A/N: A little birdie told me that 'speedy updates' are very popular, I wonder why ...

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She was devastated.

Tears were streaming heavily down her face as she sat in her car, still parked in Maggie's Diner's car park, unable to go anywhere, incapable of doing anything.

She just couldn't believe it.

How could her life have taken such a drastic turn and done a complete 180 in under half an hour? How could she have been so happy not even a day ago, and feel so totally and desperately miserable now?

Cassidy had told her everything, absolutely everything.

How she had met Sawyer, how he had stolen her money. At first Juliet hadn't understood, it felt so surreal, this couldn't be happening, and why was this woman coming to see her, what did it have to do with her, Sawyer hadn't asked her for any money.

"I guess he hasn't asked you for any cash yet?" Cassidy had said when she had noticed Juliet's surprised reaction. "HE will that's how he works."

"What do you mean 'that's how he works'?" Juliet had asked.

"It's his, what do they call it, modus operandi. He finds himself a woman, with a lot of spare money in the bank, and who's husband treats her like crap or just doesn't give her the light of day anymore," Cassidy explained.

Juliet winced. No, no, no. It couldn't be, it was impossible.

"I can see from your reaction that you fit the profile. Life's a bitch isn't it?" Cassidy took a sip from the cup of coffee sitting in front of her. "As they said, when something seems just too good to be true, well then it probably is."

Cassidy had then went into a lengthy narration about her time with Sawyer and everything he had put her through. Juliet eyes grew wider and wider with each revelation.

Cassidy had called Sawyer on his con, but instead of turning him in she had gotten him to take her on as a partner. He had showed a few tricks, and they had hustled together for a while. For a while, she had thought this was it, she was set up for life, grifting with the man of her dreams. She had been wrong, as soon as he had gained her trust again, he had left her, with her money in tow.

Cassidy had pressed charges, and Sawyer had went to jail. He was supposed to be in there for seven years, but apparently had gotten out early. She had found out when she was investigating who had opened a mysterious bank account for her daughter Clementine. She knew that that money must have been ill gained, so she tracked him down, she didn't want anymore poor women being tricked by that son of a bitch.

"Why would he open a bank account for your daughter?" Juliet had interrupted, puzzled.

"Because she's his daughter too," Cassidy had said, as if she was stating the obvious.

He had a daughter.

"What are you going to do now?" Cassidy had asked as she gathered her things together.

"I have no idea," Juliet had replied honestly.

"Well if you need any help, here's my number," she had said, leaving a a piece of paper on the table. "I've been dying to trick that bastard at his own game."

The meeting had ended almost half an hour ago, and Juliet was still in her car just outside the diner.

How could she have been such a stupid fool? How had she not noticed anything? Edmund was right, her finding a new man was as preposterous an idea as polar bears on a tropical island. The only reason Sawyer, or rather James Ford, because that was his real name, had ever been even remotely interested in her was so he could con her out of a large sum of money.

She wanted to go to sleep and never wake up.

After years of suffering under Edmund's thumb, of surviving public humiliation as he flaunted his affairs in her face, she had finally found the strength within her to open up to another man. How naïve had she been?

She couldn't believe that she had allowed herself to trust this man, allowed herself to fall for this man. Because she had indeed fallen for him, and that was why this hurt so much. In Sawyer, she hadn't just seen a 'bit on the side', a potential lover, while she remained in a dead end marriage, she had started contemplating possibly leaving and divorcing Edmund to be with him.

She had seen him as her knight in shining armour, ready to rescue her from the cruel hands of her captor, and she had imagined their 'happily ever after'. How pathetic of her. She was a grown woman, she should know better than to imagine her life according to ideals, which were only true to fairytales.

She just couldn't believe it. She couldn't wrap her mind around it.

Everything he had told her. Every single detail, he had confided into her was a lie, she knew nothing about this man, nothing whatsoever. And yet he knew everything about her, because she had told him, she had been so sure that he was trustworthy.

She felt betrayed and lost.

She was in a dreadful state, her heart felt like it was shattered into a thousand million tiny pieces.

What was she going to do now?

Should she call the police? But what would she tell them, he hadn't done anything wrong yet, apart from lie to her, he hadn't asked her for money.

Should she just cut all contact with him? Erase him from her life? Pretend that all of this was just a bad dream?

She looked at her reflection in the mirror, and took a deep breath.

Her eyes were red around the rim and bloodshot, she looked absolutely awful. She hoped Edmund had one of his "late meetings" and wouldn't come home, she was in no shape to handle him tonight.

She turned her key in the ignition.

She needed to seriously think things over, she was sick and tired of people walking all over her.

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* * *

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Sawyer was happier than he had ever been.

Kissing Juliet on the beach had felt like the most natural thing in the world. There was no pretending involved, it wasn't part of the con, he hadn't planned his move, he had just felt like it, he really liked her, more than liked her.

He had had the best night's sleep in ages and this morning in the shower, he realised he was singing The Kinks' song 'All Day and All of the Night'. The lyrics were kind of fitting though, he did want to be with her all day and all of the night, he did want to be by her side all of the time, he did only feel right when he was by her side.

When he was around her, it was as if he could forget everything about who he was and what he had done, he could almost just be himself.

Who would have thought, he chuckled to himself, that it would be some brainy medical researcher that would turn his world upside down, eh?

Not that she wasn't attractive. She was drop dead gorgeous, even though he was sure she didn't even realise it, but she wasn't just a pretty face, she had a brilliant mind and a cunning sense of humour, and that was what made her so damn attractive to him.

