Page 103 of The First Taste

“They’re not. Look.” She holds up her phone’s video camera to her tablet screen. I see the name Natasha Smith, followed by a work ID that is clearly Natasha. My eyebrows rise.

“That’s her,” I agree.

“Look at the other one.” Saffron swipes her finger across her tablet.

Again, I’m faced with a work ID. But this time, there is a matching driver’s license. The picture in both shows a young Natasha, her hair cropped and bleach blonde. But the kicker has to be the name.

Ellen Simon.

“That’s her too!” I say. “Where did you find all of that out?”

Saffron looks at the camera again, shrugging. “It was actually really easy. I hired a private investigator. Within like thirty minutes, he found a lot of dirt.”

My eyes widen. “Like what? I mean, the fake names thing is weird, but it could be for a reason…”

She shakes her head solemnly.

“So Natasha’s alter egos? They were also personal assistants to two CEOs. Both of them had torrid affairs with the men that they worked for. Both of them later sued and settled, leaving behind broken families and CEOs that had to leave their companies.”

My jaw drops. “What the fuck? Natasha is a gold digger and a life ruiner?”

“She definitely is. There’s absolutely zero doubt about it. And Keiran is an easy target. He’s the front man for a very public company. He’s undergone a private divorce. Our family stands to lose a lot if Keir’s supposed affair or sexual harassment were thrown into the spotlight.”

“I don’t even know what to say! What a sneaky bitch!” I put a hand to my forehead. “God, I have to tell Keir.”

“Whoa, whoa. Not so fast.” Saffron frowns. “Listen to me. As Keiran’s sister, I need you to be aware of something. He has a tendency to react to bad news… well, badly.”

I put my hands out. “What do you mean?”

“Keiran takes it personally. Like, he had a guy that worked as his personal accountant for years. His name was Mike. Keiran liked him a lot. He even invited Mike to join his yacht club, which is sort of a big deal. Anyway, long story short… Mike was embezzling money from Keiran. Like hundreds of thousands of pounds. And when my Dad told Keiran…” She shakes her head.

I crane my neck, impatient. “What?”

“Keiran didn’t believe him! He almost split our family apart because he spent a small fortune dragging bankers and forensic accountants and private investigators through all our family accounts. It was ridiculous. All because Keiran said that Mike claimed he was innocent.” She rolls her eyes and shakes her head emphatically. “Like the accountant would tell him the truth after he stole so much from Keiran’s accounts.”

She scoffs. I try to figure out what Saffron is saying, in her roundabout way.

“So… you think we should just let Keir be blindsided by Natasha?” I ask, my brow furrows. “That doesn’t sound great.”

“No, no. I think that there is definitely a way to make Keiran think that he just accidentally stumbled across it.”

“You mean… lie?”

Saffron pulls a face. “Not lie. Just… arrange the truth in a different way so that my brother believes that he found out this information on his own.”

I bite my lip. “I… don’t know. That sounds pretty extreme.”

She looks thoughtful. “Okay. I’ll make a deal with you. You sit on the information for a few days. In the meantime, I will figure out how to slip Natasha’s record into a stack of papers that he’s sure to come across. Or maybe her old documents will get forwarded to Keiran from an unknown source. Either way, our hands would stay perfectly clean.”

Pursing my lips, I give Saffron a hard look. “I really don’t want to lie to Keir.”

“On my honor. I swear you won’t. You will just sit back and let me present the evidence in the best way possible. It’s for his own good.”

Releasing a breath, I shrug. “You’ve known him for your whole life. He’s your big brother. If you say that it’s handled, then I guess I can keep my lips zipped for a week.”

A male voice says something in the background on Saffron’s end. She rolls her eyes and nods to whoever is talking.

“I have to go. But I’m glad we talked! I’m going to dig into all of this in the morning.”