Beauty and the Boss Page 7
what happened last night, we both know where it is, but
unless I can prove it, I can’t legally accuse them.” She took
a deep breath and glanced up at Rueben, who was now
crying. “Did they offer to sell it to you, or are they giving it
away?”
“Actually, neither. They were being nice by sharing the
news, but before you celebrate, it is going to be published,
and soon, from what they said. If I knew who and when I’d
move mountains for you, but they didn’t want to ruin the
surprise.”
“Thanks for the call then.”
“What are you going to do?”
The question made her want to laugh at the sheer
absurdity of it. “I’m going to have a drink and think about it.
We both know the likelihood of mounting a successful show
with all the time in the world, much less when there’s no
time at all.”
“My darling, don’t disappoint an old woman who has a
crush on you. Amis is one of my oldest friends, and that’s
whose blood runs through your heart. She gave you more
backbone than that, so skip the booze and concentrate on
what you do best. Success is and always will be the best
and most satisfying revenge.”
“Thanks, my friend, and you’re right.”
She hung up and walked around her desk to hug Rueben.
“Never underestimate a bitch in heat, Ruby. That’s what
Jennifer was from the beginning, and I should’ve paid closer
attention. This isn’t your fault, so let’s see what we can do
about it.”
* * *
“Mom, do you think Ellis will show me how to use all this
stuff?” Sawyer had opened every package in her room and
set up her easel.
“Maybe, but don’t bug her about it, okay?” The hands on
Charlotte’s watch hadn’t inched forward all that much, but
she was determined to wait out the hour before moving.
“You want me to go?” Sawyer said.
“What? Sorry. I was thinking.” The knock was probably
what Sawyer meant. “And I’ll go. Keep unwrapping.”
She opened the door and stepped back when Ellis leaned
against the frame. “I apologize for dumping you on my very
nosy uncle when we got here.”
“No need for apologies.”
“I know, but Malcom will accuse me of being obnoxiously
rude if I don’t,” Ellis said and smiled. “Since I have got a
mountain of problems, I don’t need to add to that. Do you
have a minute?”
“You’re the boss, so sure.”
“I know we just got here today, but I’m not holding you to
the job if you don’t want to stay. Let’s start there,” Ellis said,
and pointed to the table and chairs by the pool.
“You’re firing me?” She didn’t want to go back to waiting
tables and chasing Kyle for support. “Why?”
“I’m not firing you.” Ellis put her hands up and shook
them. “I’m giving you an option. You can stay, or you can go
back to a paid internship in New York with Michelle Yuki.”
“Why would I want to leave, even if it’s for another
dream job?”
“I can’t force you to keep quiet, but I’d appreciate if you
didn’t share what I’m about to tell you with anyone.”
Charlotte nodded, and Ellis started talking. Once she
finished, Charlotte couldn’t help but stare at Ellis’s swollen
lip. She’d of course noticed it on the flight down but figured
Ellis’s love life wasn’t any of her business.
“She bit you?”
“As unbelievable as that story sounds, she did bite me,
then ripped her shirt open. I’m having a hard time
understanding that level of bat-shit crazy, but then I’ve got
bigger problems.” Ellis’s smile wasn’t too wide, probably
because of the cut. “All the work that started the second last
year’s line came out is gone—I take that back. The work is
somewhere, but it’s getting ready to become public. It might
as well be gone.”
“So you’re not mounting a show?”
Ellis’s expression made Charlotte want to point in a
direction that would lead Ellis out of the fog she seemed
utterly lost in. “I’ll try to answer that, but not right now, so
give me a day.”
“I appreciate you getting all that stuff for Sawyer. She’s
in heaven in there, and it feels like another Christmas. At
least that’s how she’s acting.”
“Sawyer seems like a special kid.” Ellis glanced away
from her and fell silent for a while, as if thinking about
something. “I’m not keeping you from anyone, am I?”
“What do you mean?” It was almost funny that Ellis
would’ve thought of this only now, so she asked simply to
give her a hard time.
“I doubt the kid hatched from an egg. If you’re here for a
couple of months, won’t her dad miss her?”
She did laugh at that notion. “Sawyer’s dad misses her
all the time, but it’s mostly voluntary. He misses visits,
support payments, and just mainly misses the boat on all
things Sawyer. Don’t worry about us.”
“I didn’t mean to pry.” For once Ellis looked
uncomfortable. “I need to think, and sometimes that’s
easier to do with a sketchpad in my hand. Maybe Sawyer
and you would like to come on a walk with me?”
