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“Wow,” I breathed, flopping on the seat. “Thank you, my love. Just what I needed on my first day.” No sooner were the words out of my mouth than Sunny pulled up to the curb.
Taking a breath, I let it out slow. I may not be nervous, but I did know what was at stake. I had to find the person doing this, and it had to be fast. My guys were forced to wear those trackers to keep up the ruse. It terrified me that the people bombing, attacking, and ambushing them knew exactly where they were as they went around the city, pretending it was business as usual.
“You’ve got this, Kenzie.” Sunny kissed me slow and sweet. “If there’s anyone I trust with my life, it’s the angel who already saved it.”
I hummed, kissing him again. It was pretty damn wonderful being in love. The real kind of love, not the game of pretend it turned out I was playing with Damien and Luca. Sunny saw the truth of me and I saw it of him. If he knew I could do this, who was I to disagree with him?
Waving goodbye, I watched his car turn the corner before heading inside. I wore another Kenzie Creation that morning—a label I plastered all over my work like Gucci. The appreciative looks I got as I strolled past in my wedges, sequin tent dress, and handmade bomber jacket, turned my grin up high.
I belonged here no matter the reason I got the job. I earned my spot in Caddell House all those years ago, and it was still mine.
In the elevator, I hit the button for the fourth floor, steeling myself the whole way up. The day before, I met the designers who’ve been working for the Johnsons. Time to figure out if one of them was a duplicitous piece of garbage dressed in couture.
The door slid open on my new second home. The fourth floor wasn’t nearly as busy as the third where the junior designers and interns clawed out space. Up here, the senior designers reigned.
I stepped out on plush red carpet, scanning the magazine covers that doubled as artwork in our world. So many of them featured models wearing designs by the very people behind the nameplated doors running down both sides of the waiting area. At the very end, written on a piece of tape while they ordered the real thing, was Mackenzie Blaine.
I made a beeline for my office. My juniors and interns should already be inside waiting for me to start the meeting.
“Good morning, everyone. I hope you...” Door swinging shut, I fell on the single person in my office—waiting for me.
“Lyla.” At least, I think it was Lyla. The woman sitting at my desk had her lips twisted in such a snarl, it transformed a pretty face into something else entirely. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Shut the fuck up, bitch.”
“Whoops,” I sang. “Careful, Lyla. Isn’t your play the sweet, innocent act so you can keep on fooling people that you aren’t dead inside? Don’t go showing your true colors now.”
“What did you say to Vance?!”
I cocked my head. “I said a lot of things to Vance. You’ll have to be more specific.”
Lyla threw a clock at my head. I easily ducked it, arching a brow at the smashed pieces. I may use that backhand sooner rather than later.
“Yesterday, I went to his office to inform him you’re a lying, cheating thief and he said you told him the truth. He said he knows what I did and the only reason I still have a job is because he can’t prove it and won’t risk a wrongful termination suit!” Her eyes were straight bulging. “What the hell did you say?!”
“Exactly what he told you—the truth. I explained that you, Damien, and Courtney cooked up that bullshit to get me fired.” I scoffed. “Obviously I told him. I wouldn’t have gotten my job back otherwise. You didn’t expect me to keep your dirty secrets like I owe you something, did you?”
I pushed my lips out. “Aww, you stupid fool.”
“Watch your fucking mouth.”
“Or you’ll what?”
“I got rid of you once,” she hissed, eyes slitted. “I can just as easily do it again.”
Rolling my eyes, I crossed the room, flinging open the curtains. If she came for me, the people in the neighboring building would witness that she hit first, and I was justified in doing whatever came next. “Is that why you dismissed my staff and ambushed me? To deliver empty threats?”
“You don’t have staff.” She spat the word like it offended her. “You don’t have an office. You don’t have anything. What you have is another brainless idiot willing to give you whatever you want if it means you’ll ride his dick. Once I find out the truth of whatever arrangement you have with Vance, you’ll be out of here so fast, the sequins will fly off that tacky outfit.”
