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There were only a few employees near the back, typing furiously on laptops and a barista stocking the sugars on the island near the door. My mouth watered as the smell of brewing coffee hit me like a punch to the gut. Since the only way to get caffeine five minutes ago would have been sucking on my blouse, I’d consigned to just grabbing something after I checked in with Jacob. I opened my mouth to say I’d be right back, but snapped it shut when I saw Monique hadn’t brought us in here to bond over a cup of coffee.
Rachel completely missed the memo.
“I’ll take a triple soy latte, as dry as possible,” she said, sauntering over to a table with a sigh liked she’d just done something terribly exhausting.
Monique didn’t even flinch. “Tell me about the program.”
Rachel shrugged a bare shoulder. “It’s all on the website. Ask Leila.”
“What?” I said shrilly, shaking my head again and dodging the darts Monique hurled my way. “I have no idea what’s going on--”
“Leila, this isn’t the time for modesty,” Rachel said, pulling her shades from the top of her head and placing them on the table. “Reach was a fantastic idea and is going to garner so much positive capital with the public.”
The tight line of Monique’s jaw relaxed slightly, like she hadn’t thought about it from that angle. She walked over to the table where Rachel sat and pulled out a chair, lowering herself slowly. Still suspicious, but listening.
I caught Rachel’s eye over Monique’s head and mouthed, “What the fuck!” but her smirk told me that I was along for the ride, whether I wanted to be or not. I forced a smile when Monique whipped around to me, gesturing at the seat beside her.
“So tell me more about this program.”
Rachel looked at me and when I croaked, she filled in the blanks. “We’re still working out the kinks, but it’s an outreach program, dedicated to helping troubled youth and young adults. When I started following Mia Kent’s story and tragic suicide attempt, I saw so much of myself in her. This business can be amazing and terrible and I know if I would have had a veteran actress who’d been there and could steer me in the right direction, maybe I wouldn’t have made some of the mistakes that still haunt me to this day.”
So now she was Mother Theresa. This would have been all well and good if not for the fact that she’d completely made up my involvement in this operation. Monique was nodding, probably imagining all the goodwill the company could garner with an organization like this, but I knew that if Rachel Laraby was involved, there had to be some sort of ulterior motive.
Rachel swept her hair over her shoulder, drawing a breath and releasing it slowly. “That being said, I knew that Leila had a personal relationship with Mia and would be best suited for approaching her and asking her to be a part of this process. I fully intended to discuss this with Mia first, but the press heard the rumblings of it and found me as I was on my way to schedule it with Leila.”
“I didn’t have anything with you on the books--” I began.
“Right,” Rachel interjected. “Which is why I came in bright and early, hoping to talk to you first thing, but Natasha informed me you weren’t in. I was on my way out of the building when I was cornered.”
So now the on-the-fly press conference my fault because I was running late.
Monique’s lips pursed together as she looked over at me. “In the future, I want anything that involves the Whitmore and Creighton brand run by me first.”
I wanted to protest, to tell her that Rachel was lying, plotting, but she was already up, making her way out of the coffee shop.
Leaving me alone with her.
Rachel picked at her nails dismissively. “Could you be a dear and grab a coffee for me? I’ve been so busy getting our organization up and running--”
“Our organization?” I said incredulously. “The fictitious organization I didn’t even know existed until ten minutes ago?”
“That’s right,” she said coolly. “With your caring and giving nature, I figured you’d be elated that I involved you.”
“I’m not elated about anything that involves our names being uttered in the same breath,” I said brusquely. I jerked my chair back, drawing the eye of the two staff members and not really caring. “I don’t know what you have planned, but I’m going to talk to Monique and tell her that it has nothing to do with me. And if you do anything to Mia--”
Rachel let out a haughty chuckle. “Just what do you expect me to do to her, Leila?”
“I don’t know,” I answered truthfully, standing to my feet. “And that’s what worries me.”
“It’s a non-profit, not a criminal organization.” She rolled her eyes. “And what I said to Monique was the truth.”
“Oh really? All that BS about how we decided to start it together?”
“Well not that part obviously,” she said, looking at me like I was an idiot. “The part about wanting to help someone not make the same mistakes I did.”
“Right.”
“I’m being serious!”
