I text Lily back:
Harper
Is this meant to be Tia? It’s clearly fake!
Her reply is instant.
Lily
Yes! Tia!
34
My mind spins in every direction, so I take a chug of coffee because caffeine can only help at this point, right? Early morning meetings are not my thing; add in an unexpected kiss and my whole system is at risk of malfunction. I push all thoughts of Xavier to one side for now and focus on the question of Tia’s bio picture. Surely she wouldn’t have uploaded such an obvious AI image across her social media pages like Lily’s WhatsApp message suggested?
I figure out the time difference – poor Lily, dawn hasn’t even broken in London yet, but she’s obviously awake enough to be texting so I hit the button and call her.
‘What the hell? Did Tia really upload that picture?’
There’s a drawn-out yawn and then, ‘She did. Uploaded it to her stories and as her bio pic across all her pages. Tia threw some subtle digs your way while doing it.’
I lean up against the counter, looking out the double doors, hoping to catch a glimpse of Xavier walking away. ‘What did she say?’ My fingers itch to open my backup Instagram account so I can check for myself.
The sound of Lily tapping on the screen filters down the phone. ‘She wrote: “When you’re called fake by a certain someone, and the world insists you share your face. Enjoy!”’
I frown, trying to make sense of it. ‘Using an AI photo doesn’t exactly prove she’s legit. This sort of petty sarcasm is more in line with a twentysomething tech bro.’
Lily sighs. ‘Yeah, but I took it more as a dig at you. I honestly don’t think Tia cares about what anyone thinks. Why would she?Bang, Bang!is still topping the eBook charts.’
Outside, joggers pound the pavement, getting their early morning run in before the humidity spikes, making it impossible. ‘I went on Reddit.’
‘Harper! I told you to leave all that alone, for your own sanity.’
‘I know, I know. I lurked, I didn’t post.’
‘And?’
‘There’s a sub reddit dedicated to my Bookstagram page. At first they were sure Tia was a phony. They’d read the book, agreed that it wasn’t human written.’
She considers it. ‘OK, that’s good isn’t it?’
‘It was…’
‘And then, it wasn’t? What happened?’
‘Then someone mentioned the crazy conspiracy theories they’d seen on the #CancelHarper thread on Twitter and they figured that it’s some elaborate scam on my behalf and that I am Tia and this is some ruse to make a bunch of money.’
‘What!’ She groans. ‘You’re joking, right?’
‘I wish I was.’
‘It doesn’t make an iota of sense though. If you were Tia why would you call your alter ego out? And ruin your very own Bookstagram page?’
‘A publicity stunt to get more eyes on the book which would make more money than my page.’
‘That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. This is why I warned you to stay off the apps.’
I sigh. ‘Yeah. Lesson learned. I guess part of me hoped they’d figure out the truth about Tia, like you see on all those Netflix documentaries.’
