Love and Its Lies

Seven - Who are You?

Danny did not look happy being dragged back to the hotel. Aly was quiet the entire way, and only spoke when they were standing in front of her room. “Let’s talk in here. Don’t touch any of my stuff.”

Danny only rolled his eyes but followed her in. He took his suit jacket off and hung it neatly on the back of a chair. “Love what you’ve done to the place,” he sarcastically commented as he examined the bottles of beauty products placed orderly on the vanity desk.

“Take a seat,” Aly motioned to the chair. She took off her heels and sat on the bed.

“Is this an interrogation? Or maybe you’re the murderer, even though you go around accusing people of being one,” Danny said as he sat down with his legs crossed and his fingers folded on his lap. “Talk to me about your childhood,” he jested.

Aly chose to ignore his remarks. “Explain. Why are you following John?”

Danny groaned, clearly uninterested. “This, again. I told you, you don’t need to know. Just thank me for saving your ass back there and let’s call it quits, shall we? He almost busted you obviously eavesdropping. What’s your deal anyway? I know you’re not one of the cronies—even though you punch like one—and apparently you were college buddies,” he said, then suspiciously scanned her from head to toe. “What a coincidence for you to suddenly appear in this town a few days after he moved back, isn’t it? What’s an old college classmate whose name he doesn’t even correctly remember doing in this small town, and acting all surprised and innocent as if you weren’t expecting to see him?”

He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes at her. “Tell me, are you a stalker? Are you stalking him?”

Aly was taken aback. She had wanted to do the questioning, yet she was the one being put in a corner. “I’m not stalking him,” she said defensively, “And, if I talk, then you have to answer as well.”

“It depends on the information you give—”

“And don’t laugh or make fun of me,” she warned. Danny only shrugged but she continued, “So, John and I did meet during college, and since then I’ve been…”

“You’ve been head over heels for him, but he doesn’t like you back,” he supplied and motioned for her to go faster. “It’s written on your face. Go on.”

Aly glared at him for interrupting him. “As I was saying,” she said, “I’ve known him for 6 years and not once has he ever moved back home. Suddenly, I heard he left the city to care for his sick mom, so of course I was concerned and I wanted to check up on him.”

“And in the process, you wanted to stage a scene worthy of being a meet-cute and reunite with him,” Danny guessed correctly, seemingly unimpressed. “This is all very stalker-like, I hope you are aware.”

“It’s not—I’m not stalking him, I’m just concerned,” she repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time that week.

Danny didn’t bother to hide what he was thinking and scoffed. “Sure, tell yourself that, city girl. Whatever makes you sleep at night,” he said, looking bored as he checked the time. “Are we done yet? Have you finally said your peace? I’d like to go now because I have better things to do than to listen to some girl's quest to capture the affections of her unrequited love.”

Aly wanted to throw a pillow at him, but decided otherwise. “Now, explain to me why you’re following him and why you said it was dangerous.”

Danny considered his options for a second, then chose his words carefully. “He is not the man you think he is. It’s dangerous to keep following him, so I suggest you stop it before your fairytale world shatters.”

Aly snickered at his preposterous claims. “You sound ridiculous. John can’t even hurt an ant.”

“Oh, trust me he can hurt more than an ant.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

Danny sighed and gestured for her to come closer. “I’m only telling you this so you can stop dragging me and getting in the way of my work,” he said, pulling out his glasses from his pocket and wearing them as Aly took a seat on the chair beside him. He started scrolling through his phone in search of something.

“I’ve done some digging and found that you’re not related to the case in any way, but if you ever tell anyone—especially John—what I tell you tonight, not only will you be endangering the both of us but a hundred other people.”

It was Aly’s turn to roll her eyes. “Stop being so dramatic,” she said, but when Danny raised an eyebrow at her, she gave him a smile and an, “I won’t tell, I promise.”

He tutted his tongue and looked at her disapprovingly, but continued, “You already know what I do for a living since I showed you my ID. I’m an investigative journalist and I… ran into some evidence that says John is part of a company doing — let’s just say illegal and bad things.”

He showed her a couple of pictures of John meeting with different people, one with a scary-looking man with a tattoo that extended from his neck down to who-knows-where.

Aly was unimpressed. “This is all you’ve got on him? Pictures with people who might as well be clients or workmates? You’re proving nothing but that he works hard and he’s well-connected.”

Danny looked quite offended and snatched his phone back. “They look like normal businessmen but they’re rich and powerful people,” he said. “The word is they’re embezzling funds and laundering money. They use some of it to pay dangerous men. Anyway, you don’t need to know the nitty gritty of it. The point is that ‘your boy’ is involved with sketchy business. Did you not hear about their company in the news?”

Aly remembered momentarily seeing the news about it, but thought nothing of it. “It still doesn’t prove that John is party to their illegal—sorry, allegedly illegal business,” she said, emphasizing the word “allegedly.”

“He isn’t capable of doing anything unethical,” she confidently continued.

“Just,” Danny sighed in defeat. The girl was steadfast in her devotion, and he knew there was nothing he could say to suddenly change that. “Keep your distance, don’t do anything stupid, and don’t get in my way, okay? Why are you so in love with that guy anyway? He acts and looks like a discount budding politician.”

“He does not!” Aly glared at him, much to his amusement. “Do you really want to hear why?”

Danny took a deep breath and shrugged. “I was supposed to work, but you pulled me here and now it’s too late. I might as well.”

Danny braced himself as Aly smiled excitedly began, “Okay, so it all started in college…”