“We’d love to, and I want to stay. I thought we should
settle that now.”
“Are you sure? You could learn plenty from Michelle.”
She nodded and grinned, wanting for some reason to
make Ellis feel better. “That’s probably true, but I’m
staying.”
“Might be a boring summer.”
“You really think that?”
Ellis finally let loose a big belly laugh. “Not if you believe
the National Enquirer.”
CHAPTER SIX
“So this book,” the detective from the night before said
as he took copious notes. “It’s important?”
“Do you like football, Detective?” Amis asked, making
him look up at her.
“I happen to be a big fan, why?”
“Imagine you design all your plays. Actually, you spend
all year designing something no one who’s ever played has
ever seen before. You do that, and then someone comes
along and steals all your hard work and shares it with the
world. That’s exactly what happened here, so yes, it’s an
important book. We actually call it the bible for a reason.”
Amis spoke slowly, trying to get this guy to understand, but
she doubted she was getting through, considering he was
dressed like he was allergic to starch and an iron.
“So, intellectual theft?” he said, winking at her. “I’m
smarter than my pay grade, ma’am.”
“My apologies. I’m trying to keep my daughter from
either jumping off the roof or committing murder, but I’m
having a hard time not doing either myself.” She tapped her
pen on her desk and had to drop it to stop. “Our attorneys
said we needed to report it before we go forward.”
> “I’ll rush the report and check with my federal contacts to
see if they need to be brought in. Do you have any clue as
to who has it?”
“I have our security people going through footage to see
if I’m right, but Ellis’s office is the only private office that
has security cameras.”
He pocketed his notebook and offered her his hand. “I
promise we’ll give this our attention, but I need a hint where
to start. Maybe with someone here in the office before we
move on to your number-one suspect.”
She wrote a few names and slid the paper across the
desk. “Sorry again about my assumptions, and this list is
something you found in the trash, right? I don’t want to be
sued if someone gets insulted.”
“I have got a feeling that I have a clue where to start and
who to talk to without this. We’ll be in touch.”
She walked him to the door, where the head of their in-
house production team was waiting. “Ruby called me,” Opal
Steele said, her hands pressed to her chest. “If I didn’t
believe him, your expression confirms this cluster fuck. How
in the hell did someone walk out with that, of all things?”
“It’s not something I want or have time to rehash.” She
waved Opal in and dropped into her desk chair. “What I
need to know is the viability of a show. Can we pull it off?”
“Ellis has to come up with a completely new line, and if
she does, we’ll work our asses off to get it done.”
“I’ll need you in New Orleans if she gets over the shock of
it.” The door opened and her assistant held up a folder.
“Now what?”
“This just arrived by private courier.”
The copies Amis found inside confirmed the theft. It was,
from first glance, half of the designs in their lineup. “This
must be the fuck-you to top off what happened. Was there
anything else with these?”
“No, ma’am. Well, only this.” The young woman handed
over a yellow sticky note with a simple smiley face on it.
“Get Jennifer and Dalton’s team in the conference room.
I’ll be there in a few minutes.” She waited until she was
alone with Opal again before she started trying to take the
steps necessary to overcome this situation. “Get on the next
flight to New Orleans and tell Ellis to get to work. When I get
there, I’d better have something to see.”
“You got it.”
“Where are you?” Amis asked Ellis when she answered
the phone. She heard a lot of traffic noise in the
background, so at least Ellis wasn’t at home having some
sort of breakdown.
“At Café du Monde. It was either here or a bar, so I’m
playing tour guide.”
“I’m sending Opal, and the rest of the team should arrive
soon. Obviously, you’re past me grounding you, but I want
you to not let these people beat you. You need to embrace
the passion inside you.”
“Like I told Charlotte, I need a day.”
“I’ll save my pep talk until then, but I know you well
enough to realize I won’t have to give one. You should know
that someone delivered half the designs in the book with a
smiley-face note.”
“No other hint as to what their plans are?”
“I think they plan to destroy us, so I beg you not to let
them do this to you.” She put her finger up when her
assistant reappeared. “I love you, chéri, and I’ll be there
soon but I have to run.”
“Love you too, Mama.”
Amis smiled briefly but not for long. It was time to make
sure their house was in order. “Hello, everyone,” she said to
the accounting team. “Until further notice you’re going to
answer to me. If anyone here is still loyal to Jennifer Eymard,
I’ll need to meet with you after this, but before you make
that appointment, you should know Ms. Eymard is no longer
with the company.” She stared down everyone in the room.
