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“Although it would have been nice to know she was going to be my partner,” the woman remarks. “So I could have organized things a little better…”
“The company is interested in quarterly results, not old marital feuds. You have a colossal challenge ahead of you,” the director warns them both. “And I want you to see it through.”
Eleanor gestures with her hand, and her personal assistant approaches to slide a thick project folder in front of Victoria and another in front of Harper.
“You have six weeks to design an international edition, merging your visions so that the other departments get a boost. If the project works and the numbers come through, we’ll finalize the organizational chart for our headquarters.”
“And if it doesn’t work?” Harper asks, fixing her gaze on Eleanor.
Eleanor flashes the table a frosty smile that doesn’t wrinkle her skin.
“If it doesn’t work out, neither of you will have to worry about sharing an office. Not at this magazine, nor at any other subsidiary of the group.”
“Definitely,” Harper thinks bitterly. “Today was going to be a great day.”
Victoria pulls out the chair across from her and sits down. Their legs are separated by just a few inches beneath the walnut table. Harper looks down at the document in the folder, forcing herself to focus on the keywords: “Global rebranding. Synergy. Fall/Winter campaign.”
But her brain is unable to process the text. She can only recall the last conversation they had in her Brooklyn apartment, with Victoria’s suitcases by the door and the rain pounding against the windows. “Maybe we’re hurting each other so much because we’re determined to save something that’s already dead, Harper.”
As Eleanor continues to reel off market analyses and deadlines, Harper realizes the magnitude of the disaster. The job of a lifetime—the goal for which she’s sacrificed her health for years—has just turned into a minefield. An all-out war against the only woman who’s ever been able to shatter her heart.
Chapter 2
The boardroom door closes behind the last board member as they leave, leaving Victoria Vance in a strange void. The scrutiny she’s been subjected to—twelve pairs of eyes evaluating her résumé, as if her five years of success in Paris could be reduced to mere statistics—has come to an end.
And only Harper remains.
Victoria clutches the black folder against her ribs while, in front of her, Harper Brooks gathers her documents. Her jaw is clenched, and Victoria realizes she is the living image of a woman trying to hold back a terrible storm.
Five years. Five years of trying to forget—years that now seem to amount to nothing.
Harper’s hair is a couple of inches longer than when they shared a bed in Brooklyn; a chestnut mane with honey highlights that now frames her face in much more mature and sophisticated waves. Her style has also evolved: the brown blazer looks absolutely stunning on her and accentuates her waist. She looks… “gorgeous.”
“I see you’re still making dramatic entrances to steal the spotlight,” Harper says, breaking the silence without looking up for a moment.
Victoria sets the folder down on the table and lifts her chin.
“I’m glad to see that your legendary sense of humor is still intact even in my absence.”
“Not everything revolves around you, Victoria. As much as you like to imagine it does.”
“That response also strikes me as strangely familiar.”
Harper lets out a sigh and lifts her chin. A natural gesture, very much her own.
Victoria knows she should hold back. That prudence demands keeping the matter strictly professional. But Harper is looking at her, and as much as she denies it, she loves it when she does that.
There’s arrogance. There’s passion. A coldness that Victoria herself intends to destroy.
Victoria circles the table with slow steps, like a panther sizing up its prey, and rests both hands on the wood.
“And from what I can see, you’ve bought into the illusion that this empire belongs to you,” Victoria taunts with a faint smile. “Get ready, Harper, because I didn’t cross the entire ocean just to settle for anyone’s leftovers.”
Working for the same company had never seemed so dangerous to her until this very moment.
Harper’s eyes darken immediately, the surprise fading away. Victoria feels her own pulse quicken. She knows she’s playing with fire, but the most reckless and daring part of her being suddenly awakens at the spark of battle.
Harper walks around the table in turn and stops just a few inches away from her.
