1. Too Good To Be True

Eight Months Later

Lilian wasn't thinkinganything about that conversation with her sister, Quinn, eight months later as she got ready for work in her little four-hundred-square-foot studio apartment that she could barely afford. Living on yogurt and ramen noodles helped. So did walking the six blocks to work each day saving her any transportation costs. Come winter though, she wasn't so sure that was going to be an option on the really cold days.

She'd deal with it then. The three months she'd lived here had been somewhat wonderful.

Not the job part that turned out to be too good to be true.

Yep, she was putting her communication degree to work. Little did she know being an Assistant Communications Manager actually meant being an assistant to the Communications Manager. Who was still notches under the Communications Director and the VP of Communications. There were others in between, but she'd lost track at this point.

So the truth was she spent most of her time running errands, taking notes, assisting in writing policies and procedures for the insurance firm she worked for and getting all the grunt work handed over.

In her mind, it was nothing more than what an intern would do.

But the salary drew her in and she found it just cost so much more to live here that of course the salary would be higher.

She was considering a second job on the weekends because during the week was out of the question with her having to work late all the time with no notice.

Lilian finished with her makeup in the small bathroom, packed up her supplies in the little cosmetic bag and put it under the sink. There was no room to leave anything on the counter more than her toothbrush.

She walked over behind the wardrobe unit that held her clothing, shoes, towels, pantry items and even spare sheets and blankets. That was the only thing separating her bed from the couch and the TV she had on the wall.

She found the shoes she wanted to wear in the bin where they were all neatly stored. It was the only way everything fit.

Her bed was made, the doors were shut on the unit and she moved to the living room to check everything was picked up there. The last thing she wanted to do was come home to clutter.

She packed her lunch in the little galley kitchen, then grabbed her laptop and purse and walked out the door. No elevator in her building, so she went down the two flights of stairs.

Ten minutes later, she was turning the corner in downtown Manhattan toward the high-rise building she worked in, and pulling the fake diamond out of her purse and slipping it on her finger. There was a little coffee shop she had to stop at today like she did every Monday and get her boss and staff members their coffee. They allowed her to get one for herself too. Yay her. It was her splurge of the week.

She put her order in and went to sit off to the side while she waited. One of the drinks was always complicated and took forever. She felt like a fool even giving it and had to read it off the text they all sent her the night before. Some texted her this morning, but they knew it had to be before seven as she was getting the order to be in her office by seven thirty.

"There you are again."

She turned and held back her sigh. For over a month now, the server would come and talk to her while he dropped off orders. Flirt with her was more like it.

"I'm here," she said.

"You look nice."

"Thanks," she said. Lilian never addressed him by his name though she knew it. It was even on his nametag.

It was rude, but she didn't want to give any indication that she was interested.

Connor was his name. He'd asked her out twice, and twice she'd said no. But he'd kept up the flirting even after she'd shown up with the ring on. His eyes had landed on it, but he never asked another question about it.

"I should get to work," Connor said.

"Yeah, you should," another man said. His name was Rod. He was a dick.

He was always talking down to the employees while he got his skinny latte.

The first time she'd heard that order she wanted to laugh but didn't. That wouldn't be nice.

He also had asked her out. Three times. She told him no. Every. Single. Time.

It drove her insane that she appeared to be fresh blood in the ocean around a pool of sharks when she'd first walked in the door of the cafe months ago.

By now, most of the men who came here knew she was a regular and when she showed up they circled her like flies on melted ice cream.

She turned back to her phone and hoped Rod would go to another seat. He didn't.

He came and sat across from her. "Is there something you want?" she asked.

Lilian didn't want to come off as a bitch, but she could handle herself. She had spent so much of her life trying to blend in and not be noticed.

She wasn't sure why it wasn't working here.

"I'm curious why you never talk about your fiancé," Rod said.

"I don't normally talk to anyone while I'm here," she said. "I'm just getting coffee for work and then getting on with my day."

"I've asked about you, Lilian Baker."

Her face color drained a bit. "Who have you asked and why?" She never gave her last name here. Only her first. Rod was not a coworker, only someone she saw here at the cafe.

"Just trying to find out more about you. I've heard your name given when you've come in here. Your work badge was exposed out of your purse one day."

She'd have to be more careful. Her sister would throw a fit if she knew that.

"That's a little intrusive," she said, angling her head. She was a bit more sarcastic than she wanted to be, but it was hard not to put her foot down.

He laughed at her. Like he thought she was flirting with him. As if she'd be flattered he'd done what he had.

"Nah," Rod said. "Just letting you know. You know what I think?"

"I'm sure you're going to tell me," she said, putting her phone down.

He smirked. "I think that ring is fake. I think either your fiancé is trying to pull one over on you...or you don't have a fiancé at all. You're too young to have a ring that big. Unless of course you're dating an older man."

She shouldn't have bought this ring, but it looked pretty online and as real as she could get. It was two carats. It was just a single stone and it looked fine to her. It's not like she wore it anywhere other than in this coffee shop and to work.

She hadn't meant to wear it in the office, but she'd forgotten to take it off one day.

Of course, one of her coworkers saw it and asked.

The ring also hadn't stopped one of the other managers that she didn't work with from making inappropriate comments to her about her attire.

Well, not necessarily inappropriate but unwanted, and saying no didn't seem to stop it either.

Now she had to keep the ring on or someone would ask where it went. She almost admitted why she had it on one day but was glad she didn't if Rod was asking about her.

If he knew where she worked, he might know someone in the building. For all she knew, he worked in the building too. There were more businesses in there than she knew of.

"Does it matter?" she asked. "It's none of your business."

Rod shrugged. "It could be there is no fiancé or even any boyfriend at all."

He was smirking at her now.

"Hey, honey," she heard and turned her head to see a gorgeous guy in a suit standing next to her. "You left before me this morning. I thought we were going to leave at the same time."

Rod's jaw dropped and she wasn't sure why. All she could think of was she couldn't get away from this crap, but the guy in the suit had been in here before. He always watched and didn't say much to anyone.

He was often on his phone, as she was. Sometimes he was talking to people, but she tried not to listen. It was rude.

And right now, the look in his eye told her he was trying to help.

Maybe if she just played along all this attention on her would end once and for all. If she had her way, she'd just find another coffee shop, but it wasn't her choice.

"Sorry about that," she said. "You were running late and you know I have a meeting this morning."

The guy laughed. He had his drink in his hand. Looked to be just a normal coffee like she got.

Her drinks were being brought over saving her once again. Or so she thought until the mystery man said, "Then let's walk out together."

Lilian hoped he didn't turn out to be another guy hitting on her, but she didn't have much of a choice unless she wanted her ruse discovered, so she stood and let the sexy man put his hand on her lower back to shift her out of the way as he lifted the drink tray off the table for her.

There were a lot of eyes on her when she walked out and she had no idea why that was. Her best hope was she could convince her coworkers that they needed to get coffee from another place. Maybe she could spike one of them to give someone a stomachache and that would help her cause?!