“I doubt anyone will take me up on that offer, but let me
warn you. Anyone I can prove is sharing company
information will not only be terminated but prosecuted.”
After the first group left quietly, Amis repeated the
exercise with Dalton’s people. “Now to find that damn book
before my hair turns any grayer.”
* * *
Ellis relaxed after dinner with everyone, trying her best to
not telegraph how pissed she was. She was in a world of
shit, but it was of her own making, so she couldn’t lash out
lest she hit herself. No way would she be able to sleep, so
she put on a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt and went down
to what was originally the ballroom.
She often wondered what the parties in this room were
like when the place was built. A large room with tall ceilings,
wood floor, and silk wallpaper must have been something,
but for now she used it as a workroom. She made the last-
minute adjustments in here before all the pieces were
packed and sent back for Fashion Week.
“Do you want me to go back and try to fix this?” Rueben
said, startling her.
“Ruby, unless you gift-wrapped that thing for those
bastards, get off your sword. I’m not blaming you, and I still
love you.” She walked to the long table and pulled out a few
sheets of sketch paper. “I’m pissed, but not with you.”
“Are you planning to start over?” Rueben came closer, his
kimono dragging behind him.
“That’s the million-dollar question of the day, isn’t it? My
plan for now is to run you ragged, so go to bed and let me
see if there’s any magic left in here.” She tapped the side of
her head. “Even if we show only two things, we’re not going
down without a fight.”
“We can still get it back.”
“Tomorrow might bring a miracle, but tonight I’m going to
indulge the pessimist in me. That ship has sailed, and
considering who’s probably steering that pirated vessel,
there’s no way we’ll see its return. Hell, they’ve already sent
some of the designs to the office as a taunt. Jennifer won’t
give it back with a big apology. She wants to fuck me over,
and she has page after page of ways to do it. All I’ve got to
figure out is how to block her from doing that.” She snapped
her fingers after kissing his cheeks. “Do you mind
babysitting for a little while?”
Charlotte didn’t seem to mind being dragged out of bed
or leaving Rueben on her sofa in case Sawyer woke up.
“Bring your book.”
Charlotte looked around the ballroom as she held her
book under her arm. “Can I see what you had for this year?”
Ellis indulged her by taking all her sketches out and
taping them along the wall. When she stepped back and
studied the swatch of paper, she came close to crying at the
thought of all the hours that had gone into creating them.
Usually, she was always happy with what she put out, but
this year was different.
“Thi
s year we’re closing Fashion Week. We finally got that
spot, so I was inspired to take it up a notch. Of all my stuff, I
think these were my best.”
“They are beautiful,” Charlotte said as she touched each
sheet. “I want to help you however I can.”
“How about a blow to the head that’ll get my creativity
going?” She took Charlotte’s book and flipped through it
again. “Every year my interns usually get one piece in the
show, but this might be your breakout year. If you end up
with a couple or more, you have to start thinking about a
style that’s yours alone.”
“That’s my safe I’m-going-on-an-interview set of
sketches.” Charlotte spoke like a four-year-old caught with
both hands in the cookie jar.
“So you don’t think I’m edgy enough to appreciate that in
a designer and you didn’t share?”
“No,” Charlotte said loudly, bringing her head up. She
relaxed visibly when Ellis winked at her. “That’s not what
most people want to see. Most people go for the safe.”
“You’re right about that, but I’m not most people.” The
blank page usually was a kind of ticket to a new adventure
she always was ready to take. Sometimes, though, it
symbolized the door to everything that terrified her. “Let’s
forget all that tonight and do something else.”
“I’m not interested in anything but work.” The way
Charlotte put her hands up made Ellis want to laugh.
“I’m crushed, but I totally understand. Go to bed, and
we’ll start again in the morning.” She turned off the lights
and walked Charlotte to the door.
“You’re mad?” Charlotte asked incredulously.
“I’m amused that you think that’s the effort I put into
someone I’m interested in. That makes me sound like either
I’m a rapist or I have magical powers. In case you didn’t
understand the sarcasm, I’ve got neither.” She opened the
door since Charlotte wasn’t leaving. “And it sounds like
you’ve already got an asshole in your life—you don’t need
another one.”
“I’m sorry I hurt your feelings.”
Charlotte had an obvious problem looking at her, but she
was in no mood to let her off the hook. “You’ve got to have
feelings to incur damage, right? I’m sure you’ve heard the
rumor about how I’m sorely lacking in that department.”
She stepped back when Charlotte moved to touch her arm.