EPILOGUE“I hereby call to order the first meeting of the most kickass book club ever assembled.”Camille stopped talking in order to take a huge gulp of the wine she’d been holding above her head.Seated in a comfy chair across the room from her, Isobel—yes, Ezra’s sister, Isobel—said, “Uh…hear, hear,” and took her own drink.Gabby and I exchanged raised eyebrow glances before we shrugged and tossed back our glasses as well.So, yeah. A couple months had passed since my wicked stepmother had been arrested and I’d become the new CEO at Judge Fashions Industry, sharing the power with my awesome boyfriend, Ezra.My lawyers had officially gotten everything that had originally been left to me in my father’s will transferred to my name, even though they were still trying to figure out how much money Lana owed me after spending it as if it were her own for the last few years. Not that she’d ever be able to pay me back everything from behind bars, but the law
CHAPTER ONE“Kait…lynn!” The unexpected shriek that blasted through the intercom caused me to jump so hard I spilled the armful of papers I’d been carrying from the copy machine to my desk.Groaning over my clumsiness, I bent to pick them up, only for the cantankerous voice to return. “I need you up here. Now, Kaitlynn.”After scooping the mess of pages into my arms, I slapped them into a disorganized heap on my desk, figuring I’d deal with them later, and called, “I’m coming!” Then I hustled to the teapot sitting on a nearby table and fished out the tea ball bobbing in hot water.Lana preferred full-bodied oolong tea every morning, so I usually left the oxidized leaves in for at least six minutes before removing the ball. But today, it sounded as if she wanted her tea sooner, so hopefully she didn’t notice a weaker flavor.I placed the ceramic lid on the pot, then carefully poured a portion of the tea into a waiting cup on the tray. Af
CHAPTER TWOI wasn’t going to get my work done in time for the meeting.No, wait, yes. Yes, I was. Positivity, Kaitlynn, have some positivity.Bolstering myself with a mental chant of yes you can, I glanced at the time. Six minutes to sort and staple. I was cutting it close, but I had every confidence I’d make the deadline.That was until the door flew open and Lana flounced inside. Proportioned like a model, she wore stiletto heels, a knee-length pencil-thin skirt, and a form-fitting wool-knit sleeveless blouse. The haughty demeanor suited her perfectly, which was too bad, because she overused it big-time, making it seem bitchily sinister instead of coolly confident.“What the hell is this?” She shoved her teacup at me, spilling just enough to splash the front of my shirt.With a gasp, I lurched to my feet and tugged my blouse away from my chest, but thank goodness nothing soaked through the cloth.“It’s tea,” I said, staring at her in
CHAPTER THREEShock.Loss.Disbelief.It all roiled through me in dizzying waves. I tried to process what had happened. But it was impossible. My dream had been shattered. Not only could I never try to work my way to the top of my father’s company, but now I couldn’t even work there, period.By Saturday evening, I was a complete wreck. I wavered between wanting to storm JFI to tell Lana I didn’t need her—I’d go somewhere else and show her how successful I could be on my own—and wanting to beg for another chance, because oh my God, I couldn’t lose my dream of staying with my parents’ legacy.In reality, I sat on my sofa in my pajamas and moped as I tried to find a true, paying job on the internet. Nothing looked promising in the corporate world but there were plenty of food service or cleaning opportunities. I sighed and set my laptop on the coffee table in front of me while I scrubbed my tired face, only to wince at the smell that wafted
CHAPTER FOURBrick continued to grumble as he followed me into the elevator of my building and then down and out of it toward the front exit. I didn’t catch each word he said, but it sounded as if he were complaining about a little bit of everything, from my embarrassment of a costume to my intolerable apartment and even his horrible mother for never paying me to work for her.It warmed my heart to know he cared enough about me to be upset on my behalf. Made me think maybe I’d misjudged him all these years. Yes, he’d talked to me because I’d been around when we were kids, and he’d always been nice because he was just that kind of guy, warm and charismatic. But to realize he genuinely liked me on top of that made something heartfelt grow inside me. He was starting to feel like a true brother. The urge to give him a big, affectionate hug and maybe a sloppy, happy kiss on the cheek grew until I stepped outside and took in the orange Porsche at
CHAPTER FIVE“Well, shit,” Brick said from next to me. “I did not see that coming.” Suddenly, he scowled. “Now I’m offended he’s never hit on me.”I’m not sure why his joke caused me to boil, but all of a sudden, I was mad at him. I punched him in the arm. “I'm so going to kill you for this.”He’d talked me into attending tonight on a promise that had fallen through before I’d even had a chance to try it. Admittedly, I’d forgotten all about the goal of approaching Christopher until we’d arrived, but now that I couldn’t even put out feelers, I had to wonder if the job Brick had promised me would fall through too.Was I heaping too much hope onto my careless, playboy stepbrother?Brick laughed even as he fake flinched away from me, lifting his hands as a shield. “Hey, no death threats to your new boss. Besides, how was I supposed to know he wasn’t single… Or straight?”Rolling my eyes, I mumbled, “A little background research might’ve give
CHAPTER SIXHold the phone.I glanced back, blinking at the door as it slid shut, because hearing a man’s voice from a clearly feminine costume caught me off guard.He sounded distressed though, so I shrugged off my surprise and pushed the door open again.“Hello?” I called. “Everything okay?”“No.” He started toward me. “Do you happen to have a light?”“Oh. No, I’m sorry,” I said, feeling bad because I couldn’t help him in his time of nicotine need. “But I don’t smoke.”“No, I mean…” He let out an amused sound. “I need an actual light. Like a flashlight. My stupid high heels were killing me, so I took them off for a minute, only to lose track of them completely.” His silhouette shifted as if he were turning in a circle and eyeing the ground. The light flooding into the courtyard from the door I held open was the only thing around to provide any kind of illumination. “I found a light switch for the garden,” he added, dejected. “But eith
CHAPTER SEVENMaleficent sprang to his feet, alerted to my surprise. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Spreading his hands in front of him as if feeling for me, he took a step in my direction. “Where’d you go?”“I’m right here.” Kneeling, I felt the grass around me until, aha, my fingers wrapped around a shoe. “I think I found one of your high heels.” And yes! The second shoe was right beside it. “Both of them!”“You did?” Sounding excited, Maleficent hurried forward. “That’s great.”Since I was still kneeling, I tugged on his skirt, so he could feel where I was and wouldn’t trample me. But then an idea struck. Since I was already down here, I lifted the hem of his dress and reached for his ankle.“Whoa!” He lurched backward, obviously not expecting me.“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” I rushed out the apology, my face flooding with heat as I popped upright in mortification. I hadn’t realized how forward I was being until he jumped.Horrified by