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Or so she hopes.

Harper presses the elevator button as a silly smile spreads across her lips.

The doors on the forty-second floor open. Harper strides briskly down the hallway toward the office, savoring the warmth of the coffee between her fingers.

But a few seconds later, she comes to a sudden halt.

The door to Eleanor’s office swings open, and Victoria steps out. She’s carrying a folder under her arm and wearing an expression that makes Harper’s blood run cold. Victoria also freezes when she sees her.

Something isn’t right. And Harper, who knows every gesture of her ex-wife, picks up on it immediately. Especially because she doesn’t even smile.

“What happened?” Harper asks as soon as she’s standing in front of her.

Victoria clutches the folder and shakes her head.

“Not now, please.”

“What do you mean, ‘not now’?” Harper sets the two coffees on the desk of Eleanor’s secretary, who hasn’t arrived yet. “What the hell does that mean?”

“I have to go to a meeting,” Victoria evades, glancing sideways toward the elevators. “We’ll talk later.”

“You know full well I hate that phrase,” Harper snaps, sensing that something very serious is about to happen. “The last time you told me ‘we’ll talk later,’ you ended up packing your bags and crossing the Atlantic.”

Victoria blinks, and for a second, Harper thinks she sees the same pain in her eyes. Immediately afterward, Victoria puts her mask of coldness back on.

“Tell me what’s going on.”

“Good morning!” Solange’s cheerful voice interrupts the verbal duel. She appears down the hallway carrying a bag of candy, and a few steps behind her, Julian walks along, glued to his phone screen. Both of them stare at them. “Oops, did something happen?”

Victoria shakes her head.

“Nothing’s wrong. I have to go,” Victoria announces, heading toward the elevators.

Harper stares in disbelief and follows her until her ex-wife steps into the elevator and presses a button. Then Victoria looks her in the eyes and simply says:

“I’m sorry.”

The doors close, and the indicator light shows the elevator descending: 41, 40, 39, 38… Harper runs her hands over her face, breathing heavily.

“I have to…” she stammers as she presses the button over and over.

“Do you have a moment, Brooks?”

Eleanor Sterling calls out to her, and when Harper turns around, she sees the woman standing in the doorway of her office. One detail doesn’t escape her: she said “Brooks.” And that can’t mean anything good.

“Right now,” her boss orders with an imperious gesture.

Harper glances sideways at the elevator display. Solange and Julian watch her with wide eyes, fearing the worst.

“I’ll be right there…” she announces simply.

Harper Brooks straightens her back, adjusts her suit jacket, and steps into the lion’s den. She hasn’t even remembered to grab the coffees.

The door to Eleanor’s office closes behind her.

“If you’re here to renegotiate the space for Naomi or Serein Labs, we’ve already finalized everything,” Harper attacks right off the bat, without losing that feisty edge everyone knows her for.

Eleanor, with exasperating calm, sits down behind her imposing desk and picks up a fountain pen.