Page 92 of Fake It Till You Make It

“No. Not shoot. What?”

“My laptop is in the cabin.”

“What?” Eli bellowed.

At his thunderous outburst, Amarie winced.

“Take it easy, brother.” Tobias took a cautious step forward.

Dr. Russell Feldman laughed.

“Shut up, Feldman,” Eli snapped.

“I tried to warn you.” Russell’s laugh grew louder. “She baits you, and thenchop. Business losing money. Clientele disappearing.”

“Russell, you used me as free labor for years. Don’t pretend like I sabotaged you. When I packed up my unappreciated skills and talents, that’s when you realized how much money I made for your business.”

“I thought he abandoned you with nothing?” Eli frowned. Isn’t that what she had told him?

“Lies. She dismantled my website and social media in order to ruin me, and then packed up in the middle of the night in that ancient death trap on four wheels.”

“That’s not actually true.”

“Which part?” Eli questioned. “You sabotaged his business.”

“I wouldn’t do that. He’s twisting everything. I built those sites. He had nothing before I came along.”

“Oh please. She came with the clothes on her back and terrible eating habits. No real job experience besides working in her father’s practice. No resume.”

“I more than proved myself capable, Russell.”

“Yeah, tell that to the next man who lets you upend his life. You did the same thing to him, didn’t you, Amarie? Hmm, seems like a pattern to me. Make it impossible for the men you lure to function without you.”

“Nobody lured you, slut-nuts,” Amarie retorted. “I helped him. Just like I helped you.”

“One more word out of you about Amarie and you’re going to get a barroom brawl beating,” Noah defended.

“You conveniently forgot to mention you left him high and dry. Tried to ruin his business,” Eli challenged.

“This man told me he loved me. Gave me a fake diamond and a prepaid credit card, and then screwed any woman with a willing vagina under my nose and eventually in my face. Literally, I found him screwing the receptionist I hired in our house.”

“So, my ex-wife comes to town to screw me over. But you beat her to it. When will I learn my lesson?” Eli was done. With all of them. “You know what? I knew it. I knew it. I knew I should have never trusted anyone else to handle this for me.”

“Eli, you’re overreacting. Websites get hacked. The money will be there. Whatever it is, we can figure it out together. Partners, remember?”

“I’m sick of women telling me to calm down. I don’t want to calm down. I didn’t want to calm down when it came to Cara. Don’t want to calm down when it comes to you.”

“Eli, please.” Amarie pleaded with sad brown eyes. “Don’t say any more.”

“I was so wrong to let you come in here and change everything. And you didn’t even ask me, and you should have. I mean, now you got me all hyped up on this contract. And now we can’t even find it and the opportunity is gonna pass us by. So, you don’t tell me what I can and cannot say. It’s my name on the sign out front. I’m done listening to you. I never wanted any of this. Not the auction. Not the TikTok account. Not you. Should’ve never hired you. I let you talk me into Hollywood dreams with a dollar-store budget. Now I’m worse off.”

“You wouldn’t even have this opportunity if it wasn’t for my work.”

“Oh, so now you think I’m beholden to you? That I can’t save my family business without you?”

“Eli, you’re saying too much now.” Leah’s voice held more than a note of warning. “Lourdes, call your father and tell him I want a meeting. We will make arrangements for a temporary loan—”

“No,” Eli snapped. “Momma, the Pendletons want this land. They bid on it before the Calvarys owned it, but the previous owners sold it to Dad instead. They’ve been trying to rip it out from under us for years.”