“Only the list of songs they gave you.”

Settled back at home, Liza locked herself in the bathroom at eight fourteen and waited for a call. When the phone rang, a sweet voice answered when Liza said hello.

“Hi, this is Gigi Fitzgerald. We met at the—”

“I remember you, Gigi. I don’t know what you’d have to do with Isaiah, but Dorsey thought we should talk.”

“I just want to start off by saying that my brother can be a little shy about interacting, but he’s not mean. I don’t think he meant to—”

“Oh, that’s okay. That’s all . . . that’s not important.” She wasn’t in the mood for a rousing defense of Dorsey right now.

“Okay, so I won’t hold you up. When I was a young girl, Isaiah’s mom used to braid my hair. I’d probably had a crush on him since I was eleven years old. So, imagine my face at my eighteenth birthday when he told me he wanted me to help him start a company.”

“Gigi, I’m sorry if Dorsey told you—”

“Liza, just let me get the whole thing out before I lose my courage.”

“Okay.” Liza’s grip tightened on the phone.

“In a year’s time, he had fleeced me for over fifty thousand dollars in free labor and a hundred and seventeen thousand dollars out of my trust.”

Liza was trying to process all that. “Wow, um, Gigi. Did he steal from you?”

“No, I gave it freely. In fact, I stole over forty thousand dollars from my parents’ friends for him. Once everyone found out that it was a scam, I was the one who got busted. I was looking at max fifteen to twenty years and a felony on my record for the rest of my life. My parents had the money to clear this up and get my charges reduced. But I still have a record, and it will follow me for the rest of my life. I found out later that Isaiah had signed an affidavit stating that everything was my idea, then left the country. Whatever you’re doing with Isaiah, make sure you don’t get caught holding the bag. He wraps himself up in legitimacy and just takes from people.”

A slow, creeping shame began to inch its way across her chest. “Thank you for letting me know the type of man he is.” The knowledge seemed to crack inside her like ice. She believed Gigi. But surely this work with Netherfield, her proposal, wasn’t a scam. They were going through all the proper channels. She’d seen to the necessary financial checks throughout the proposal herself.

Surely this was different.

She wasn’t a lovesick eighteen-year-old. But something still and quiet in the back of her mind knew it was true.

“Liza?”

“Yes?”