Page 85 of Resting Grump Face
I did think that.
My hands feel numb as I reach for my phone. There has to be an explanation for this.
She wouldn’t.
It’s impossible.
The call goes directly to voice mail again.
Try to think of this logically. Why would she write stories like this about you? There weren’t any signs, any hints that I should have noticed, were there?
‘Whoever is writing this must have an abnormal obsession with you.’
She did say that.
What if she was hiding in plain sight all along?
I skim the article, hoping to find evidence that it couldn’t have been her, that this is not happening. I try to absorb as much information as possible without actually reading it. A few lines down, I scroll upon an image. An image that lets me know beyond a doubt that she is the author of this article.
Fuck.
She is the only one who could have taken it. I remember looking at her at that moment. I remember seeing her through what I now realize were rose-colored glasses like some kind of moron. I was like a love-sick puppy that should have been put down for my own good. I let her play me.
How could I have been this naïve, this blind?
How could I have ignored my own intuition?
How could I just let her in like this?
I smack the laptop shut and swipe it off the desk. It goes flying against the wall and shatters apart.
Fucking idiot.
The moment I met her, I knew she was a reporter.
I should have trusted my gut.
I have only myself to blame for this.
Do not let people in or you will get hurt!
It was like that with Miranda, and it is like that with Sienna de la Vega.
They always want the same thing.
I check the time. It’s 6 PM. Too early for my last meeting of the day, but that’s just as well because it is a meeting that I definitely do not want to miss.
31
SIENNA
We have been on his tail for hours now, sitting in this parking lot patiently, and so far there was absolutely nothing suspicious about him, other than the fact that he doesn’t seem to tip. But then again, that appears to be perfectly in line with the kind of person he is.
Right now he is in some sort of private club having dinner and we can’t get eyes on him.
“Why not?” Robyn asks impatiently.
Earnest closes his laptop with a sigh. “Because it’s not how this works. Given more time, sure, I could probably get us into their system, but I can’t just press some buttons on here and access those cameras.”
