“You make it sound like she might refuse to sell it to you. Can’t you just walk in and buy the purse?”
Clementine twisted her hips and stopped like she was doing a hockey stop in ice skating. “Onecannot,and it’s morbidly gauche toaskto buy a Birkin. Youwaituntil one isofferedby a Birkin rep with whom you have formed arelationship.”
I turned to face her and tried not to look like a two-bit country hick with my drooling jaw hanging down my chest. “You are kidding me.”
She rocked to her back foot and held up two fingers as if she were smoking a cigarette and letting the ash dangle over there. “I would never joke about a Birkin. While we are yachting, I will offhandedly mention to Lynvidia that I would appreciate being offered one of the new fall bags, onceand only once.I wouldn’t want her to feel pressured by an unmannered client, and I would not want her to misunderstand that she held any sway over me by her control of the dispensation of these ugly, boxy, overpriced bags.”
I gawked. All this maneuvering to buy a purseseemed ridiculous.
But I was supposed to be acting like I belonged to this world of rich people, even though Clementine knew I didn’t.
“Besides, it’s no trouble for her. She makes a good commission off of them. Those purses cost Nico thirty-two thousand dollars, plus taxes and fees, for the two of them because we were in such a rush, which means she made at least nine thousand dollars today. I’ve heard that’s decent for a day’s labor.”
Shock.
Utter shock.
“Why would—Why would anyone ever—I didn’t make anywhere nearhalfthat ina monthwhen I worked at Johnson Construction!”
Oops, I wasn’t acting, I wasn’t belonging, I was being the wrong person in the wrong place.
“I mean, that seems sufficient,” I noted.
Offhandedly. I noted,offhandedly.
Hopefully, that would fix it, and Clementine wouldn’t see me as an outsider.
She shrugged without a change in expression. “Well, supply and demand, or something, I guess. Nicolai, say some finance terms that would explain it.”
Nicolai passed the two boxes off to another of his henchmen who’d been trailing us, one of the smaller, leaner guys whose name I didn’t know yet, who seemed less obtrusive than the giant bulky dudes. “Perceived scarcity of luxury goods and costly in-group status signaling.”
I bit my lip and wished I understood.
Clementine huffed at him and pushed past me to continue walking down the hallway. “So obtuse, Nico. I didn’t tell you to purposely confuse poor Lexi with jargon.”
She took my hand in her slim, cool fingers.
Okay, that was a signal that she didn’t disdain me for being so different than her. That was good.
The quivering trepidation behind my sternum eased a little.
Clementine tossed her moonlit-blond hair behind her shoulder. “Come, we have an appointment to buy enough dresses for you to last the week, and then other appointments for the rest of the day. Nico, why don’t you go Monday-morning quarterback with Ueli about whatever thefuckhappened earlier and stay out of our way for a bit?”
CHAPTER 10
interrogation
NICOLAI
Clemmy threw me out of the consultation for Lexi’s clothes, which meant Ueli would now get his chance to interrogate me.
Fun.
I walked with purpose through the hallway, heading back toward the mall because I damned well needed a cup of coffee or something stronger.
Ueli stepped in front of me, and I stopped short. “Yes?”
He squinted, perusing my every twitch. “Did you fabricate the threatening Russian intelligence officer in the suite to make your life seem more glamorous to your new wife?”
