Page 57 of He Loves Me Knot
Not today, after they’d been through?—
The door to the car squeaked open, and Liddy swiped the notification away, her cheeks burning. Callum sat and slipped a small, red-striped bag into the back seat. He glanced at her as he started the car. “You okay?”
“Yeah—” Liddy swallowed hard, not wanting the tears prickling in her eyes to spill out and give her away. “I’m just . . . tired, too. Probably not feeling so well on account of that pepper. Maybe you’re right. Maybe we should just go back to the hotel.”
“After I bought you a toothbrush and everything?” Callum grinned, then let out a slow sigh. “No, you’re right. Finding Sergio is important, and this feels like the wiser thing to do. And Ihaveearned the damn holiday. Camden Enterprises won’t collapse without me. Maybe I need something—or someone—to force me into poking my head above the surface occasionally.”
She stared at the browser on his phone, her breath still shallow, trying to recover.
I knew he hated me. This isn’t anything new.
She just hadn’t known he was so good at pretending.
Or maybe she did. Maybethatwas what had bothered her all along about Callum. How he could so easily go from charming and flirtatious to cold and indifferent—like the first day she’d met him. She’d never been able to reconcile his two sides. The past two days had made her think that maybe her first impression had been the right one after all, but—no—this was all the confirmation she needed.
He's an exceptional liar when it’s convenient.
It’s probably what makes him such a cutthroat businessman.
“Fine, whatever you want to do,” she whispered. She scrolled mindlessly as one of her tears hit the screen, unable to process the words from the search result.
Callum glanced over again and saw her crying. “Liddy, it’s going to be okay. I promise. You know, Google searching might get us further than you expect. We should have probably tried to do that but, to tell you the truth, I wasn’t convinced that anything Sergio told you, including his name, was true. And honestly, I doubt he has the dress with him, especially if it’s a hiking tour. But...we can try.”
I have to stop thinking about that text from Isla.
Lydia winced. “God, what if that’s true, though? Who knows, you could have walked into that baptism party and asked for Sergio and—just look at these search results.‘Sergio is the BEST.’There are tons of guys named Sergio, probably.”
She held the phone out to him in frustration.
Callum’s eyes flicked to the screen and then he did a double take. “Wait a second. Isn’t that him?”
Liddy yanked the phone back toward herself. She’d inadvertently hit the “images” results when she’d turned the phone over and . . .there he is.
Sergio’s handsome face smiled back from a photo, a snapshot taken by some tourist who had posted it to a review site, a parrot on his arm.
Holy shit.
She clicked the review for a company calledAventuras y Escapes: Adventures and Escapes, Costa Rican Private Tours.
Her fingers tightened around the phone.
“Oh my gosh.” Glee pushed its way through her misery as she looked back at Callum. “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it actually worked. Or that he told me so many true things about himself.”
Callum threw his head back and laughed. “He’s got to be the dumbest thief in history.”
“This is unbelievable.” She stared at the picture. “What do I do now? We know the name of the company he works for.”
“Call them. I’ll talk to someone there if they’re open and see if we can’t get a better idea of the itinerary for the trip Sergio’s leading right now. Maybe we can say we missed the tour bus and are trying to catch up or something.”
For the first time, this ridiculous plan seemed to be sort of brilliant.
If it had been anyone but Callum, Lydia would have wanted to hug him again.
But it was Callum Scott. A man who was excellent at pretending and lying.
A man who hates you.
Lesson learned:guard your heart and that way, it won’t ever be broken.