Chapter 2
Jessica Collins threw her purse onto her sofa and collapsed next to it as she undid the buttons on the front of her suit jacket. “Goodbye, Lisa Allen,” she said nonchalantly as she tossed the suit jacket onto the floor. It was always nice to slip into other characters for a few hours, and she liked to say good night to these characters when she took them off at the end of the night. In a minute, she would wash off her makeup, but first she needed to decompress.
Her favorite victims were the fat businessmen types. Rich, selfish, smug. They did not care about her beyond the fact that she was skinny like a supermodel, with long, perfect brown hair and searing golden-brown eyes. When she did her makeup and wore a pushup bra, they were practically willing to do somersaults over their paunches for her. It was so disgusting, but satisfying to watch. These men led a life that she had never dreamed of, so she was determined to get a bite of the pie for herself.
But this one today – this Evan Davis – disconcerted her. She usually didn’t bother with the young, rich billionaire playboys. They were especially awful, having had everything handed to them. They would never know the struggles that she had been through. Just being near Evan bothered her. And she was especially disappointed that Cole Davis had passed on.
Cole Davis had been her real target. She wanted to show that fat, filthy rich man where he could stick his money. After what he and his repellent wife had done to her mother, she was determined to stop at nothing to hurt him where it counted. He was rich, but not so rich that he would not miss a few million leeched from his account!
Seeing Linda Davis had galled her. But it had also assured her that this was the right thing to do. Linda deserve justice for the ugly past. After all, everything was her fault. Seeing her in that fur coat reminded Jessica of eating pancakes for three meals a day while her mother went without food. Seeing Linda’s perfect haircut reminded Jessica of the bags that lingered under her mother’s eyes as she worked endless hours to support them both.
Jessica grabbed the fat, black journal from the end table beside her couch. She flipped through the pages, breathing in her mother’s unique scent. The journal was like a lost connection with her mother, but the entries full of anxiety and fear made her feel terrible. There it was, the entry about how excited she was to find out that she was pregnant. Then there was the entry about how her boyfriend had left her, taking the last of her money, never to be a father to Jessica. There was the triumphant entry, where she had been extended an offer by Cole Davis to continue working at Davis Enterprises, despite the pregnancy that she thought would end the hospitality career she had worked so hard for. She wrote that everything would be all right. If only she had known what would happen just months later, when Linda had her fired for some petty jealousy, and blackballed her so that she could not get another high-paying job at another hotel company in the country.
Jessica slapped the journal down, filled with renewed hatred for the loathsome Davis family. They could have their billions, their mansions and fur coats. That Evan guy probably drove a hot sports car and went through women like water. But Jessica would make sure to bankrupt them and give them a taste of the poverty that they had never had to suffer. Oh, yes, revenge would be hers.
She turned on Netflix to find her favorite show. It was time to relax after a long day on the job.
Gary was there, standing in the dim room. Jessica peered through the gloom until his figure took shape and solidified into his familiar appearance.
“Dad,” she said.
“Jessie.” He was holding up a hat full of watches. Suddenly the room was full of light. “You really hit the jackpot today, Jessie. I’m proud of you.”
Jessica started to smile. Then she lost her smile. “And so did you. Are you enjoying all of the fortune we made together? Father.” She said the last word scathingly.
“We both know I was never your father,” he replied.
“You acted like it. You know I needed a dad. And that’s how you got to me.”
“Maybe I got to you, but you let me in.” He turned the hat upside down and the trinkets inside scattered across the wood floor. Jessica realized it was the house they used to live in as they ran scams together across the city. “But now you’re fine on your own. You never needed a dad. You never needed any man. It was just you and your mom the whole time, and now it’s just you. You’re doing fine.”
Jessica nodded, but she was starting to cry. “I just miss you. I wanted a father,” she sobbed.
“Stop that.” He put the hat onto his head and adjusted it to make it snug. “You are too good to cry.”
Some loud bang jolted Jessica out of her sleep. She glanced around the apartment in momentary terror, before realizing that it was her upstairs neighbors being annoyingly loud at three in the morning as usual.
She went to the kitchen to get some water and clear her mind. That dream was very disturbing; she was still shaking slightly. She hated seeing Gary in her dreams. Seeing him was especially chilling and traumatic. Sometimes her mind liked to torment her, showing her images of the father figure who had betrayed her. This particular dream had seemed to be congratulating her on her strength, but why did she have to see Gary? She hated how she always cried in the Gary dreams. She was too strong to ever cry in real life.
