James’ expectations, of finding peace in his cabin, were proven hopelessly wrong. As soon as he opened his front door, every memory he had with Olivia flashed through his mind: the moment he found her lying on the snow; the night they played music together; her reaction to his gift; her sweet, girly laughter; her warm, tender kiss… Overwhelmed with emotion, he lit a candle and pulled his notebook out of his backpack; desperate to do what had made him famous over the years: pour his heart out on a piece of paper.

Was it a dream – Was it a lie

An illusion of a life so far away

A whisper of fate – A breathless sigh

Or a little spark in my lightless day

Frozen inside, my love, you found me

Broken heart, in a world of pain

A shadow of the man I used to be

A shattered wolf, howling in the rain

Your eyes, like a river they flowed

Love so strong in my aching soul

Blinded by greed, this love you sold

Bound by lust – acting a role

Lying on the snow, my heart is bleeding

Scent of betrayal lingers in the air

Pale moon through the trees is peeking

This lonely night is my cross to bear

James’ hand shook, as he recalled the bribery video. He could not write anything else. His pen fell off the table and rolled across the floor. He leaned against the couch, as tears spilled from his eyes. For a moment, he wondered if he had made the right decision. After all, Olivia had been wonderful to him; she had not seemed to be faking her emotions. On the contrary, everything she did appeared to look and feel very real. But still, the evidence against her was overwhelming. Had James not seen that video, he would not have believed it. He was not that familiar with computers, but he knew very well that computer data could be manipulated. It was the date on the video that convinced him.

Despite his profound fatigue, he could not sleep. Olivia’s betrayal haunted his mind, reminding him of what Diana did to him, a long time ago. James spent hours trying to fathom why she would do that to him, but, every time, he reached the same conclusion: ruled by greed, she was willing to help his rivals frame him. It didn’t matter to him that she had not accepted his expensive gift. For him, this was just part of the character she had been enacting the whole time.

Darkness was starting to fade into daylight, when he turned his cell phone back on. The 28 missed calls and the 16 incoming messages put a bitter smile on his face.

“Acting, acting and more acting; you should go to Hollywood, Olivia. You’re wasting your talent.”

James tossed it on the couch and went outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Panther Mountain Peak breaking through the white mist. For the first time in a while, he was not seeking inspiration. Even the image of the majestic sunrise paled in comparison to his heartache. James believed that watching it would soothe him. After only a few minutes, he realized that his belief had been correct.

“My God, look at that. The sky is the canvas and Mother Nature is the brush. It’s so beautiful…”

“I take it you’ve heard.” A familiar, female voice drew his attention. It was Olivia. Her tone was calm and steady. “That’s why you’re here. That’s why you won’t pick up your phone. Am I right?”

James did not dignify her question with an answer. He turned to face her and started clapping his hands, looking down into her eyes, as adrenaline rushed through his veins.

“Excellent performance,” his baritone was reeking with sarcasm. “You deserve an academy award.”

“I deserve that,” Olivia said, dropping her gaze from his intense stare. “I lied to you. I let you down.”

“You lied to me?” He yelled, his stentorian voice roaring: in rage; in pain; echoing in the wilderness. “I almost went to jail because of you!”

“I didn’t know…” She spoke in a broken voice, shaking her head.

“What, Olivia?” He wondered, leaning over her, his chest rising up and down. “You didn’t know what?”

“What I was getting myself into,” She whispered, as her gaze jerked up to meet his eyes. “Please, hear me out.”

“Whatever,” James gave an exasperated gasp.

“First of all, you’re right. I am an actress: an unemployed one.” Olivia admitted, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. “About two weeks ago, I was auditioning for a play on Broadway. I played the piano, sang, did it all. The director liked me; he said I should speak to the producer. I met him the next morning. They weren’t impressed by my acting; they had other plans for me. The producer said his wife had given birth to two sons, back in 1988, but the doctors were only able to save one. He’d been suspecting foul play; they never showed him the body of his dead child. He thought he’d found him, but he needed his DNA. Anything would do: A hair, saliva, semen, blood, fingerprint… He sent me here to…” Her voice broke; she bit her lower lip, in a hopeless attempt to hold back the tears. Olivia closed her eyes, squeezing two tears out of them. “He sent me here to seduce you. I’d pretend to be some lost hiker, in need of shelter. But then, I had this accident. I had to settle for the fingerprint. Obviously, I couldn’t get it while lying on the couch. That’s why I insisted on…”

“… playing the piano,” he finished her sentence, her confession sending shockwaves down his spine. “My fingerprints are all over it.”

“Yeah,” she sniffled, as her tears rolled off her cheeks. “I’m so sorry, James. I really needed that money.”

“You know what drew me to you?” He asked in a voice thick with emotion, as a powerful gust of wind blew through his hair.

“What’s that?”

“Your brashness,” James replied, as tears welled up in his eyes. “You’ve just admitted it was false, too.”

“James, pl…”

“Goodbye, Olivia.” He interrupted, putting his hand over her mouth, as the powerful wind whipped her hair against her face. “Go home. It’s over.”

James turned his back on her and walked back to his cabin with a heavy heart, feeling his own tears flowing down his cheeks, as her painful screams ripped through the air. Part of him was dying to go back to her, take her in his embrace and tell her everything was fine between them. Nevertheless, he would do no such thing. Her fake brashness hurt him even more than the fact that she had agreed to sleep with a total stranger for a large sum of money. Olivia Ralston was not the honest and true woman he had fallen in love with, but a well-paid actress who had shattered his heart into a million pieces.

“Go back to the city, Olivia. Go back to the place where all fake people belong. Leave me alone. I don’t need this falsehood. I’ve survived all this time without it; I’m sure I’ll be fine now, too. I’m such a dreamer… I thought I’d find love again. Wake up, James. True women only exist in fairytales…”