Hired As His Fake Girlfriend

Chapter 7: My best friend is a Snitch

“I think I’ve heard enough s**t from you, Evan Sterling.” I sneered, wiping away the tears that finally found its way out of my eyes.

“Very well then,” he said, turning his attention back to his phone. “You can see your immature, sorry self out of my office.”

I scoffed and turned to leave, before he spoke up again. “Oh and Lila, know your place in my house, and please quit the tears, they don’t move me. Our arrangement would be discussed over dinner.”

I slammed the door behind me, my chest heaving. I couldn’t believe I’d just been humiliated like that. Again. My whole body felt heavy as I stumbled down the hallway, barely noticing anything around me.

And then, bam—I ran right into someone.

“Oh dear! Miss Weston, are you alright?” Maureen looked like I’d just run over her puppy.

Maureen appeared as though her puppy had just been run over.

“I’m okay,” I whispered without lifting my gaze. My cheeks were on fire, my hands trembled with unease. “Just… can you take me to my room?”

She hesitated, clearly unsure if I was actually okay. (Spoiler: I wasn’t.) But she nodded and started walking, and I just followed, feeling like a zombie.

We got to this massive door, and Maureen opened it like she was unveiling some grand prize on a game show. “This is your room, Miss Weston.”

I walked in, and—wow. This place was insane. The bed looked like something out of a palace, all fluffy and way too big. The windows were huge, and the chandelier hanging above me? Ridiculous. I half expected to see gold-plated toilet seats in the bathroom or something.

But instead of being impressed, it just felt… off. Like I didn’t belong here.

Maureen gave me a sympathetic look. “Dinner will be ready in about an hour,” she said, closing the door behind her.

Great. Dinner with the devil himself. I plopped down on the overly soft bed and gazed up at the ceiling. How on earth did my life end up like this? One moment, I’m struggling to get through school, and the next, I find myself trapped in a mansion with a man who believes he possesses me.

I took out my phone, my fingers trembling as I called Maya’s number. She answered on the first ring, as if she had been anticipating my call.

“Lila, are you okay?! What’s going on?” Her voice was all panicked, which just made me feel worse.

“No, I’m not okay,” I whispered, trying not to start crying again. “It’s a mess, Maya. He’s horrible. You should’ve heard the things he said to me…”

I told her everything. Every disgusting thing Evan said, every look, every humiliating moment. I just spilled it all.

“Holy crap, Lila…” Maya sounded horrified. “I knew it was bad, but that’s… wow.”

“Yeah. Wow,” I said bitterly, wiping my nose with the sleeve of my shirt. “I don’t know how I’m going to survive this.”

She was quiet for a second, and I could feel it coming. Maya had something to say.

“Okay, so… don’t freak out,” she started.

Oh god. I already hated where this was going.

“Maya, what did you do?”

“I, um… I told your parents about everything,” she blurted out.

I sat up so fast I almost gave myself whiplash. “YOU DID WHAT?!”

“I’m sorry! I was worried, and you weren’t telling them anything! I thought maybe—”

“Oh my god, Maya. They’re going to freak out. Why would you do that?!” I was pacing the room now, trying not to lose my freaking mind. “Do you know what you’ve done?”

“I just thought they should know,” she said, her voice small. “You weren’t talking to anyone. I didn’t want you to go through this alone!”

Before I could even respond, there was a knock on the door.

“Miss Weston, dinner is ready,” Maureen’s voice came from the other side.

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I have to go. I’ll call you after.”

“Lila, I’m so sorry—”

“I know,” I muttered, hanging up. “I know.”

******

Dinner was as awkward as I expected. Evan sat at the head of the table, acting like this was just a random Tuesday. He barely looked at me, too busy scrolling through his phone. I just pushed the food around my plate, feeling like I was in some weird alternate reality.

Finally, after what felt like a century, he put his phone down and spoke.

“I’ve contacted my lawyer. The documentation for our agreement will be prepared by tomorrow.”

I poked at a chicken piece with my fork. “Fantastic,” I replied, my voice heavy with sarcasm. “So does little miss slave get to go back to school?”

He carried on, acting as though it was the most ordinary chat, saying, “My mother will receive the news shortly. She may be challenging, but she will commit to the relationship. You only need to fulfill your role.”

I was about to say something sarcastic when we both heard a loud noise from outside. A crash.

Evan’s head snapped up, and before I knew it, he was up from his chair and pulling me toward the door. “Stay behind me,” he muttered, his hand gripping mine like I’d run away if I could. (Which I probably would’ve.)

“What the hell—”

We went out, and before I could react, I felt a sudden sting on my face. I staggered backwards, feeling my cheek burning, and gazed upwards, only to witness—

“Mom?!” I squeaked when I spoke. My darn mother.

She had a red face filled with anger and appeared ready to erupt. “Lila, how did you manage to pull this s**t off?!”

“M-Mom, I—”

“Do you know what Maya told us?” she interrupted, her voice shaking. “About this… this arrangement? How could you keep this from us? From me?”

Evan was just standing there, watching like it was some kind of soap opera. Of course, this was all entertainment to him.

“Mom, it’s not like that, I was going to—”

“No, Lila, you weren’t!” she cried. “You weren’t going to tell us anything! Do you even understand what you’ve gotten yourself into?”

I couldn’t even speak. My throat felt like it was closing up, my brain was scrambling to find words, but nothing came out.

She turned her attention to Evan. “And you. How dare you involve my daughter in whatever this is?”