Page 110 of Zimyra

“Yeah, so did I, but according to that card, he’s been lying to me.”

“Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did you confront him about this?”

“Not yet. I’ve been avoiding him most of the day. I’m going to wait until closing time and bring it up.”

“What do you make of it?”

I sigh heavily and say, “He’s been lying to me all this time, Capri. He’s not a maintenance worker. He’s a top-level executive for the company I work for. He drives an expensive car and paid for an all-inclusive resort, not to mention this ring must’ve set him back a pretty penny. You need more than maintenance money for all of that.”

Capri takes my hand and says, “This ring is fire. My goodness. It must’ve cost a fortune.”

“Too bad I’m giving it back to him.”

“Wait a minute, now. Talk to the man first.”

“I am, but he’s getting it back. You don’t make a fool out of me and get away with it. I should’ve listened to my inner voice that told me he was going to be trouble.”

“That same voice also told you he was fine—and that you wanted to marry him before some other woman snatched him up.”

I shake my head.

She says, “You shake your head, but it’s the truth. You’ve started a life with him. You’ve been intimate and—”

“Not necessarily.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means we haven’t—you know—consummated anything.”

“No?”

“No. Well, he’s done some things to me, but that’s about it.”

She shakes her head in disbelief.

“Anyway, I need to address this. My stomach has been in knots ever since I found this card.”

“Your stomach is going to be in more knots than that when your brothers find out. I’m assuming they don’t know.”

“No, they don’t.”

“What about your mom?”

“Un un. Nope. You’re the first person I told. This all just happened.”

I drop my head and decline food when the waitress comes over.

Capri says, “Maybe you got it all wrong, Myra. It’s probably just a simple misunderstanding.”

“It’s not,” I say, but I can’t bring myself to tell her about the website and his picture, confirming that he is indeed an executive for Leverage. Axel Jennings has been lying to me, and I need to find out why.

CHAPTER 36

Shantae leaves the officeat four. I figure now is as good a time as any to go in and talk to Zimyra. I haven’t had the pleasure of doing so all day and it’s been killing me. When we returned home last night, I dropped her off at her apartment and I went to mine. The plan was to get some work clothes and drive back to her place, but then I got to talking with my mother and lost track of time. So, I stayed at my place last night and drove straight here.

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