Nikita Little was an existential threat to me, and I had to face that head-on.
This was exactly the type of situation I was made to manage. No one could break me. No one could drag me down. Weakness had been wrung out of me by the time I was twelve years old, and that wasn’t going to change now.
Little might have thought she was clever, but I knew the truth: She was a grifter. She’d seen an opportunity, and she was going to squeeze me for everything I had.
Ha. She’d try.
But the woman didn’t know what happened to people who threatened me. I hadn’t gotten to where I was by rolling over at the first sign of a fight. If she wanted to get a dime out of me, she’d have to earn it. And I wouldn’t make it easy on her.
Last night, I’d seen something. She’d been crying when I arrived at the hospital. I watched her pull herself together and hide that vulnerability behind the lash of that sharp tongue of hers.
But it was too late. I knew just how close to the edge she really was.
The woman was desperate.
She was also beautiful, clever, and not afraid to speak her mind. I could use that.
If I played my cards right, I might just be able to wriggle my way out of this mess with no lawsuits at all-and snare Wilbur Monk in the process.
“I’m not going to offer her a pot of gold,” I told Arthur. “I’m going to do exactly what we’re doing with the other hundred-odd employees who were hired as independent contractors.”
He watched me, silent. It was my turn to indulge in a dramatic pause.
I gave him a shark’s smile. “I’m going to offer her a job.”
Iris’s POV
My friend Penny Littleton lived in a cool refurbished factory in Soho. Her husband, Marcus, had been living there when he hired Penny as his dog walker. Seeing my bright, smiley friend end up with such a dour man had been a surprise, but I’d seen glimmers of Marcus’s personality since then.
Like how whenever he liked one of Penny’s outfits, he’d ask her if it was from the Littleton Collection, which I learned was an inside joke between them from Penny blurting out that particular lie to a snooty sales associate at a designer department store.
She’d upcycled the dress herself, using her amazing sewing skills.
Marcus thought it was hilarious and reminded her of it at every opportunity.
These days, Penny didn’t spend much time in thrift stores. She had a child and a dog and had been absorbed by Marcus’s vibrant family-but she still made time for me.
A couple of days after my strange car ride with my billionaire ex-boss, I sat on one of the bar stools next to her kitchen island and enjoyed a margarita with a perfect salt rim. Holding it in my good hand, I let the tart, fresh drink lift my mood.
“So, wait,” Penny said, arranging a few dried apricots on the charcuterie board she was putting together. “The perfume bottle fell on you, shattered, injured you, and then they fired you?”
I nodded. “Yep. And then, weirdly, my boss picked me up from the hospital.”
“That Ophelia woman?”
I shook my head. “No. The big boss. Jared Branson. The guy whose name is on the building.”
Marcus had been frowning at his phone until then, his dog’s head resting in his lap. At my words, he looked up. “Jared Branson picked you up from the hospital?”
“Weird, right? He told me he wanted me to come in on Monday to discuss things.”
Penny checked the baby monitor to make sure her toddler was still sleeping soundly, then shifted her gaze to me. “What does he want to talk about?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I was exhausted and kind of woozy, so I wasn’t exactly on my game. But it kind of seemed like he was probing for information somehow.”
“Hmm,” Penny replied, frowning.
“There was one good thing, though.”
“What’s that?”
I smiled. “He had really good chocolate, said he flew it in from Belgium. So I got to eat that on the way home, at least.”
“I can make you a T-shirt: ‘I got fired from the Branson Advertising Agency and all I got was a delicious Belgian chocolate bar (and this T-shirt).’”
Snorting, I grabbed a grape. “Seems a bit wordy.”
“Let me brainstorm something better. ‘I met Jared Branson and all I got was a gash on my arm and a ride in his limo.’”
“‘I got fired from Branson and all I got was an hour with a giant dildo.’”
Penny laughed, and I crunched down on my snack, grinning.
Across the room, Marcus stood and drifted closer. Bear, the dog, jumped off the couch and followed at his side before trotting over to Penny to demand scratches. Penny obliged, her smile still pointed at me. While she scratched, the red-and-white polka-dot dog collar around Bear’s neck wiggled back and forth. It was one of Penny’s creations, and it was adorable.
Marcus leaned a hip on the kitchen island and crossed his arms. His scowl was pointed in my direction. “Was Branson trying to intimidate you?”
I cut off a chunk of smoked gouda and put it on a fancy multigrain cracker that had definitely come from a specialty grocery store that was too expensive for the likes of me. Glancing at Marcus before taking a bite, I said, “I don’t think so. He did give me a chocolate bar.” The gouda was creamy and delicious, with the perfect amount of smoke flavor. The cracker had a bit of sweetness, and the whole thing was like tasting nirvana. I groaned. “Penny. This cheese is divine.”
“Isn’t it? Try the Brie.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.