Filthy Rich (The Scarsdale Fosters #5)

Prologue Jake

E very single person on earth has a story, but most of them don’t like what they’ve written for themselves. A con man’s only real job is to discover the story a person wishes was theirs and give it to them. Or at least, make the person believe that they’re giving it to them. People will pay everything they have and they’ll betray everyone they love to live the story of their heart.

Even if it’s a lie.

That’s why con artists are still around. My dad taught me that if people weren’t lying to themselves, we couldn’t lie to them either. That’s why it’s important to evaluate someone to make sure they’re an easy mark. Finding that person’s the most important part, and making sure they’re someone whose story you can provide.

I’ve heard people get all up in arms. “You’re stealing from them. You’re criminals.” But entertainers have been doing the very same thing for years. When we plonk our money down for a story about how the poor, disheveled girl gets the prince? We’re paying for a lie. It’s just that they’re bilking you out of a few bucks for a few hours.

Con artists provide a more immersive experience that they’ll never ever forget. You could even say we’re teaching them an important lesson their parents should have taught: be careful what you wish for. If the same people would stop being victims and accept the life they had, we’d have no marks. At the end of the day, it’s their fault.

We’re just giving them what they want.

Learning all of that from the time I could talk taught me to be one of the best actors in Hollywood. Unlike most of my peers, I know the camera’s always rolling. In every interaction, in every meeting, I’m always playing a part.

I can’t ever forget who I’m supposed to be in that moment.

But sometimes, in the quiet moments, I wonder who Jake Priest really is. If I wasn’t acting, if I wasn’t working an angle, if I wasn’t selling someone a lie. . .who would I be?

Is it even someone I’d like?