She was the full package, looks and books.

It amazed him that she hadn't been snatched up by some equally smart, equally handsome hot shot CEO from some big ass company, or whatever, and that instead she was stuck with Edmund Burke. He had seen photos of the guy, and one thing was for sure, he wasn't a looker. And from what he had heard, he wasn't a charmer either, at least when it came to Juliet.

The man must be a complete moron to not realise how lucky he was to have a woman, such as Juliet, at home, and instead prefer to go out womanising.

Behind all this exhilarating happiness he was experiencing, the irony of his situation wasn't lost on him. He was a con man, on a job, and Juliet was his job.

He had almost fallen for a mark once before, but not quite, he had still been able to go through with it at the end of the day. This time he couldn't.

There was no way he would be able to live with himself if he did that to her.

What was he going to do? Come clean with her?

How well would that go, he could just imagine it in his mind.

"Hey Juliet, I lied to you, I'm a conman, I was here to steal a hundred grand from you. Don't look so worried, darling, I'm not going to go through with it, I think I'm falling for you."

Yeah, right, that'd go down like a ton of bricks.

He could always just leave, before things got too messy, before either of them got too involved. If he just left now, it wouldn't hurt her as much as it would it he told her the truth. He'd disappear from her life, just go back to Los Angeles, tell Hibbs the job was too hard, that maybe he needed some time off to get a grip of himself. Or he could just disappear for a while, go to Mexico or Canada, far from Hibbs' reach.

But he couldn't just leave her? He couldn't not see her ever again.

Maybe being one hundred percent honest with her wouldn't be so bad.

Sure, chances were that she would most likely tell him to get the hell out of her life and never come back, but what if she didn't?

There was always a glimmer of hope that she might like him just enough to give him a second chance. And if she did, well first of all it would be a freaking miracle, but then they could start fresh. He would start by taking her away from Edmund, she deserved to be treated right, with respect. He may not be a perfect man, but still, he would be an upgrade from her husband.

So he was going to tell her everything.

It was the only way, it would either destroy whatever it was that was happening between them, or it would make things considerably better.

Those were the only two alternatives, he was sure of himself.

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* * *

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A knock on the door stirred him from the slumber, he had drifted off into, he looked at the digital alarm clock on the bed stand, 5 pm.

He must have dosed off, his book was definitely not as much of a page turner as the back cover claimed it was.

He stood up groggily and made his way to the door, who could possibly be at his door? He wasn't expecting anyone, it's not even as if anyone knew he was here.

He opened the door.

"Juliet?" he gasped. "What are you ..."

"Not interrupting anything, I hope," she said flatly. "Mind if I come in?"

"Sure, sure," he said, letting her past, before closing the door behind her.

She looked different. Her face was expressionless, as if drained from emotion, long gone was the infectiously giddy and happy woman who had taken him to the beach the day before.

"Is everything okay?" he asked concerned. "What did Edmund do this time?"

"It's not Edmund."

"What is it? Is it Rachel or Julian? Did something happen to them?"

"No, they're fine."

She didn't say anything else for a while, she just stood there and stared at him, her eyes were as cold as steel. Something was seriously wrong. He went over to her, to take her in his arms.

"Don't touch me," she said. "Don't you dare touch me!"

It was at that moment precisely that he realised that whatever was wrong, it was something to do with him.

"How could you?" she asked.

He didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything, which was a good thing, because she was far from being finished, "I trusted you. You lied to me. I can't believe I was so stupid."

"Juliet, calm down. Whatever I did, I'm sorry, I'm sure we can fix this."

"Fix this? Fix this?" she repeated bewildered. "Cut the crap, James."

James? He had never told him that his real name was James, at least not yet, he had planned on doing it the next time he saw her.

"How did you ..."

"How I found out is not relevant," she snapped. "The fact is I know everything. That you're a conman, that you've done time in prison, that the only reason you pretended to be so interested in me, was so you could get your hands on my money. I know everything."

"Juliet, listen," he tried to put his hand on her forearm, but she just pushed him away. He wanted her to know that it wasn't just a job for him, not anymore anyway. He knew that it was useless. This was the one scenario he hadn't thought of -her finding out on her own that he was a scum bag. How would she ever believe anything that came out of his mouth anymore?

It was over.

All over.

"No, I'm not listening to anyone anymore," she cut him off. "I'm done. I'm sick of people treating me like I'm a fool."

"I know you're not going to believe a single word I say, but for what it's worth, I'm sorry, I really am. I'll leave. I'll never set foot in Miami again, you'll never have to hear about me again."

"I don't want you to leave," she said in an eerily calm tone.

He looked at her with confusion, nothing made sense anymore.

"I want you to help me take care of Edmund," she added.

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TBC

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A/N: okay, there it is, I'm not 100% satisfied. The 'time leap' I did in the previous chapter sort of prevented me from showing you Sawyer's progression from being Sawyer to being a more compassionate individual, and that sort of bothers me.

I can't promise you daily updates anymore, and most probably not one tomorrow (I'm going to see Inglorious Basterds, again, ha!), and I actually have things to do this week, like pay my fees for Uni, otherwise I'll be up the creek without a paddle.

That being said, I have every intention of finishing this story, and my other one before classes start back, because once I go back to school, I've got a feeling I won't have much time for fun things like fan fiction, and since I don't want to leave you hanging until next June … I better get my act into gear.

As always thanks to everyone who takes the time to review, it's very much appreciated :)