Chapter 10 Finn
FINN
It’s five o’clock, and I don’t need a psychic to let me know that something’s wrong.
Mira hasn’t texted me back. Not once. She hasn’t answered any of my many calls either.
I haven’t had a single word from her since the tiny little half-asleep mumble she murmured when I left her in bed this morning and came in to work.
I kissed her pretty forehead, scribbled my note on a piece of paper, and left it for her before climbing out the window.
Since then, I’ve been checking my phone every five minutes like a goddamn teenage boy.
Still nothing.
Not a heart, not a thumbs-up, not a smiley face or some silly meme or emoji. Not even read receipts. It’s like she’s just gone.
But this is the real world. People don’t just vanish, and girls don’t just not respond to texts unless they’re pissed at you.
And that’s why I’ve been on the verge of panic all day.
And when I see the clock tick to five, signaling the end of the day, I toss my wrench aside, tear my gloves off, and storm outside to my bike.
I slide into the saddle and gun it, speeding down the road toward her house like I’m outrunning a fire.
Mira is mine. I know that in my bones.
So why is it that I feel like I’m losing her?
The same two guards from last night are at the gate again, but this time I just pull right up and park in front of them. They both glance nervously at each other, clearly wondering if they’ll actually have to do their job today.
“Let me in,” I growl. They don’t move.
“She won’t see you,” one of them says. “You’re not welcome here, pal.”
My stomach twists like I’ve been speared by a hot poker. “No. Mira wouldn’t say that. You’re lying. Go and get her. Now.”
They shake their heads and step forward as a unit.
“Tyler said you’d say that.” My heart lurches. Tyler? What’s that bastard gotten up to now? “He said to tell you that the engagement is back on.”
The air drains from my lungs. The whole world seems to twist around me.
“What?” I snarl, clenching my fists.
“You heard him,” a new voice calls out.
Tyler.
I glance past the guards and see him through the gate, a smarmy grin on his face, suit jacket slung over his shoulder like he already owns the Coolidge estate. “Sorry, grease monkey. You were a nice little distraction, but that’s all. Just a little fling, and that’s over now.”
My rage boils over, and I lunge forward. The guards actually leap out of my way, but the gate is locked and won’t budge. Tyler stands behind it like he’s actually tough, when in reality, I’d beat him to a bloody pulp if I could get my hands on him.
“You piece of shit! We had a deal!”
“You mean your blackmail deal?” He laughs. “Yeah, that’s over. Mira’s mine now. And if you ever try to come near her again, I’ll have you buried so deep in lawsuits that you’ll be fixing lawnmowers to make money to buy dried noodles.”
I slam my fist into the metal gate. Pain floods my knuckles, but I ignore it. Tyler grins one more time, looks at me like I’m just an ant in his universe, then turns his back on me and walks away.
“Come on, pal, get going,” one of the guards says to me. I turn to him and glare. That shuts him up.
It can’t be possible. Why wouldn’t Mira want to see me? Why on earth would she be engaged to Tyler again? Something’s not right. And I’ll be damned if I just sit around and let the woman I love slip away from me.
The Heartless Bastards clubhouse is packed tonight, but I’m in my own little world, nursing a whiskey at the bar as laughter and chatter goes on all around me.
Mira still isn’t answering my calls. In fact, they’re going straight to voicemail now, which means either she’s blocked me, or Tyler’s done it for her.
He has to be manipulating her somehow. There’s no way she’d just bail on me like that. Not after everything we’ve gone through together. Not after last night.
A heavy palm lands on my shoulder, and I look up to see Grady standing over me with a big grin plastered over his face.
“You look like hell.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” I groan. “You wanna join me?”
“Actually, I’ve got something interesting for you.”
Thankfully, I’ve only had one drink this evening and am still level-headed. But whatever Grady’s playing it, I need him to get to the point.
“Spit it out,” I tell him. “My mood is shit.”
For some reason, this makes Grady’s grin grow. He pulls out his phone, thumbs through it, and pulls up a blurry video clip of some girl, clearly hammered, dancing in a booth at the strip club with her friends.
“Okay?” I shrug.
“Aurora,” he says. “One of the new girls at Red Tiger. Me and some of the boys were just over there.”
I’m getting annoyed now. I’ve got more to worry about tonight than some stripper. “And you found out she’s your cousin?”
Grady chuckles and rolls his eyes. “As you can see, she was pretty wasted. I overheard her bragging to her friend that ‘some rich douchebag’ paid her five grand to fake some photos so he could ‘win his wife back or something.’”
My body freezes.
“What?”
Grady nods, his eyes blazing. “I didn’t pay it much mind until I heard her mention getting back at some biker guy. And that got me thinking about you and that rich girl who came around the shop a couple of times.”
My heart is pounding so hard I’m sure it’s about to explode. “Grady, tell me what you found out.”
“Why don’t I have her tell you herself?” He turns to the door, and I see the girl from the video standing there waiting.
Yeah, he brought her with him. He motions to her, and she scampers over, tugging her skirt down so it doesn’t come up over her hips.
She stops in front of me and eyes me up and down with zero shame.
Like I’m being medically examined or something.
“You the hot mechanic?” she asks. “You don’t look anything like the guy they used. The guy with bad breath.”
“Wait, the guy who used?” I ask, practically shaking.
“Aurora, show him the photos,” Grady tells her.
She casually pulls out her phone, flipping forever through her gallery. Finally, she stops on one and shows it to me, and my jaw drops.
It’s…me…but not me. A guy who looks like me, standing with Aurora, way too close, outside the shop where I first met Mira. Shit, “we” are even kissing in the last one.
“What the hell…” I mutter. “What is this? Tyler paid you to do this?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know his name. He paid me in cash to pose with this other guy, then they sent me hard copies of the photos with instructions on how to get them to some girl.”
“Some girl,” I repeat.
“Yeah,” she nods, unfazed by any of this.
“And how’d you get them to her?” I ask. Adrenaline is blowing through my veins. I’m about to lose control as I start to put the pieces together. “E-mail? Text?”
Aurora shakes her head. “No, a courier service. Real discrete, like something rich people would use, you know?”
It’s all starting to make sense now.
Tyler, that son of a bitch.
He staged a photoshoot and then he Photoshopped or deep-faked my face onto whatever dude they hired to be me. Then he had Aurora send the pictures to Mira and made her think I cheated.
My fists clench so tight I can feel blood seep through the skin. “Do you know the address?”
There’s no way she knows. Tyler would want to insulate himself from this the best he can. And it’s no surprise when she shakes her head. “Nope, sorry.” She glances over at Grady. “Can I go now?”
“No,” I snap. “I need those. Send them to me.”
I give her my number, and she texts the photos over. I’m burning inside. It’s like holding a weapon—the same weapon Tyler used to destroy my relationship.
He nods. “Thanks, Aurora. We’ll be in to see you tomorrow. Expect a big tip.”
She winks and struts off, drawing glances from the rest of the room. But I’m not even watching. I’m focused as something primal rises up inside me.
I’m going to kill Tyler.
But first, I’m going to get back my princess.
Mira.