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I am working on reversing the spell, and I would like the universe to acknowledge it at some point, but in the meantime I have to follow the CEO of the company that employs me because, technically, he’s still somehow my boss, too.

Phillip glances toward the elevators. “How long have you been working with Helena?”

I blink. “Two and a half years.”

“Really?”

“Two years and seven months, technically.”

His eyebrows lift.

“Not that I’m counting.”

He laughs, and his perfectly styled hair doesn’t even move. “How’s that going?”

“With Hell?”

The word leaves my mouth before my brain has the opportunity to intervene. Phillip stares at me. Somewhere behind us, a cup hits the counter and the nice attendant calls a name.

“Helena,” I say. Earth, swallow me whole.

His mouth twitches.

“I only call her that in my head, sir. I apologize, that was very unprofessional.”

That gets an actual laugh out of him. I close my eyes for half a second.

I know there are people who manage to have normal conversations with senior executives every day. People who say intelligent things about business strategy and quarterly performance and never accidentally tell the CEO that they’ve nicknamed their villain boss after the underworld.

“Please don’t fire me.”

“I’m not going to fire you, Merryweather.”

“Good,” I say with a sigh of relief. “I’m very attached to my health insurance.”

He smiles, then glances toward the elevators again. “Actually, I wanted to ask you something. If things were different, would you ever consider a change?”

I stare at him. “A change?”

“Yes.”

“Well,” I start, trying to drag it out. What in the hell is he trying to ask me? Is there a way I could get out of this conversation without being more unprofessional than I’ve been so far? “I would have to know more details, I guess.”

“That’s fair.” He tucks his phone in his slacks pocket, then shifts his coffee cup to his other hand. “Let’s say something came up unexpectedly. Something you hadn’t necessarily been looking for.”

My stomach drops. Oh, come on.

“And you thought of me?”

“Of course.”

There is absolutely no ambiguity in that sentence. The spell is one hundred percent still active.

“Why?”

Phillip looks mildly surprised by the question. “Because I think you’d be great at it.”

“At this… hypothetical thing.”