—“How I Lied about My Name and Discovered My Truth,” a TED Talk by Jon M. Wright
Lark lost track of how many miles she’d walked along Chicago’s endless lakefront. Despite the steady breeze, she was comfortable in her light jacket as long as she kept her hands in her pockets. The lake was an opaque teal, its surface broken by small whitecaps under scudding clouds. Something about its empty vastness pulled her onward and helped still her racing thoughts.
Jonathan Mitchell Wright III had fucked up royally, no question, starting with his impulsive use of a nickname in a hotel bar and culminating in a proposal under what could only be called false pretenses. Craziest of all was his disclosure that it had also been some kind of a test to learn whether she loved him for who he really was.
And yet.
Was their connection real? What lay at the heart of love—did societally imposed expectations drive people toward suitable partners, or was everyone just a victim of genetically inherited traits and urges? Or was it something deeper and more mysterious, like a chemical connection and an unspoken bond? People who loved each other had to forgive each other all the time . . . but when did an act become unforgivable?
Having learned so much so quickly, she was having a hard time making sense of it all and didn’t know whether she could trust her initial impulse to end things forever. If she did give him a second chance, would she in any way be influenced by the fact that he was one of the four hundred richest men in America? She didn’t think so. She hoped not, anyway. How shallow would that make her?
She had googled the list and confirmed his name was on it. His real name, anyway.
Lark walked and walked, with Lake Shore Drive on her right and the inland sea on her left. The park began to feel smaller and more disconnected from Chicago, even as the city seemed smaller and more spread out.
After two and a half hours, footsore and hungry, she detoured from the path, followed an outcrop into the lake, and sat down on a rough breakwater made of huge blocks of stone. She put her earbuds in and started a video call.
Callie picked up on the fourth ring, having ducked into Lark’s office.
“How are you?” she asked.
Lark sighed. “It must feel good to be right.”
“It feels terrible. I wish I could be your paranoid friend who was wrong about everything.”
“Me too.”
Lark brought Callie up to speed on all that had been said and done since she came to Chicago, skipping most of the gory details out of general weariness. Telling her how he was, as much as possible, saying the right things. Ending on his vow that he still, more than anything, wanted to marry her.
“Wow,” said Callie, adding cautiously, “What do you want to do?”
“You tell me.”
“I won’t even try, Lark.”
“I wouldn’t put up with Dylan because he was immature and a little lazy. How can I live with a guy who lied about who he was?”
“Regardless of how I feel about him, Trip is a completely different animal than Dylan.”
Neither of them said anything for a minute. Lark watched hungrily as a man twenty yards away opened a Styrofoam clamshell and started eating a sandwich and fries.
Callie brightened. “Bright side?”
“Please.”
“At least now you know. You have all the information you need to make a decision. You can decide to be with him, or not, but you know the worst thing about him.”
“God, I hope so.”
“If you decide to be with him, you can work on things. If you decide not to, well, you’re a beautiful woman with a business that is going to kick ass with or without Trip. Or Jonathan, whatever.”
“All thanks to him,” Lark said.
“But you own the business, don’t you?”
“Yes. I mean, I’m pretty sure.”
“I don’t want to freak you out, but you should check with your lawyer ASAP.”
Lark felt a pang of alarm. She had read the contracts so carefully, but . . .
Callie’s eyebrows went up. “You do have a lawyer, right, girlfriend?”
Chapter Forty-Six
JESSICA, HOLLY, AND LARK
I’ve never been a fan of team-building exercises.
—“How I Lied about My Name and Discovered My Truth,” a TED Talk by Jon M. Wright
Jessica would never be able to unsee what Philip had shown her on Jon’s hard drive. She felt nauseated sharing the sordid, steaming mess of explicit photos with Holly, but at least the accompanying evidence of shady financial dealings would bolster his wife’s case for more than 50 percent of Jack’s assets.
Besides, Jessica was left with one folder that made all the other betrayals seem trifling by comparison.
As she plowed through the clinical trials, reports, and research in the folder (unironically titled OBSOLETE), there was no denying Jon was a visionary, and that the science behind his dream was revolutionary—if only there hadn’t been file after file of evidence showing the Revelate had failed on almost every front. Worse, the results from the blood tests, biopsies, and other accepted detection protocols that had been employed alongside the Revelate were not only infinitely more accurate—they had been transposed onto dummied reports to wow initial investors and skeptical scientists alike.
Much like the test results she’d stumbled upon a month into her employment. She could only conclude her job description had been missing one important competency: ideal candidate will top-sheet and sign any and all paperwork required to enable Jonathan Wright, MD, PhD, to deceive investors, medical authorities, and the general public.
He had married her to keep her from testifying against him.
Nothing Jon did could surprise her anymore. But what about lead researchers like Kate and Arjun, and principals in the company like her good pal Marco? Had they fallen prey to Jon’s charms as easily as she had, or were they all part of the overall deception?
Jessica had no idea how long it would take to recover from the heartache Jon had caused
