420 Private Investigators Presents: Undercover Lies: A 420 Investigator’s Tale"

Dakota never expected that a single date could turn into something so twisted.

It started on Facebook Dating. After a few awkward matches and dull conversations, she stumbled upon James. He was charming in his messages—funny, confident, a bit cocky, but not obnoxiously so. A good-looking Black man in his early fifties who sold cars for a living. He had that salesman swagger, but with just enough humility to keep her curious.

Their date was simple and perfect. They played pool at a local dive bar, then grabbed lunch at a barbecue spot downtown. Conversation flowed easily between bites of ribs and sips of sweet tea. They ended the afternoon browsing thrift shops, joking about the odd things they found. James mentioned he liked old vinyl, and Dakota picked out a Curtis Mayfield album just to tease him.

There was chemistry, undeniable. Dakota, a Black woman with sharp eyes and a sharper wit, felt something electric in their interactions. She even told James that day, half-jokingly, that she might use him as inspiration for a character in one of her books. He laughed and told her she better make him a heartthrob. It was light, fun, promising. But something about him didn’t sit quite right.

After that day, things fizzled fast. No arguments, no drama—they just didn’t click beyond that spark. Dakota, used to following her gut, trusted the feeling that James wasn’t someone she could see herself with long-term. What surprised her, though, was how quickly he disappeared from her real life and reappeared in her inbox—sporadic emails every few months, nothing romantic, just checking in.

What she didn’t know then was that James had started dating someone else almost immediately after their date. Wendy.

Wendy was white, worked in a call center, and had a kind of soft, clingy vibe that seemed to attract men like James. Dakota didn’t know Wendy existed until much later. James never mentioned her—because she wasn’t in the picture when he and Dakota went out. He jumped into that relationship right after, and maybe it was coincidence, maybe not, but Dakota always suspected that being with a Black woman made him confront something he wasn’t ready for.

A year and a half passed.

Dakota’s life had taken off. Her TikTok account exploded—she was pushing hundreds of thousands of followers now, sharing storytimes from her job as a private investigator. That was her bread and butter—Mind Yo Business Investigations, a firm she’d run for over twenty years. Dakota was sharp, experienced, and unapologetically good at her job. She used her platform to give tips on red flags, share wild case stories (without breaching confidentiality), and empower other women to trust their instincts.

Then came the email.

Subject: “Private Investigation Inquiry.”

The message was from a woman named Wendy, who said she suspected her boyfriend might cheat if given the chance—and she wanted Dakota to test him. The job: pose as a potential temptation and see if he’d bite. Dakota had done this kind of job before. It was shady but legal, and sometimes the only way to give a woman the clarity she needed.

When Wendy sent over the name and photo of her boyfriend, Dakota nearly dropped her phone.

It was James.

For a second, she laughed. Of all the people in Atlanta, Wendy’s man had to be the one Dakota had been on that one, strange, electric date with nearly two years ago. She debated saying no—this was messy, complicated—but something about the whole thing pulled her in. Maybe it was curiosity. Maybe it was justice.

She took the job.

Dakota crafted the approach carefully. She reached out to James via email, under the guise of reconnecting. She kept it light, breezy. Said she’d been thinking about their old date, wondering what he was up to. He responded quickly—too quickly. Said he remembered her, thought about her often, and yes, they should catch up. That was her first flag.

Over the next few weeks, they exchanged messages. Dakota was meticulous. She never pushed, only followed his lead. James flirted, reminisced, asked about her TikTok. He even asked if she could help him grow his own following—said he was thinking about starting something to boost his car sales. Dakota played along, dropping influencer tips, subtly pulling him in. All of it went into the report for Wendy.

Then something unexpected happened.

James mentioned her to Wendy.

Just in passing, he told Wendy about a woman named Dakota he’d gone on a date with a long time ago, who was now a TikTok influencer and a writer working on a book. He mentioned—lightly, maybe even innocently—that Dakota had once joked about turning him into a character.

And that’s when Wendy put the pieces together.

Dakota. The same name as the woman she had hired. The same woman her boyfriend had gone on a date with. The same woman he was now emailing again.

Wendy was furious. She never confronted James about what she realized. Instead, she ghosted Dakota completely. No final payment. No email. Nothing.

Dakota waited for days, then weeks. Still nothing. She tried reaching out, but Wendy had vanished. And that’s when Dakota, fed up with being played, did what she did best—she got creative.

She made a fake Facebook profile. On it, she posted screenshots of the email exchanges between her and James—blurring names and details, but leaving enough for Wendy to recognize the truth. She set the profile picture and cover photo as images from their flirty conversations. Then, she sent Wendy a friend request.

Wendy accepted.

The reaction was almost immediate. Wendy sent a message: “I don’t know who you are. Please tell me who you are.”

Dakota didn’t respond.

Another message came: “You must have something to say. You sent me a friend request, so go ahead and talk to me.”

Dakota stared at the message. In that moment, she realized Wendy had flipped the script. Instead of acknowledging the truth, Wendy was acting like the victim—like Dakota had been trying to break them up for personal reasons, not professional ones.

It was a slap in the face.

Wendy had hired her. Wendy had gotten her feelings hurt. And now Wendy was pretending that Dakota was the villain.

Dakota didn’t respond. She didn’t need to.

Instead, she closed the case and moved on.

She told the story—carefully anonymized—on TikTok. The video went viral. Thousands of women commented, sharing their own stories of betrayal, confusion, and clarity. The message was clear: women were tired of being gaslight, tired of being left with the mess.

Dakota never heard from Wendy again. James never knew the full truth. As far as he was concerned, he’d just reconnected with an old flame who mysteriously vanished again.

But Dakota knew what really happened.

She’d done her job. She’d played her role. And she’d walked away on her terms.

Because in a world where everyone plays games, Dakota played to win.