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“Margo, bring the car around to the paranormal exit. We are getting the hell out of Dodge.”

I wasn’t even aware of getting to my feet, but that was where I was, with Tess’s arm looped around me, pulling me and my numb legs through the convention hall.

The place was buzzing, the energy electric.

There was nothing people loved more than a scandal. It was always so much fun to drag a name through the mud.

As dissociative as I was becoming, I still heard snippets as we walked past people with their phones out and held at arm’s length, talking to the camera.

“Now the question on everyone’s mind is… who is Maggie? And how does Silas know her?”

A whimper escaped me.

Tess shushed me.

“Not to toot my own horn, but I was the first one to point out the red flags. I’ve been saying this whole thing was staged from the beginning. Looks like I was right.”

My throat constricted.

“She totally, like, catfished him in real life. How messed up is that?”

My step faltered, but Tess caught me, pulling me forward on shaky legs.

“I need their entire timeline ASAP. I’ll be going live at eight tonight to do some detective work with all of you. Tune in to see what we can figure out about this Maggie chick. And what she did to Silas to make him look like she’d just kicked his puppy.”

Tess yanked me out the side exit as a quiet cry escaped me.

“What are you looking at?” Tess grumbled to a crowd as we passed. “Haven’t you ever seen someone whacked out on fairy wine before?”

I was shoved into the backseat of the convertible, where I curled on my side and gave in to the well that had filled back up inside, letting it pour out.

Tess slammed the door.

Margo gunned it.

And we were out of there, as promised.

“Did you know?” I heard Margo ask some time later.

I’d fallen silent, my throat raw, my eyes so swollen that I had no choice but to keep them closed. They likely thought I was asleep.

I could feel Tess glance back at me over the seat. “No.”

“I don’t get it. Maggie’s a terrible liar. How did she keep this from everyone?”

“I have no idea. I guess I’ve been kind of distracted lately. And she’s been so busy with her book when she wasn’t working.”

“And calling in to Silas’s show under a pseudonym.”

“Don’t judge,” Tess demanded softly. “We don’t know why she did that. But we know Maggie. So we know she didn’t do it maliciously. That’s not her.”

Margo exhaled hard.

“No, you’re right.” There was a pause, nothing but the wind whipping in through Tess’s cracked window. “I’ve never seen someone cry that hard.”

“I think she really loved him. Like really, really. I mean, I’ve seen her with her exes. And I think she liked the idea of loving them more than she actually loved them.”

Ouch.