“Yup.” She grabbed her backpack from the couch. “Where we headed, anyway?”

“Greenwich Village.”

I’d told Jordan that I’d be leaving later. I texted him now and found he was already waiting in the parking garage. After grabbing my purse and my cell phone, we stepped in the elevator.

We stood next to each other, leaning against the back wall. Liesl nudged my shoulder. “Have you considered that you might not like what you uncover with all this?”

The sinking feeling in my chest wasn’t just from the descent of the elevator. “I’m pretty certain that whatever it is, it might kill me.” That was the bitch about the situation—Hudson had confessed pretty shitty stuff already. If he couldn’t tell me this, it had to be bad.

So why was I so desperate to find out?

Because that’s who I was. And whatever this was, it was who he was too. “It might kill me, but I need to know. And then I can move on, preferably with Hudson.”

It didn’t fix the bigger problem—Hudson wasn’t being honest with me. But maybe if he realized that I really would love him no matter what, he’d be able to let his last walls come down and we could finally start working on rebuilding our relationship together.

Since neither of us had eaten, we stopped to grab souvlakia from a food cart nearby before heading to the Village. By the time we got to Mirabelle’s, it was nearly four. I wasn’t positive that Stacy would still be there, or that she’d be available to talk. Or that she’d answer the bell when I rang. Their clients could only come by appointment. If she wasn’t expecting anyone, would she open the door?

Maybe showing up unannounced was a long shot, but when she’d hung up on me, this was the only way I could think of to get a few questions answered.

At the door, a sudden flashback of the first time I’d been there flooded my memory. I’d been so nervous, standing there waiting with Hudson for his sister to answer. It had been our first outing as a couple—as a pretend couple. The fear that I’d mess up the charade had been immense, but more than that, the sizzling energy between me and the man that stood at my side had threatened to light me on fire. Threatened to consume me.

In the end, it had consumed me, and that was why I was there now—burned and blistered and broken.

Before ringing, I turned to Liesl. “This is where I need you. There’s a peephole. If Stacy looks through it and sees me, I’m not sure she’ll open the door.”

“Cool. I got this.”

I moved to the side of the building and made myself flush with the wall. At my nod, she rang the bell. The door opened almost immediately.

“Hi. Vanessa Vanderhal?” Stacy asked Liesl.

She must have been waiting for a client. Before Liesl could answer, I stepped into view.

“Oh, no. Not you.” Stacy began to shut the door.

But Liesl wedged her shoulder in the entrance before the opening got too narrow. “Hey, she only has a few questions. Nothing that’s going to take more than a few minutes. You’re the only one she can ask. Can’t you help a girl out? Woman to woman?”

I’d known Liesl could be intimidating. I didn’t realize she could also be charming.

Stacy narrowed her eyes, considering. Considering was better than I’d expected, to be honest.

I looked to Liesl, mentally sending her signals to lay on more charm since it seemed to be working.

She apparently wasn’t on the same wavelength. “If you aren’t interested in doing this the easy way, I’m willing to go another route. I’ll introduce myself—I’m Liesl. I have a triple black belt in karate and I do competitive boxing on the side. So come on. Let us in.”

The extent of Liesl’s fighting skills was kickboxing at a nearby gym. But Stacy didn’t know that.

Stacy groaned. “Oh, all right. Come on in. But make it quick. I have a client in fifteen.”

I was more relieved than I realized I would be. There were too many questions about the video that could only be answered by three people. And I wasn’t about to ask Celia. “Thank you, Stacy. We’ll be in and out. I promise.”

She widened the door for us to come in. “Yeah, yeah.” To herself, she muttered, “I knew there wouldn’t be an end to this.” As soon as we were in, she let the door slam and crossed her arms over her chest. “What is it you want to know? I didn’t stage the video, if that’s what he’s convinced you.”

Obviously we were having our conversation in the front entry of the store. At least she’d let us in.

“No, he didn’t.” I supposed he deserved credit for that—for not denying that the kiss had taken place. By avoiding telling me anything, he’d avoided making up a lie. Was that an effort to remain true to our promise to be honest with each other? If so, didn’t he realize that concealment was just another form of lie?

“Actually,” I said, “he won’t tell me anything about the video at all.”

“Ah, I see.” Stacy rubbed her gloss-shined lips together. “And so you’re asking me instead.”

The judgment and superiority lacing her words irked me to no end. I wanted to shake the woman by her thin shoulders and tell her she didn’t know. That she couldn’t understand.

But I was trying to play nice. And why would she understand anyway? My best friend was having a hard time figuring out why it was so important to me to uncover Hudson’s secrets, why would a practical stranger get it?

She wouldn’t.

I gritted my teeth. “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m going behind his back and asking you instead. It’s definitely not one of my finer moments.”

Stacy stared at me hard for several seconds. “Well, we’ve all experienced some of those, I suppose.” Her shoulders relaxed ever so slightly. “So he doesn’t know you’re here?”

I shook my head.

“And you’re not planning to tell him?”

“No.” Guilt shuddered through me like a cold chill. Hudson hadn’t asked me not to talk to Stacy again, but I’d promised to be open and truthful with him. Not telling him felt secretive. Sure, he wasn’t living up to his promise, and he’d called for a fucking break—those facts probably excused me from the open-door policy. But I’d said I was done keeping secrets. Period. Either I meant it or I wasn’t worthy of him in the first place. And if I wasn’t worthy of being with him, why did this whole detective scheme matter?

I changed my answer. “Actually, that’s a lie. I will tell him.” If I ever actually had a chance to speak to him again. “I told you before—we’re working on honesty. I can’t betray him.” Even if he’d betrayed me by not being forthcoming.

My transparency had likely cost me Stacy’s cooperation, but my only other option was to lie to her. And that seemed shitty too.

She pursed her lips, her eyes darting back and forth between me and Liesl. Finally, she sighed, leaning back on the counter behind her. “What do you want to know?”

Knowing our time was short, I jumped right in. “Why did you film Hudson and Celia kissing? I mean, what did you plan to do with the video in the first place?”

“Prove he was lying.” She said it matter-of-factly, as if I’d understand with just that much. When she realized I didn’t, she expounded. “I was supposed to meet him that night. For coffee—I think I told you that before. As I was walking up, I saw him with her. He’d protested so much about them being a couple that I knew he’d deny it again. So I filmed it. As proof.”

My chest tightened. Oh, how the protest story sounded familiar. Still, there were holes. “But you never showed it to him.”

She shook her head. “I didn’t end up needing to. I walked up to them right after I filmed it. While they were still...like that.” She cringed as if the memory of seeing them kissing hurt her.

I knew how that felt. And it hurt doubly that Stacy was upset about it. She obviously had something with him, even though he’d denied it. How many women had he been with that he’d told me he hadn’t? Was Norma also on that list?