A Case of Extreme Mistaken Identity - Victorine E. Lieske

Chapter 1

A tune played, and somewhere in the back of Dani’s mind, she recognized it. It was a song she liked. Wait. It was her ringtone.

Her phone was ringing, and she needed to answer it. She rolled over and regretted it when her head felt like it split open. Ouch. What had happened last night? She hadn’t had anything other than soda to drink, had she? She wracked her brain, trying to remember.

She’d been out with Victoria and Steph. They’d had some fun, but she hadn’t had alcohol. Right? Because she knew better. Alcohol and she didn’t mix well. And she definitely didn’t need another fiasco like last time.

The tune stopped. Had she not found her phone yet? Maybe it would help if she opened her eyes. She squinted in the morning light. Then she blinked. Then panic hit.

This wasn’t her room.

Where was she? She wildly scanned the walls, looking for a clue as to where she was. It looked like a hotel room. A really fancy hotel room. With a deck and a…beach view? Had she gone somewhere last night?

Then recognition dawned on her, and she moaned. Yes. Victoria had convinced her they needed a girls’ night out. They’d taken her father’s jet to the Cayman Islands and booked a room at her favorite resort, the Diamond Oasis. Or, rather, the Billionaire Club. At least, that’s what her friends all called it.

But where had Victoria and Steph gone? Her phone rang again, and this time she spotted it on the desk across the room amid a mess of cosmetics. She stood and instantly regretted the decision when lightning zapped around in her head.

The music kept going, and she knew she had to answer. She staggered across the room and picked up her phone in the pink, diamond-studded case. Why was her makeup all over the desk? It looked like a child had come in and played with it, ruining everything.

Her muscles tensed as she looked at who was calling. It was her father’s assistant, Shelby. She gritted her teeth.

Seriously? She wanted to throw the phone, but it would only keep ringing, so she slid the bar and answered. “Hello?”

“What kind of drugs did you do last night?” Her words came out clipped. Mean. Accusatory. Like always.

Dani loathed everything about Shelby, and this didn’t help at all. “I didn’t do drugs last night. All I had was a Dr. Pepper.”

“Then maybe you can explain why I’m watching a video of you making a fool of yourself.”

Shelby’s words caused her mouth to dry, and her hands shook. “What?”

“You haven’t seen it? Heavens, girl, what is wrong with you?”

Dani might have been offended at that question if she’d been paying any attention, but she barely heard it. Her throat constricted, and she couldn’t get any air in her lungs. She hung up the phone, too distraught to deal with Shelby. And that’s when she caught her reflection in the mirror.

She gasped and clutched at her throat. Lipstick covered her mouth like a mad clown, a long line of it stretching out to the side, making her look like a serial killer. The rest of her face was a mess of mascara, eyeshadow, and blush, but not always in the right places. What the heck happened last night?

Dani ran to the bathroom, suddenly sick to her stomach. After retching and tossing up everything she’d eaten in the last week, she sat on the bathroom floor and put her head in her hands. Shelby had said there was a video.

How could that be? She swore she hadn’t taken anything. Even when Victoria had insisted, Dani had refused any alcohol. Right? Or had they worn her down? A deep foreboding filled her as she grabbed her phone and searched her name.

And that’s when she saw it. A thirty-minute video Victoria and Steph had taped of her obviously drunk. They giggled and encouraged her to make a tutorial about putting on makeup. Then Victoria asked her about Rafael. Dani froze as she watched herself spill the terrible details of what happened between her and Rafael Scavo.

Dani grew sick and threw up again. How did this happen? They must have convinced her to drink. Stupid. She was so adamant she was never going to do that again. How could they have done this to her? She’d trusted them.

She couldn’t breathe. This was so much worse than last time. Thirty minutes of her embarrassing herself, telling the world her secrets, and it already had over a million views. Her