Clementine crossed in front of Dusha like a swooping white bird fluttering its plumage. “I brought some of my things for Lexi, and my Hermès rep is on the phone. We’re starting you with a nice little Birkin 25. Anything more exclusive wouldn’t be credible.” She flapped her fingers of her other hand like she was grasping the air. “Nico, give me your credit card.”
The lady I was now relying on as my lawyer, Victoria, sucked a little gasp and whimpered like she’d kicked back a shot of very astringent whiskey.
“What’s a Birkin 25?” I muttered to her.
“Purse,” Victoria whispered back. “Avery nicepurse.”
Confessing to Clementine that Nicolai and I were breaking it off felt scummy. “I’m so sorry. There’s been a complication. I don’t think I’m going to need a new purse or the other stuff.”
Victoria whispered to me, “If you don’t want the Birkin,I do.Just get it and I’ll pay you. Plus ten percent. I just made partner, and those snobby office bitches are killing me.”
Clementine halted her sail across the room with a hip-twist like she was ice skating and made one of those littlezipchirps as she covered the bottom part of her phone, as if that would mute our voices. “I said, I havemyHermès rep,on the phone,right now.One does notwastea Hermès rep’stime.Nico, your card,now.We need to put down a deposit.” She flapped her fingers again. “I’m not putting your peccadillos on my accounts.”
My lawyer whispered near my shoulder, “Plus twenty percent.Twenty-five.”
Nicolai strolled back from the door, talking at Clementine. “Why are you buying her a Birkin? What other things?”
“Things Lexineeds,”Clementine told him. “Becauseyoudidn’t think to get them for her before dropping her into the middle of the barracuda-infested river that is our friend group.Honestly,Nico. I thought you were better than most men. I stand corrected.”
“How did you get up here?” Nicolai asked, his brows still lowered. “This is a secure floor. You’re not staying at the Sanctuary.”
Her bossy hand flip dismissed Nicolai’s objection. “I can go anywhere I want. Ryan askedmeto join his little club before he offered membership to you and Magnus becausemyopinion matters. I just don’t stay at the Vegas branch because I’m notboring.”Her gaze swiveled back to me. “Lexi, the Birkin. Taupe or oxblood?”
“Oxblood,”my lawyer whispered while staring at our shoes. “I’ll take either, if you don’t want it. Either is fine. But oh my God,oxblood.I’ll buy a whole new capsule wardrobe around it.”
“Oxblood, please,” I told Clementine without looking sideways.
Clementine scanned me from my head to my socks again and stared into my eyes long enough to plumb the depths of my soul. “One of each, then. Either will harmonize with your bright autumn color palette. I could never carry off an oxblood purse. It would wash me out.” She turned her attention to her phone. “We can pick them up this afternoon, right, Lynvidia? One of each?”
My attorney inhaled deeply. “Oh, baby, I got you. We will fight this man and takeallhis money.”
“I don’t want his money,” I whispered back.
“Why the hell not?”Victoria demanded, too loudly.
I turned away from Clementine, who was bantering with her rep, and lowered my head. “Because there’s no reason to do that. I’ll fill you in on the particulars, but we’ll get you the purse if you want it.”
“Baby, you need to tell meeverything.You’ve cried at least twice this morning. As much as I don’t care for white women’s tears, I need to know what is going on.”
“It’s complicated,” I told her, in my defense. I was usually tougher than this. Crying really wasn’t my style, either.
She peered at me. “Did he lay hands on you?”
“No,”I told her. Not even when I’d been playing keep-away with his phone, really. “He wouldn’t. He’s not like that.”
Victoria retrieved her phone from what seemed to be a perfectly nice little black purse, but I wasn’t a good judge of such things. She swiped the screen, and a QR code showed up. “Here. Scan. So that you’re officially my client.”
I scanned the dot-matrix square with my phone’s camera. The following pop-up dialogue asked me to accept a bunch of terms and conditions before her contact information inserted into my phone. “Okay.”
“Good, now we’re covered by attorney-client privilege. No matter who ultimately ends up paying or whether that purse takes care of your bill, we’re covered.”
“It’s just a purse. You don’t have to do that.”
“Yes, we do. The office bitches are getting to me, and I need to shut them up. We’ll talk later.” She leaned, looking past me, and pointed. “I think they’re arguing.”
I spun.
Nicolai was staring down at his cousin, his hands in his pockets, his expression stoic. He didn’t seem to blink as he very slowly, very clearly, enunciated something in a language I didn’t understand.
