Young and Scambitious (Scambitious #1)

Jane

For a good, long minute, Jane forgot a lot of things.

She forgot where she was. She had drifted off into a nap for a second and woke up wondering if she was still in Queens, on her aunt's couch. No—Vancouver at her cousin's? No. Manila. Right. This was happening.

And then she took a deep breath and with it more sense memories came back, specifically last night, and this guy, who was obviously not a student of whatever that degree was, couldn't have accomplished half the things he said he had. But it didn't seem to matter to him, specifics, and she appreciated that. She wasn't going to be particular about things she couldn't provide herself.

Everyone fell in love while on the job, she knew that, but she had never actually lied all the way through. Much less with someone who seemed to enjoy it, or at the very least tolerated it. But what kind of future could they have together though, if they actually had to drop the act? Jane wasn't all that interesting, and she suspected neither was he.

Then she realized why she shouldn't be doing this. It was a shame to have someone learn exactly how to make her pant, and tingle, and scream, and in turn discover how to make him insane with a touch, a squeeze, a scratch—and then never have it happen again. What a waste of precious knowledge.

Her clutch was on top of the bedside table and it inched slightly away from her, phone buzzing. There was a message from Margaux.

Balyena wants to meet tonight. I've told C.

Jane almost giggled. The code for the buyer was accurate and yet rude, because it was never proper to refer to someone as a whale, in any language. Not that they were doing strictly proper things. In any case, this could all end tonight, if she played shrewdly, and then she could go back to being normal again.

She slipped out of bed, put her clothes back on, and prepared for a stealthy exit, not unlike Gabriel's from six weeks ago. She pressed a kiss against his earlobe, knowing that the level breathing was a ruse, and let herself out.

--O--

A shower, a cup of coffee, and a donut later, and Jane was feeling more in the zone. There was a problem but she was thinking through it, and the solution was starting to fall into place.

Margaux sought her out because Jane was talented at one particular thing, and she was going to give the woman her money's worth.

Acting rich was a crude way of putting it. What Jane was good at was playing into certain stereotypes. Blending into certain groups. And gaining the trust of certain people.

It served her well when she was younger, and in school, or in one of the many schools she went to. It became handy when she got a little older, and wanted to finance a certain lifestyle. It became essential when her mother checked out completely and expected Jane to keep up that lifestyle for the two of them.

The problem, Margaux explained, when they "accidentally" met at that breakfast café in New York City, was that "the bitch got greedy." Chrysalis and the Magnolia family weren't clean, and they knew Margaux from previous shady transactions. Chrysalis needed money, her parents no longer wanted to give her any, and she had (on her own) tried to make a claim for insurance money on her engagement ring from Stephen Sandoval, after reporting it stolen.

There was some fanfare behind it and it must have seemed easy at the time. Two of Chrysalis' closest socialite friends had gotten "bling ringed" by another friend, someone they had let in the group and started picking up things from their houses. C's ring was never actually stolen, but she on a whim announced that it had been, and tried to get the insurance money for it.

It didn't work out, Margaux said, because the child was an amateur. There was a police report later, bought and paid for, but the only response it got from the insurance company was a denial and that while the Sandoval family had been preferred clients for generations, Stephen Sandoval himself had not insured this particular gift. And that they would not have approved it, knowing that the precious item was going to be in the care of the notoriously flighty Ms. Magnolia.

Was there even a policy? Margaux asked. No, apparently, Chrysalis had only assumed it was insured because Stephen said so. Still screwing her months after the breakup.

Margaux suggested that she would be able to find a buyer for the ring anyway, even a famously "stolen" one.

Chrysalis warmed up to that idea. A meeting was set up, a buyer ("Dolphin") was met, but when Chrysalis found out how much someone was willing to pay for it she decided she wanted to keep it. And sell a copy instead.

At no point did Margaux think it was beyond her control though. Margaux was used to greed, and flakes, and people who appeared as one thing but were really another. But her ways didn't work as well with Chrysalis and her ilk now. She needed a younger face.

Jane cleared her throat. Her "Elizabeth" voice was drawn for somewhere near the back, a lower register, and she gave it slight lilts, vaguely reminiscent of a childhood in California. Then she took out her phone.

"C?" she said, when the person answered.

"Oh god I was going to call you. I haven't slept at all trying to get—"

"C, my mom wants us to go to Tokyo again. We're leaving at three. I can pick up the cash on the way to the airport."

"At three?"

"Well no. I have to be at the airport by one. Twelve-thirty?"

"Elizabeth, I haven't even showered—"

"Fine, I'll just take the ring with me to Tokyo."

"Fuck. How long will you be in Tokyo?"

"I don't know. It's a shopping trip."

"Can't you just leave the ring with me? I'll keep it safe, I promise."

"But it'll go so well with my outfits."

"Fuck. Can I call you back?"

"No problem. Am just packing."

Jane set the phone down.

A text came in five minutes later: All right. Pick up money at 12:30.

She sent messages to Margaux, Wendy, and Alexander, then ordered another donut. The Tokyo thing was a lie, but she was definitely going to start packing. This thing looked like it was very nearly over.