Lie of My Life

1 The Pact

"Seafoam green or periwinkle? The painters need to know today," Mindy, my brand new, fresh faced and eager assistant was asking me the moment I entered the office located on the bottom floor of my apartment building. I took a sip of coffee and she fell into step beside me as I passed the customer lounge and looked in to see a few new clients already waiting to see me.

"Seafoam," I told her, draining the dregs of my cup and tossing the rest into the trash. "Appointments?"

"Mr. Lawson is already here for his eight o' clock. You've got Mr. and Mrs. Henson at ten and Brad Cork at one."

"Ugh," I groaned at the final name. Bradley Cork was a wealthy young real estate investor and one of our biggest clients. Unfortunately for me, he was also obsessed with me. He found reasons to stop by the office, bring me gifts, and flirt shamelessly in front of my employees. I had rejected his advances on multiple occasions but he was one of those narcissists with the persistence of a worker bee and I couldn't get rid of him.

I walked into the customer lounge and glanced around at the various well dressed clients in the space sitting beneath the silver CountryVibes, Nashville TN sign. I glanced to Susan, our receptionist, who had just answered the phone. "CountryVibes. This is Susan."

"Walk ins?" I whispered and she nodded, holding up three fingers and gesturing at the customers in the lounge. I turned to Mindy and told her. "Take one to Emma, one to Aaron, and one to Carter."

"Aaron and Carter are on site today."

"Right. Okay. Cody and Alex then."

She nodded, jotting down the names in her ever present notepad as I turned to the kind older man watching me expectantly.

"Mr. Lawson, if you'll follow me."

Just like that, my day had begun. I spent the morning meeting with clients, going over the designs I had created for their homes, and calling our suppliers. By eleven, I was on my second caffeine boost of the day and gathering my things to meet with our accountant and my best friend, Emma Swan. She came sauntering up to my desk at 10:57, punctual as always, tossing her ombre red hair over her shoulders and smiling at me with her heavily glossed lips.

"Ready?" she asked,

"As always."

We spent our lunch going over this quarter's budget and chatting. Emma and I always had lunch together, being the two stuck in the office most. After an hour, she stood, brushing the crumbs from her dress and asked. "We still on for game night tonight?"

"You know it."

"Are the guys coming? Aaron was saying it was going to be a late night at the reno site tonight."

"I haven't heard otherwise."

She nodded, watching as I pulled a file from my drawer. "You have another meeting soon?"

I nodded. "Bradley Cork."

The effect was instantaneous. Her lips were immediately pulled into a frown. "Do you want me to stay?"

"I can handle it."

"Okay. But if he gets too creepy-"

"I know. Hit the panic button."

I help up my phone and she nodded, then gave me a wave and walked off back to her desk, bombarded on the way by a junior accountant with his laptop in his hands.

An hour later, as promised, Bradley Cork was standing in front of my desk, a confident smile plastered onto his arrogant face. I forced a smile of my own and gestured for him to sit. He did, crossing one leg over the other in that easy way of men who thought they owned the world.