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“Over my dead body.” Muttering under her breath, Gabby dug into her purse and pulled out her phone. After dialing a number, she lifted it to her ear and waited, her gaze shooting daggers toward Lana. Then me. “Yes, hello? Alejandro. It’s Gabby. I—what?” She listened a moment, her eyes going wide. “But—Except, I didn’t—If you’d just—” Closing her eyes, she swallowed and nodded her head. “I understand. Goodbye.” She cut the connection, only to spear Lana with a gaze full of fury. “What the hell did you say to him? As pissed off as he sounded, he’ll never hire me back on now.”
Lana sniffed and waved a hand. “Well, I’m not sure why you’d want to go back there, anyway. Rest assured, I’ll keep you sufficiently busy here. Why, if you do well enough, I might even give you extra tasks like picking up groceries and possibly cooking. How are your culinary skills, by the way? All you Mexicans seem to be pretty handy in a kitchen.”
Oh, now she’d done it.
For a moment, I began to think Lana had actually met her match in contenders. From the way Gabby vibrated with unleashed fury and her face filled with a purple rage, I was certain she’d leave Lana staggering.
And I knew it shouldn’t please me, but watching Gabby prepare for battle against my mother flooded my bloodstream with an excitement that made me more animated than I’d ever felt before.
Gabby fisted her hands down at her sides. “I will not work for you, you bigoted bitch. Not now. Not later. Not ever. You can’t force me to do anything. I’ll just go find a job elsewhere. There’s always an opening somewhere in the food service industry.”
“Except I’ll just discover where you go and make sure you get fired from there, too,” Lana announced. “Or I’ll have your father deported.”
Gabby laughed. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but my father’s legal.”
Lana looked all too pleased to reply, “Is that what he told you?”
Gabby blinked, too stumped to respond. I could see the question in her eyes as she doubted her own father. Lana might be lying, though. She was a pro at bluffing. I squinted at her, trying to discern the truth, but I just couldn’t tell. Dammit.
Finally deciding not to spar with Lana anymore, Gabby spun toward me and raged, “Why the fuck are you just standing there? Do something.”
I could’ve helped her out. Or at least tried to help. I could’ve offered her money until she found work that Lana couldn’t touch. Hell, I could’ve probably found work for her. Or helped her father prove his citizenship. But instead, another idea sprouted in my head.
So I found myself turning to Lana to say, “You’ll pay her twice whatever she made at the café, figuring in tip money.”
As Gabby yelped out a betrayed, “What?” my mother laughed.
“That’s a bit extreme, don’t you think, dear?”
With a smirk, I shot back, “Not at all. What is it you always spout off at JFI when you argue for steeper prices on our clothes? You get what you pay for. If we want to offer the best, we have to charge the most.” I tipped my head toward Gabby. “Well, Gabriella’s the best. And you want the best, don’t you? You better be willing to pay for her.”
Lana chewed on her bottom lip as she narrowed her eyes toward the younger woman before she muttered, “Fine. But I want her in full uniform whenever she’s on the clock, not those dowdy rags she was wearing the other night.”
I nodded, relenting. “Of course. If you supply them, that is. And pay her weekly. Plus, she never works past six in the evening or on any weekend.”
“Unless I’m entertaining,” Lana compromised, frowning. “I’ll need her to clean as soon as the guests leave.”
As if she’d ever have willing guests. So I shrugged. “That’s something you’ll have to work out with her on a case-by-case basis.”
We turned to Gabby in unison, but she just blinked at us. “What is happening?” she demanded, looking panicked, like maybe she might faint.
“You belong to me now,” Lana announced.
Gabby sent her a half-in
credulous, half-hysterical laugh and promptly turned to me, whispering, “But I don’t want to clean for her.”
I winced, feeling genuinely regretful. “I’m working out the best deal I can for you.”
“He really is,” Lana agreed, nodding astutely before turning to me to add, “Which is why I’m going to need a favor from you in return, darling.”
“Oh, I’m sure you will,” I answered with a tight smile, my stomach knotting over what kind of bomb she was going to drop next.
I thought I’d perfected the air of bored, I-don’t-give-a-fuck asshole over the years, but right now, I kind of wanted to gulp and start sweating profusely.
“It involves Kaitlynn,” Lana started.
Shit. I should’ve known.
