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“The world is not built for women who thrive,” Natalia continued, nostrils flared. “Women like us have to reshape it. All of it. Make a place for ourselves. Make our own family.”
Our?
Lola was whiplashed. Her stomach was still tied in a knot and her chest ached so badly it was impossible to take a full breath. She could barely process Natalia’s words. Couldn’t she just fire her already? She’d always appreciated Natalia’s no-bullshit directness. Why was she toying with her?
“United in PRIDE was born after a moment very similar to that one,” Natalia said, pointing to the closed door covered in a shade. “But I was sixteen and my father was throwing out every single item of clothing I owned except what I was wearing. A punishment intended to humiliate me.”
“Why?” Lola asked when her voice returned to her.
Natalia cocked her head to the side, blunt bob grazing her padded shoulder. “He’d found a copy ofStone Butch Blueshidden inside my mattress.” She paused. “There wasn’t a single thing that didn’t terrify my father in that book. Not a single thing that he understood.” Natalia gained steam. “Except that when he found it, he finally understood me and decided I was a person he did not want to know.”
Lola’s stomach churned. She opened her mouth to say she was so sorry, but Natalia held up her hand to stop her.
“From that day forward, my father never showed me an ounce of affection. My mother did not have equal say in our home, so the best she could offer me were pleas to stop my nonsense and repent.” Her jaw stiffened. “And I wore the same damn outfit every fucking day until my parents begged me to change because they were getting calls from the school, looks from neighbors, questions from church.” Natalia’s lip twitched in satisfaction. “Family is who we choose. Sometimes we share blood with people who can’t see us. Who fear the greatness they can’t fathom.”
Lola felt Natalia’s defiance coursing through her veins, pulling her out of her shock. Hell yeah, she turned their punishment into a badge of honor. Gave it back to them until they choked on it.
“I was still in college when I started United in PRIDE, but I’d started dreaming about it years before. I promised myself that I would not fail the ones who need to be fiercely protected by those of us made strong by disappointment. Those of us who are relentless and unbreakable.”
There was thatusagain. This time Lola heard it loud and clear. Heard it in her pounding heart and warming skin. Did Natalia really think all those things? Of her?
“I have a seat opening on the board,” Natalia said after a beat.
Lola’s eyes widened as she found the will to straighten her spine. Was she inviting her to join her organization? Even Adriana wasn’t a part of that.
“Are you interested?” Natalia asked after a beat, amused more than annoyed that she’d had to spell it out.
“Yes,” Lola all but shouted. “Absolutely, of course.”
“There’ll be documents to sign,” she said, returning to her work. “I’ll get them to you.”
Understanding that she’d been dismissed, Lola stood like a newborn colt finding its balance. At a loss for how to thank Natalia for her job, her understanding, her generosity, Lola imagined how Adriana would respond and simply said, “Thank you. I won’t let you down.”
“No,” Natalia replied without looking up at her. “You won’t,” she added in an ominous tone that sounded like Julie Andrews happily belting from a hilltop to Lola.
Lola managed to conceal her smile until she got to the other side of Natalia’s door, where Adriana and Carmen were waiting.
At the head of the bullpen, Martina was standing over the other assistants and silently commanding them not to look up. When she made eye contact with Martina, Lola nodded her appreciation. Martina returned the gesture, but only after flushing bright red.
“Well, she wasn’t fired,” Adriana said to Carmen with a grin after assessing Lola.
Shaking her head in disbelief, Lola agreed. “Nope. Not fired.”
Carmen held her palm to her chest in an open display of relief. Carmen who was still there. Carmen, who’d stood with her and defended her. Carmen who’d put her money where her supportive mouth was.
“I’ll be in my office if you need me,” Adriana said before reaching out and giving Lola’s arm a squeeze.
To her own surprise, Lola didn’t recoil. She was overcome with a flood of gratitude and … oh, God. Affection. Great, fucking love lobotomies for everyone.
“Thanks,” Lola said before Adriana left.
“What good are we if we don’t have each other’s back?” Adriana dropped the rhetorical question and disappeared.
“What happened in there?” Carmen asked when they started back toward Lola’s office. “And with your mother — Are you okay? I mean, you can’t be okay—”
“No,” Lola interrupted. “I am okay,” she decided. “Or, well, I survived. I survived my worst nightmare.” She stopped in the kitchen between her and Adriana’s offices. “Everyone I care about saw my greatest shame. My mother embarrassed me at work. She showed me, in no uncertain terms, that she only sees me as a parasite that should spend the rest of my life repaying her for having been born.” She shook her head. “I’m not a person to her and I never will be.”
Carmen’s hazel eyes bled with empathy. In her life, no one had ever made Lola feel so completely seen.
