Page 5 of Everyone’s a Liar

“Girl, I don’t think so.” Crossing the room, Marcel settled behind his desk and logged into his computer. “You might not be a bitch, but thankfully I am petty enough for both of us.”

Alarmed by the expression of determination on her friend’s face, Livia hurried toward the desk.

“What are you going to do?”

“Leave a few messages on his social media.” Marcel concentrated on his task. “The world should know that he’s a creep who breaks into women’s homes and sniffs their panties.”

Livia flinched. “He didn’t sniff my panties.”

“You don’t know that he wasn’t going to. I mean, he had to be in your bedroom for a reason.”

“Marcel, please,” Livia protested.

She didn’t mind humiliating Jacob. In fact, she hoped someday that he got exactly what he deserved. But she didn’t want any public drama.

What if he tried to retaliate?

Marcel ignored her plea, leaning forward to study his monitor. “Wait. It’s Pearson, right? P. E. A. R. S. O. N?”

“Yes, why?

“He doesn’t have any social media accounts?”

“Of course he does. I checked after he asked me to join him for a drink. I’ve had too many jerks hit on me who have a wife and a pack of kids waiting for him at home.”

Livia sighed at the memory of how eagerly she’d scoured his accounts, enlarging every picture of Jacob on the beach or in his expensive sports car. She’d made very sure there weren’t any women standing next to him with a wedding ring on her finger.

“I can’t find anything.” Marcel glanced up with a frown. “At least none that look like your Jacob Pearson.”

“He’s not mine, thank God.” Livia pulled out her phone. “I’ll find it for you, but you’re not leaving any messages.”

“Party pooper.”

“You mean mature adult?”

“No, I mean party pooper. Where’s your sense of fun?”

“Childish revenge isn’t my sense of …” The words dried on Livia’s lips as she stared at her phone. She closed out the social app and opened another, then another. All of them showed the same thing. “What the hell is going on?” she muttered.

“Livia?”

“Someone deactivated his accounts.” She glanced up to meet Marcel’s curious gaze. “All of them.”

“Bastard.” Marcel shook his head in disgust. “He must be afraid you intend to out him as a weirdo.”

“If that was the reason he could have easily blocked me,” Livia pointed out, unable to dismiss a niggling anxiety. “Scrubbing his online accounts seems a little drastic.”

“What about his business accounts?” Marcel suggested. “He’s a financial advisor, isn’t he?”

“He has a website.” Livia used her phone to pull up his page. Or at least she tried. What she got was a warning that the website no longer existed. The anxiety turned up a dozen notches. “Shit. What’s going on?”

She turned the phone for Marcel to see the blank page. His brows slowly lifted, as if struck by a sudden realization.

“Oh, Livia. You weren’t ghosted. You were catfished.”

Livia shoved the phone back into her satchel with a frown. She was still trying to accept the fact that Jacob had crashed into her life and then just as abruptly disappeared. Like a hit and run. Now she had to consider the fact that he wasn’t Jacob at all? No. It was giving her whiplash.

“There has to be another explanation,” she insisted. “Why would anyone catfish me?”