He told me himself when I was on the phone with him, right before I sent him the pictures of Brandi’s mug shot. I asked him, point-blank. He didn’t even hesitate.

“The only way we’ll get away with it is if we pin it on someone else. If the cops have a prime suspect, they won’t come after me.” I sigh, still shuffling through the jumble of thoughts swarming my brain. “Come on, think. If I’m going to split my money with you guys, you’re gonna have to pull your weight.”

“Izzy,” Mei says, right away. “Easy.”

I shake my head. I’ve already thought of that. “No motive. They’re not married yet.”

She bites her lip, the cigarette forgotten between her fingers. “Then who do we pin it on?”

I stare at her, mind racing, and then it comes to me, that final piece to the puzzle that makes the image so clear. “Hold your breath. I’m fucking brilliant.”

They both stare at me, waiting with their heads cocked in anticipation.

“We kill two birds with one stone. Brandi, the sociopathic, wannabe fashion girl who got turned down for the job of her dreams. She goes down for his murder. I get my payout from the estate because everything is in my name. Nate is mine again. It’s beyond genius.”

Mei snorts right away. “What have you been bingeing on Netflix? That shit is dripping in melodrama.”

“I’m with Mei,” Jared says. “Who kills the CEO of a company for not hiring them?”

I roll my eyes and start to pace. It’ll work. I know it will. It has to. “Listen. The wannabe fashion girl who got turned down for the job of her dreams email-stalks the CEO who she’s stupidly in love with, then murders him out of pure jealous rage when she finds out he’s engaged.”

Jared raises a brow. “Like a crime of passion?”

“You can falsify some emails, right? Make it look like they were fucking. Like it was all planned from the start.”

Mei shakes her head, hesitant. “I don’t know.”

I glance at Jared. He doesn’t look sold, either.

I sigh and turn away, pulling my top over my shoulders. I step out of my jeans and lower myself into the pool a few inches at a time, until I’m waist deep.

“Okay,” I say, thinking out loud. “Brandi, the poor little black girl from Jersey, wants a bigger, shinier life in the city. She pursues a position at Van Doren not only to be a fashion girl, but also to get close to Simon Van Doren, her secret crush. People think my father is hot, right?”

Jared makes a grunting sound. “I’d get on my knees for your dad in a heartbeat.”

I frown. “Ew. What the fuck?”

He shrugs, smirking. “Sorry for the visual.”