"Her dad is a conman, but that doesn't mean Raya condones this," I snap.
I know that's where she's going with this, but she's crazy if she thinks I'm leaving Raya over something her father did. His crimes aren't hers.
"Doesn't she?" she asks, looking as though she pities me.
Then she grabs several photos from the side. Pictures of the visitor's logs from the past several months. They're from the prison. Raya's name is signed in almost every month, and she stays for the full length of the visiting hours.
"The guy at the desk says she's been coming since the day he got locked up. They play cards and shit. They never argue as far as he knows. She talks to him on a regular basis, too. They're close."
Raya's words come back to me. The day she was talking about her father, she alluded to the fact they're close. She also said it was complicated. Complicated isn't exactly what I would call this. Crazy? That's a good word. What sane person goes to see a man who has no morals and enjoys seeing rich people go broke just because he feels superior to them?
"If you did this to make me—"
"I didn't," Courtney interrupts, most likely l
ying her ass off. "I did this because I'm worried about you. Raya's just like him. She's good at conning people. All the people in her town—"
"You went to her hometown?" I ask, scooting away from the psycho stalker beside me.
She rolls her eyes as though I'm being ridiculous. Yeah, I'm the one not acting appropriately. Crazy world.
"I had to. After I did some digging and realized that Capperton was just a name she ended up with, considering her father was using it as an alias at the time, I needed details. Everyone there was eager to talk. They said Raya is just as skilled at the game as he is. She hustles. I know that. Lyle even said she worked the pool table like a professional."
My teeth grind just thinking back to that night, and she sighs.
"Don't you see? She was working her angle with you, but I know how incredibly hard you are to get to. My brother offered her an easy target, considering he was drooling over her and lapping up everything she said. She had him by the balls in less than five minutes. You saw it. Just so happens that it worked out better for her that you had a jealous streak. In the end, she got exactly what she wanted."
My chest tightens, but I shake my head, swallowing back bile.
"She... That's not... Raya didn't do that to make me jealous, and she wasn't trying to get to Lyle. She just—"
"What? Went on a date with a guy she didn't know? A rich guy who was practically begging to lick her feet? Hmm. Yeah, that sounds perfectly innocent. And then she plays a game of seduction and intrigue. You saw the way she was bending over and acting."
"You have to bend over a pool table to make shots like she was making," I counter, desperately grabbing on to anything that makes sense of all this. She wouldn't. She couldn't.
"And you don't find it coincidental that she manages to end up in the house with you when she was supposedly flat broke?"
That pisses me off. "It wasn't her fault that those idiots crashed into her house. I was there. Raya was lucky to survive."
Courtney shakes her head, acting as though I'm some poor fool in need of salvation.
"Her two roommates were friends with all four of those guys. I know. I talked to them. Do you think it's feasible that they were friends, yet never met Raya? I don't. It's also suspicious that she just happened to go take a shower that late at night, considering she would have been killed had she been in her room. So many things don't add up."
I suck in a sharp breath, but Courtney doesn't even give me time to exhale before she hits me again.
"And she's not broke. Never has been. Her father's bank account rivals my parents'. Don't ask me how I know that. But it's ridiculous. Considering all of his money was confiscated when he went to prison, it's rather suspicious that he now sits on a padded account. He's in prison. It's a little hard for him to be making money, wouldn't you say? Especially since his profession requires for him to be out of a cell. That means someone is bringing in the cash. Daddy's girl is making him proud."
I get dizzy, nauseated, and everything on my body becomes too heavy. But that doesn't make sense.
"She ate canned tuna because she didn't have cash," I say, sounding crazy with that being out of context.
But Courtney doesn't miss a beat. "I'm sure she did a lot of things to sell it, Kade. That's what they do. Her father spent a week as a gardener while he was wooing an heiress. He walked away with fifteen million dollars after that stunt, even though they never could prove it. Raya isn't broke. In fact, Lyle said she had a wad of cash with her the night they went to the bar.
"I've also got pictures of this guy. He goes to the jail regularly. I think he's in on this con with them. He could be dating Raya."
She pushes a picture forward, and the last breath I had heaves out of my lungs. It's the guy who was in my house the day before we went to Aspen. He was bringing her money from her father. Raya was wearing those sexy pajamas that she now wears for me. I knew it was odd, because she never ran around the house in those before.
Is this real? Am I really some naïve sucker she's been using?