what if he does? It can’t be worse than my current situation.”
Then she practically ran away in tears.
Lily and I stood there frozen.
I never would have expected someone so beautiful to have so little self-worth.
What had she gone through to make her see relationships that way?
And why did she need money so desperately?
My gut told me Sophie Wells had a story.
And soon enough, all of our questions were answered.