Since Gary had taken off with her life savings and left her with nothing, she had not shed one tear. Instead, she had become like steel: sharp, fierce, and too tough to be broken. She had hit the ground running, ready to fend for herself with or without Gary. Since he had gone, she no longer had to split her wealth with anyone. She made a killing scamming paunchy businessmen around the city with her sexy yet unassuming façade. Maybe she didn’t have everything a woman could want in life, but at least she had a nice roof over her head, food in the fridge, and a wardrobe that would make a movie star jealous.
Now she had to prepare for her day tomorrow at David Enterprises. Getting in bed with the enemy, she really needed her beauty sleep. She prayed for no more Gary dreams as she slipped back between her satin sheets.
Fully made-up and smelling of sweet musk, Jessica left herself at her apartment and stepped out in the gusty Vegas November morning as Lisa Allen. She caught a taxi to the office building and the driver kept staring at her in the rearview mirror. She winked at him as she slipped out of the cab, certain that she looked stunning, like the sort of woman who would be getting off at Davis Enterprises at eight in the morning for a legitimate job.
Jessica had never actually had a job. Not the nine-to-five kind, anyway. No one had ever interviewed her and hired her on. She had never filled out employment paperwork, paid taxes, or watched training videos. College had never been an option for her, and she had never wanted to go, seeing how it never did her mother much good. But as she strolled into the building, passing people carrying Starbucks and briefcases, wearing a tight, black business dress with a red, patent leather belt cinched snugly around her waist and red high heels that struck the floor with precise, menacing clicks, she felt like she belonged to this new alien world. After all, she was Lisa Allen, a charity executive who had always been at home in the corporate atmosphere. None of this was new. None of this was weird. She fit like a puzzle piece.
“Good morning,” she called breezily as she strode in the executive office suite. She beamed at everyone as if she wasn’t overcome with hatred for them.
“Hello, Miss Allen,” Evan said warmly as he came out of his office. He looked her up and down briefly, and she knew what that look meant. He was already imagining her with her clothes off. She couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when he figured out that she had totally screwed him.
“Please, call me Lisa,” she replied sweetly. “So what’s on the agenda for today?”
“First, we like to start our days with some coffee. We have a full coffee bar.” He led her back into a sleek break room, where a trim barista was making caffeinated beverages behind the counter. “What would you like?”
Jessica was not much of a coffee drinker. But she figured that Lisa Allen was. “Just a coffee, please. Black.”
Evan looked surprised. “You didn’t strike me as a black coffee drinker.” Then he grinned as he ordered two black coffees. The barista gave him a dazzling smile and Jessica wondered if they had slept together. All the ladies seemed to like Evan.
“So how are you feeling about this project?” Jessica asked him. “I must admit that I’m thrilled.”
“Oh, so am I.” Then Evan’s smile slipped. “I agreed to take this project on myself so I apologize for my overbearing mother. She gets…a bit overinvolved.”
Jessica nodded slowly, wondering if this was an angle she might be able to play later. “My mother was always the same way.”
“Really? Tell me about your family. Why did you get involved with orphans?”
“Because I became one and entered the foster care system when I was sixteen,” Jessica said, pretending to be reluctant to reveal her past.
“I am so sorry.”
“Yes. My mother passed away from cancer.” Jessica felt that sudden, violent vise grip of grief on her heart. She liked to sprinkle her characters with elements of truth from her own life to avoid getting her stories mixed up too much. Too convoluted of a story was too hard to keep track of. But she should have lied about this. Her mother really had succumbed to cancer during Jessica’s senior year of high school, and had died right after Jessica turned eighteen. Her meager life’s savings had not been enough to cover her extensive medical bills.
Evan placed a hand on the small of Jessica’s back and rubbed. Jessica flinched away. “Sorry,” he said hastily. “I just have this urge to make people feel better. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”
“It’s fine,” Jessica shrugged. Really, she was bothered. She hated being touched by men, especially pigs like Evan Davis. “Let’s get to work, shall we? I have finished most of my coffee.”
“Oh, sure, of course.” Evan looked confused as he led her into the office. Evidently he was not used to women rejecting his touch. “So today I wanted to start by explaining a bit about our development process. Then we will get started on the finer details of how we are going to design and build your project.”
They took seats at the large glass conference table. Everything here was so sleek and perfect and clean. Jessica imagined her own mother sitting here, over twenty years earlier, eager to start work as well. Would her mother be proud of her?
“Are you okay?” Evan seemed concerned as Jessica hastily regained her composure.
“Sure, sure, I’m fine,” she told him hastily as she adjusted her skirt. “Just a little cold in here.”
Evan peered at her face. “You looked so sad for a moment. Were you thinking about your mother?”
Jessica was impressed by his astuteness. Then she shook it off. After all, he was a CEO and they were usually pretty good judges of character. She shouldn’t be impressed by his smoothness or ability to see into her soul. He was just another playboy, hoping to get laid. Well, he was about to get screwed. Just not in the way he thought!