I so badly wanted to scream at her, shake her until she realized that I existed, too. But I didn’t. Instead, I rolled my eyes and groaned, letting my annoyance show. “He hasn’t done anything to me, so I don’t see a problem with having him here.”
“What do you mean he hasn’t done anything to you?” Her eyes widened as if this news was more shocking than Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction. “If not for him, none of this would’ve ever happened.”
That was enough to earn Dave’s attention. “Excuse me? You must be confused.”
Jacoby now lent his attention to the conversation, though he wouldn’t dare speak against my mother. Regardless of how obnoxious she could be, he just didn’t have it in him to voice his opinion, so he simply stood by and took it all in.
“Surely you know the hand he played in it all…” She stared at us, dramatically flicking her gaze between Dave, Jacoby, and me. Then she proceeded to tell us the most ridiculous story I’d ever heard.
It’d taken me less than two minutes to locate Ty—he was with Adam, no surprise there. Immediately, I took his hand and dragged him to a quiet corner. “Did you seriously orchestrate the entire thing? With Tiff and me? And Serenity and Adam and Jeannine?”
He was quiet for a few moments, although that could’ve had something to do with my paranoid questioning. But then he silenced me when he confidently said, “Yes. I was behind it all.”
That was not what I had expected him to say.
“How?” It was the only question I could come up with.
“It wasn’t like I set the whole thing up. My original plan had Tiff taking the fall for it all—literally—but then she had to go get botched plastic surgery. At first, I thought I’d have to give up on the idea of making Tiffany Lewis lay in the bed she made. That thought actually saddened me. Then I remembered you, so I convinced her to let me see if you would stand in for her.”
The world spun around me, though I remained completely still, becoming dizzier the longer it dragged on. “Wait…” I held up one finger while taking a deep breath in preparation for my next question. “You mean to tell me that you had this all planned out from the very beginning? That when you knocked on my door and offered me money to pretend to be my sister, you knew then that this all would happen?”
“Yes and no.”
“I’m going to need you to elaborate, please.”
Ty signed, his shoulders drooping the slightest bit. For the first time since meeting him, he appeared to be human. If I hadn’t been in such shock, it might’ve had an impact on things, but since I was in a fog of complete disbelief, it didn’t have any effect on my feelings toward him.
He cleared his throat—a sign of discomfort—and began his sordid tale of how I’d gotten here. “Shortly after she signed the contract for the show, I found out about her and…well, others. It was the last straw for me.”
“So you decided to set her up?”
He nodded, as if the answer was so obvious that he couldn’t believe I needed to ask. “I don’t have to tell you what kind of person she was, nor do I have to tell you how great Adam is. I guess I got tired of watching her use and abuse people without consequence.”
“I take it that means Serenity was involved, too?”
“Not knowingly.” He regarded me for a moment before elaborating. “She was tipped off anonymously. There was no way for it to come back to me—I made sure of it.”
“Then how does my mom know?”
“Tiff found out—well, not exactly. She accused me of it after you left. I denied it, but she didn’t believe me. Doesn’t really matter, though. What’s done is done. She got hers, and that’s all I wanted.”
“Why are you telling me the truth?”
A small smile curled the corners of his lips. “Because you’re a good person who deserves to know. I would’ve told you sooner, but I knew that the only way for it to work was if you were completely taken by surprise.”
I nodded, absorbing all this information. “What about Adam? Does he know?”
“Yeah, I told him…along with the fact that your sister refused to pay you a cent.”
“That means he knew that I had been nothing more than a pawn in your game when he came to town for the project proposal…” I whispered to myself, although it didn’t stop anyone else from hearing.
Ty sighed and stared at his polished shoes for a moment. “I’m really sorry, Tasha. You didn’t deserve to be played like that. I’ll understand if you never forgive me, but I would appreciate it if you could at least try to see my point and motivation.”
“Oh, I totally do.” I smiled, easing some of his tension—along with Jacoby’s and Dave’s. “Tiff is my sister, so trust me…I know the good, the bad, and the ugly. And I wholeheartedly believe that she should’ve paid the price for the damage she helped create. However, that doesn’t mean I think you had any right to orchestrate it.”
Ty’s relief fell away, and with a sad grin, he said, “I agree.”
“But with that being said, if you hadn’t done what you did, I never would’ve met Jacoby.” I placed my hand on Jacoby’s forearm and met his stare. His smile brightened his eyes, lighting my world on fire. “So, I guess I can’t be too upset with you.”
Dave must’ve been bored on the sidelines, because he piped in with, “Yeah, and without Ty, you never would’ve gotten that massive rock.”
“Speaking of Tiff’s ring…what are you going to do with it?”
I wasn’t sure why Ty cared, but I answered anyway. “When the time’s right, I want to buy a house. It’s going to be a bit tricky, because I’ll need one next door for Dave. Now that Adam’s literally funding my entire dream, there’s
