people who work for him. He still gets to put his name on the clothes.”
“But it took him years to build his brand. He did the work, in the trenches. He earned that right. But what has Sasha done? She hasn’t earned her place with her design skill, I can tell you that much.”
“So you think she’s using other designers to create her dresses, and she’s doing it away from LeFranc so no one knows she’s actually a fraud?”
“Exactly,” Chase said, his tone gentle. “But my hunch is that whatever underlings she hired don’t have what it takes to create a wedding dress good enough for her to wear herself. She had to find someone else with that kind of talent.”
I closed my eyes, a hand pressed to my stomach. “Someone like me?”
Chase nodded. “She already has Paige’s dress? Like, in her possession?”
I leaned back into my chair. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
Chase picked up the magazine and started fanning me with it. “Talk me through it, Dani. Tell me what happened.”
“She showed up at my apartment. I guess she’d looked through my sketchbook, and then Paige was actually wearing the dress when she came in because I’d been fixing the hem, and then she just told me so many amazing things. Talked about bowing from the runway at fashion week. She didn’t give me any reason not to believe her, Chase.”
“I’m sure. She’s very convincing.”
And yet, I had had a reason not to believe her. Alex’s warning had told me not to trust her.
“How long would I have kept picking up lattes and answering her emails before I realized it was all a lie? I’m her pawn. Her puppet. That’s all I’ve ever been to her.” I forced a breath out through my nose. “No decent designer in all of New York would stand for Sasha Wellington claiming one of their designs as her own. But she knew I would, right? Because I’ve been doing it for months.” Tears welled in my eyes and I pushed a hand against my forehead. “Why am I so gullible?”
Chase reached for my hand, then scooted around and sat on the edge of my desk, our clasped hands resting on his knee.
“I’m an idiot,” I said.
He rubbed slow circles on my back. “Hey. We’re going off our hunches here, right? We don’t know anything for sure. Maybe she’s telling the truth.”
“She promised me she’d turn me into someone. Said I would be a part of something special.” I hiccupped a laugh. “And I fell for it.”
“Shhh. Maybe you still will be. You could absolutely be freaking out for no reason.”
“I appreciate the encouragement, but I’m done being optimistic. She stole my dress. Simple as that.”
Chase was silent long enough, he had to agree with me. “So what do we do about it?” he finally said.
Good question. “Make another one?”
“You could, though you run the risk of her accusing you of stealing her idea.”
My shoulders fell. If it actually did come to that, no one would ever believe me over Sasha. I pulled my sketchbook out of my purse and opened the page to the finished rendering of Paige’s dress. I flipped the book around and handed it to Chase.
He whistled, running his hands across the image. “It’s stunning, Dani. It’s no wonder she wanted it.”
“I feel like such an idiot.”
Chase leaned forward and kissed my temple, giving my shoulders a final squeeze. “Let’s find out the truth first. Don’t lose heart until you absolutely have to.”
Later that night, a text came in from Paige. Staying at work tonight so don’t wait up. How’s my dress?
I paused the Friends reruns I was binging and stared at Paige’s text. I couldn’t tell her. Not until I knew something definite.
Gorgeous as ever, I responded. It was a lie, but I had to buy a little time somehow. How was I ever going to tell Paige the truth?
Chapter Twelve
Alex
“Alex!” Isaac called to me from somewhere—the kitchen, maybe?—with a volume and intensity that might have alarmed me three months ago. I’d since grown used to Isaac reacting to everything from running out of paper towels to burning his toast with the same vigor he would an approaching hurricane.
I closed my laptop with a weary sigh and stood from the concrete bench in the corner of the side garden. The garden was frequently the quietest place in Isaac’s house. Fortunately, our other roommates didn’t spend very much time outside.
“Should I get you a bell you can ring