HATE LOVE

I thought about it. Theo was as headstrong as they make them. He definitely wasn't one to let anyone tell him what to do. I answered, “He's been the boss for the last twenty-five years. He pretty much does what he wants.”

Recalling what he had told me about the last time the Board told him to do something, I added, “He told me that when the Board wanted him to tone down his party persona, but it actually made him want to party more. He said he basically forced himself to party as much as possible just to spite them.”

“He sounds like he dances to his own drum.” My mom smiled with a shrug. “Then, I don't know why if he really didn't want to marry you, he would wilt under their demands now.”

Mom had a point. Theo was a true alpha. I'd seen him stroll around Pictogram with a certain air about him. He was always in control. It actually seemed unlikely he would falter just because of the Board.

“He does like to be in control,” I agreed.

“Could someone, even this almighty Board, force him to get married?” My mom looked at me with kindness in her eyes.

“I don't know,” I wondered. “Probably not.”

My mom continued, “And this Penny girl. You've met her. What did she seem like to you? Does she seem like she'd do something that crazy?”

The redhead's pinched face came to mind immediately. It always struck me as odd that she'd hated me from the beginning. I answered honestly, “Penny wasn't a very nice person, but was she crazy enough to plaster her face over another woman's head in a sex video? That's pretty crazy.”

My mom stood to clear the table. “Maybe she's that crazy.”

The idea came to me in a flash. “Well, there is one way I c

an find out for sure,” I said standing up and running into my room for my laptop. I watched the video again, pressing my nose closely to the screen. Damn. If the video was doctored, whoever did it did a damn good job.

But still, there was a way I could know for sure. There is a program that can detect when videos had been altered. They'd used it recently in police body cam videos in court. Quickly, I pilfered a copy of the program and downloaded it to my computer.

With anxiety building in my chest, I ran the file in the program and held my breath for the results. If it was doctored, then Theo wasn’t lying. But what if it wasn’t?

I gulped. Then, Theo was lost to me forever.

I paced the room as the video went under analysis. It was the longest ten minutes of my life. With a ding, the program alerted me: Doctored Video.

A relieved sigh escaped from lips. I sat back staring at the screen in shock. The video had been doctored. Penny had truly been lying, while Theo was telling the truth.

Why hadn’t I thought of running the video in the program to begin with?

I watched the video again with brand new eyes. I hadn't noticed it before, but the time stamp in the bottom right corner had been tampered with. This video definitely had not been shot last week, not even in the last year. I just hadn't realized it because once I saw it, all of my insecurities had come roaring back – the abandonment I felt from my father, the fact that so many men hadn’t been interested me because of my weight, and Theo’s own sexual history. I had let my insecurities blind me and I hadn’t used my talent and education to show me I was wrong…until now.

Theo was innocent. He really loved me. And I'd pushed him away.

I needed to find him right away.

There were only three hotels in our small town. He had to be in one of them. I needed to find him and tell him how wrong I'd been for not believing him.

Running out the door, I yelled to my mom, “Theo was telling the truth! I have proof!”

My mom ran out on the porch. “Be careful! And Mia?”

I turned around to look at her before I got into my car. “Yeah?”

My mom smiled. “You're following your heart! I'm proud of you.”

I returned my mom’s smile. “Thanks, Mom!”

My heart was telling me that Theo was the one. My one and only. He'd been true to me from the very beginning. I had to find him before it was too late.

Chapter 25

Theo