Simon pressed his lips together. Weren’ttheysupposed to solve the problem? “No clue. I thought you might have an idea, given you’re working at the airport, checking passports, and all that.” He couldn’t help adding a sarcastic smile at the end. God, Chris really was rubbing off on him.
“So you wouldn’t find it at all strange if I told you you were deceased.”
“Not at all,” he blurted out before he could catch himself.
The woman raised her eyebrows.
“I mean—what? No, that has to be a mistake.”Shit. He could’ve known that was coming, if Everett pulled off his scheme. So there was some official paperwork announcing him dead, not just Everett’s empty words.
“Not according to the death certificate in our database.”
Cold sweat dripped down Simon’s spine. Thinking about Everett’s schemes was one thing, but hearing there was proof of his death—even though he knew it was false—was another. He was still here, and yet he felt like he had one foot in the grave already.
“Are you sure you didn’t mistake me for another Simon Montague?” he tried.
The woman pursed her lips and looked at the computer screen. “Date of birth?”
He told her.
“Mother’s name?”
“Diana.”
“Grandmother’s name on your father’s side?”
He had to think about it for a moment—she passed when he was little. “Marjorie.”
“Last name of your first employer?”
“You mean back for summer work? In college?”
She stared at him, her eyebrows lowered.
Fuck, if he remembered. “Zab-something?”
She lightly shook her head as she continued to read off the screen, like a teacher unimpressed with her student’s lack of knowledge. “Your wife’s name?”
“Shanna O’Connell,” he shot out, happy to be confident about one of the answers.
The woman squinted at him.
“Look, ma’am,” he said. “There’s clearly been some glitch in the database. That can happen—in fact, I know very well. CEO of Aries Tech, and all that. So, if we can wrap this up, I’ll let this little misunderstanding slide, and we can both go our separate ways. I won’t even request to be compensated in miles.”
“Sir.” She clasped her hands on the desk. “Simon Montague, the CEO of Aries Tech, who you claim to be, is not married. Or should I say, he never married before his death.”
“No.” Simon shook his head, letting out a laugh of disbelief. “I got married. In Vegas. Three years ago. I saw the certificate!”
She raised an eyebrow.
Okay, that probably wasn’t the best way to put it. But he couldn’t exactly tell her he didn’t remember it.
“There’s no marriage entered in the records.”
The room spun in front of his eyes. It was real, still—Shanna believed it, and he believed she didn’t falsify those documents. But itwasVegas. Who knew how legitimate that chapel was. Or maybe, even if it was, they forgot to submit the documents.
“I can still prove I’m me,” he said. “Ask me something about my company. You want the finances? Go ahead. I can recite the balance sheets, the income, expenses …”
She sighed, scrolling with her mouse. “Last three quarters?”
