Page 28 of An Eye For Illusion

“Who the hell said anything about love? I just told you I can’t stand him!” I sit up straight on the couch, flabbergasted that she would even suggest something so outlandish.

She looks at me slack-jawed. “Woah, woah, woah, back up. Who are you talking about? Cause it sounds an awful lot like you’re talking about Colin—your strictly professional PI—and not your fiancé.”

My cheeks immediately heat, and an uncomfortable pounding starts in my chest. What in the absolute freaking hell just happened? Why did I just assume she was asking if I love Colin?

I stutter, “I… I… I…didn’t mean Colin.”

“Oh, my god! You absolutely did!”

“No! I really meant Elliott. I did!”

She sits wide-eyed, staring me down like I’m an animal on display at the zoo.

I slap my knee. “I did Bridgette, I swear!” I will die before I admit my first thought went to Colin, a man I barely know, instead of the man I’m freaking engaged to.

“Oh, honey. I don’t believe you, but for your sake, we can go back to the original question.”

I take the out she so graciously gives me. “I don’t think he’s noticed I haven’t said it back.”

She straightens on the couch and puts on her psychologist hat. I love this girl to death, but sometimes she just can’t turn off her work brain. Not that I can blame her. I have a hard time doing it as well.

“When the hell did he start telling you that he loved you?”

I try to think back to the first time. My memories with Elliott are now separated into two groups. There’s a “before that night” group and an after. Everything in the before is muddied and fuzzy.

“I think it was after a dinner with my father. We came back here, and he just randomly said it. There weren’t any feelings behind it. It almost seemed like he was saying it out of obligation. I just smiled and said, ‘You don’t have to do that.’”

Bridgette’s eyebrows furrow. “What did he say back?”

“He seemed a little surprised, but then said he wanted to. I don’t understand it. This relationship was never about love.”

“What’s he playing at here? In his mind, he already has you on the hook, so why is he trying so hard?” Bridgette contemplates.

“I don’t know. To keep me complacent? Quiet? Or maybe he’s deluded himself to the point that he believes this is real and that I truly want to marry him. At first, I was confused after that night. He didn’t say it for weeks after, but one night, he just started back. It was so jarring that I dropped the fork I was holding while I was eating.”

I think back to that night when we were out to dinner with my father, and he just casually threw it back out there. I wanted to throw up and stab him in the eye at the same time, but I couldn’t because he chose to say it in front of my father. A strategic move.

He knew how I felt after everything he’d said, and he knew I was stuck marrying him. It took everything in me to sit there and continue dinner like nothing had changed.

Because everything had fucking changed. Everything.

“Do you think there is a part of him that means it?” she asks.

I scoff. “No, I don’t. It always seems like he says it as an enticement. For what? I don’t know yet, but I sure as hell plan to figure it out.”

“Do you have any idea what he could be hiding?”

I shake my head. “I’ve racked my brain a thousand times. Embezzlement? Fraud? Money laundering? But I’d think that would mean he has a team or at least a partner. I can’t afford to have any lose ends here. What if it’s more than just Elliott and they come after us as well?”

Bridgette reaches over and grasps my hand. “We’ll figure this out together, and we’ll take that fucking scumbag down.” She pivots her hips so she’s fully facing me now. “Don’t you think you should at least warn Colin?”

Her question is one that I’ve asked myself a million times already, and I keep coming back to no. That may make me sound like a cold-hearted bitch, but I hired the best for a reason. If Colin is at least half as good as Dunn says he is, he will figure it out.

I don’t have any concrete proof to tell him or show him. All I have is a fiancé who threatened my father and me. Plus, he hasn’t earned my trust yet.

All I need is for Colin to do his job. If he does it well, I’ll be free and clear of Elliott Moore for the rest of my life.

“Not yet. I’ll tell him if I need to. I want to keep this as close to the vest as possible, and right now, Colin Fucking Brooks isn’t on the list.

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