“Technically, I can. In case you forgot, you signed a contract.”
I’d gotten so worked up that as I went through the room packing things to leave, I had stopped paying attention to what I was grabbing. I tossed a pair of high heels into the box before realizing that they were not only not mine, but that I hated them and would never wear them.
I paused for a second, and then I left them in the box.
I also added an expensive-looking purse, just in case I needed to make a few extra dollars.
“Then sue me, but you cannot force me to continue this charade. It would be ridiculously stupid on your part to even try to do so, considering how easily I could ruin your name.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” She might’ve acted tough, but we both knew she was nothing but a scared little girl clinging on to what little control she had left. “The consequences of doing so are too severe for you to even think of it. You would be in debt for the rest of your life.”
“True, but I would rather be drowning in debt than left to clean up your mess one more time. I refuse to do that, Tiff. I’ve done it my entire life, but I’m finally putting my foot down. You don’t even have the same face as me anymore.” I didn’t have to elaborate on that for her to understand what I meant.
Growing up, the only reason I had helped her was because she’d threaten to pretend to be me and do something that would leave me never wanting to show my face in public again. It ranged anywhere from making people think I had crapped my pants to getting me fired from my job. She was enough of a horrible human being to convince me that she would follow through with it without batting an eyelash.
But now…she no longer had that leverage over me.
If anything, I had it over her.
“Fine, but you’re not getting paid.”
“I don’t care; I’ve earned enough in the month I’ve been here to last a while.”
Tiffany’s sadistic giggle left chills down my spine. “No, Sasquatch, you’re not getting it. I’m not paying you a penny. It was all or nothing. Walking away means you’re forfeiting it all.”
I stopped dead in my tracks, standing in the middle of her bathroom with a bottle of shampoo in my hand. “I’ve been here for forty-six days”—yes, I’d kept count—“pretending to be you. I’ve dyed my hair, twisted my ankle trying to walk in your shoes, practically suffocated myself by squeezing into those torture contraptions called shapewear, and endured countless hours of training to be you. I earned that money.”
“You’ve also ruined my relationship with Adam, made me look ridiculous in front of my peers, and who even knows how bad you made me look on camera. Thanks to you, I’m being accused of sleeping with the pool boy,” she said with a shudder running through her voice, as if the thought alone repulsed her.
I opened my mouth to defend Jacoby, but I stopped myself when I remembered that it didn’t matter what I said. She would always be Tiffany Lewis, the mean girl everyone refused to stand up against. So I gave up the fight. After all these years, I had finally learned that there was no winning when it came to my sister. She would always come out ahead, regardless of her actions.
In my life, nice girls always finished last.
“Fine, Tiff. Keep the money. I don’t care anymore.” I pulled the phone away from my ear and pressed the red end button before she had a chance to say anything else. From now on, if she had anything to say to me, she’d get a better response by talking into the wind, because Tiffany Lewis was officially dead to me. I no longer had a sister. In fact, I never had one—I had a dictator who wore my face.
And that’s exactly what it was now…my face.
I finished going through the upstairs, grabbing whatever I wanted to keep and tossing it into boxes. I hadn’t come with much, but I sure as hell would be leaving with plenty. Especially after she told me that I wouldn’t get paid for the time I’d been here. Plus, some of the clothes were my size, so I figured I might as well take what I could—the more valuable, the better. That way, I could at least recoup something.
By the time Ty snuck into the bedroom, I was on the floor with my back against the bed. There were boxes everywhere, making it appear that I wasn’t ready for Dave to pick me up soon. He would be here any minute now, but I was too busy staring at the blinking cursor in the message box of my text conversation with Jacoby to bother with organizing anything.
Not to mention, Dave knew me well enough to expect to walk into chaos.
“How are you holding up?” Ty slid down the wall to sit across from me on the floor. Honestly, I didn’t think I had ever seen him so laid-back and casual. Instead of his signature GQ suit, he was in regular slacks and a plain white polo.
I locked the phone screen and glanced up at him, giving him as much of my attention as I could muster. After being caught leaving the hospital with Jacoby, I had to tell Ty everything. It was the only way to get ahead of the situation—plus, it wasn’t like I could keep it from him any longer. He wasn’t happy that I had lied to him about it, but at least he didn’t seem to hold it against me. If anything, it seemed to make us closer. I wasn’t sure
