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“You made Boldface Names, at least,” Hannah said early the next morning. She placed a cup of coffee on my desk and sat down across from me.
“Good,” I said. “I just hope that Li Na can read English as well as she can text it.” I scrolled through the column and found our names in bold type, just as the title of the column promised.
Paragon CEO Lauren Taylor and CEO boyfriend Gabriel Betts of Dynamica treated fellow Mignon patrons to a shouting match during the lunch rush yesterday. Witnesses reported that the two fought loudly and finally stormed out separately. Hannah Taylor, Lauren’s sister and Paragon’s Director of Publicity, would only comment that the power couple “is taking a break.”
“Ugh,” I said. “But at least your name was mentioned.”
“I know,” Hannah said, grinning. “That was an unexpected upside.”
Now I had to convince her to help me with the rest. “You know what you need to do now, right?” I asked her.
The grin faded from her face. “I know what you told me to do. That doesn’t mean that I think any of this is a good idea.”
“It’s the only idea I’ve got.” I shrugged. “So let’s just hope that it’s good enough.”
My sister studied my face. “What did Gabe have to say about this?”
I pursed my lips. “You can ask him that yourself. He should be here later today.”
Her face softened. “I know you don’t like it when I argue with you, but you have to understand…I don’t want to lose you. You’re all I’ve got.”
I felt the tears threatening and blinked them back. The last thing my baby sister needed was to see my resolve crack. I forced myself to smile at her. “You’re not going to lose me, silly. I’ve got a plan, remember? And besides, I’m not all you’ve got. Wes has been following you around like a puppy dog since he was assigned to you. Seriously, it’s sort of disgusting.”
She reddened a little and laughed. “He’s sweet.”
“Good for him,” I said, my voice hardening. “He’s fired as soon as we launch.”
“Lauren!” She looked stricken. “You can’t do that.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at her. “You can’t be romantically involved with him. He works for me.”
She let out a bark of exasperated laughter, then glared right back. “Oh, please. You have no room to talk.”
“Gabe doesn’t work for me. He’s—oh Jesus. Just forget about it for now. I just want you to be safe.”
She threw up her hands. “That’s all I want. I just want you to be safe!”
“Then do what I ask you to do,” I said. “Please. Follow my instructions, keep up with the press releases, and don’t be so busy making goo-goo eyes at Wes that he fails to protect you. That’s all I’m asking.”
“You’re asking a lot, Lauren. And not the goo-goo eyes part. I’m talking about going along with your plan. You know you’re walking into a very dangerous situation, don’t you? Li Na Zhao and the people who work for her probably stabbed Clive Warren to death. In jail. And she started texting you before they’d even cleaned up the mess.”
Hannah leaned forward, her big blue eyes wide. “I can’t lose my sister like that. This is business, Lauren. It’s not worth risking your life for your work.”
I wanted to go to her and hug her, to rock her back and forth like I’d done when our parents died. But I didn’t want to make too big a deal out of the situation, and for the love of God, I didn’t want to start crying in front of her. “This is life or death, though. The patch is going to save people’s lives. I have to stop Li Na from ruining that. It’s worth the risk.”
Hannah slumped in her chair and rolled her eyes. “It’s really hard to argue with you when you pull that holier-than-thou shit.”
“I’m not ‘pulling’ anything. I believe that I’m doing this for the greater good.”
“I know,” she said. “That’s what makes it so annoying. But I don’t want my sister to die, even if it is for the greater good.”
“Have a little faith in me.” I mustered up a grin. “I lost my virginity this year. I’m about to finally launch my game-changing invention. Don’t give up on me just yet. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve.”
She raised her eyebrows at me and got up to leave. “I freaking hope so, Lauren.”
“I freaking hope so too. Now get out of here before you give me too big of an ego. And no goo-goo eyes,” I called after her.
She rolled her eyes at me again, and I wondered if it was the last time I’d ever see her do that. “Hannah. Wait.”
