Borrowed Names, Real Trouble
Two fraud investigators invent a relationship to infiltrate a matchmaking scam, unaware their false identities were already matched years ago.
ImagineYourBook writes a fresh draft from this idea.
How it begins
Tessa had invented her perfect boyfriend in a spreadsheet.
Apparently somebody had invited him.
He stood beside the retreat's welcome table, wearing the name she had given him and holding two glasses of lemonade.
"You're late," he said.
"You don't exist."
"That explains the parking problem."
She recognized him a second later.
Sam Lewis. Financial investigations. A man whose reports contained excellent evidence and terrible jokes.
"What are you doing here?"
"Being your partner, apparently."
Tessa took the glass because the receptionist was watching.
"That wasn't in my briefing."
"Nor mine."
The receptionist smiled with the determined warmth of someone paid to believe in love.
"Your compatibility score is extraordinary."
"We've always said that," Sam replied.
Tessa pressed her heel against his shoe.
He did not react.
The island retreat occupied a former monastery, now furnished with pale sofas and books nobody had opened. Thirty people had paid more than Tessa earned in a year to learn why their previous relationships had failed.
Her assignment was to find out where the money went afterward.
Sam's presence suggested the answer was worse than expected.
The receptionist gave them a folder.
"Your original assessment is inside. Such a lovely story."
Tessa opened it.
Her invented profile stared back at her.
The hobbies were right. The job was right. Even the deliberately ridiculous favorite meal was right.
The date was not.
Three years ago.
She had created the spreadsheet last Tuesday.
Sam leaned closer.
For a moment their performance disappeared.
"Don't react," he said softly.
"I haven't."
"You've bent the folder."
Tessa loosened her grip.
On the final page, beneath a photograph neither of them had submitted, was a handwritten note.
Welcome back.
The receptionist reached for the room keys.
"Shall I tell the others you've arrived?"
Sam smiled.
Tessa watched his reflection in the polished table.
For the first time, she could not tell whether he was pretending.
Your idea. Your book.
Keep the spark. Change anything.
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Outline and characters
- Tessa enters the retreat under an agreed cover identity.
- Sam arrives with a second investigative mandate.
- Their invented profiles have an old match record.
- They establish boundaries for the fake relationship.
- A participant's savings disappear into a compatibility fee.
- Tessa finds the original source of the profile data.
- Sam admits his earlier connection to the company.
- They help participants retain independent access to evidence.
- The retreat's final ceremony reveals the fraud without exposing victims.
- They erase the false profiles and exchange their real numbers.
Characters
- Tessa King, 29. Fraud investigator using a fictional dating profile
- Sam Lewis, 34. Investigator hiding an earlier matchmaking connection
Series possibilities
- An erased profile receives a wedding anniversary reminder.
