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“I’ll be right back,” she tells Solange.
“Don’t do anything that’ll require a press release first thing in the morning.”
“Solange!”
The terrace is quiet, and the murmur of the party drifts over faintly. Harper leans against the glass railing, gazing at the city lights.
A moment later, two arms wrap around her waist, and Harper’s back presses against Victoria’s warm chest as Victoria rests her chin on her shoulder.
“Just think—six months ago, you were about to board a plane to Paris,” Harper murmurs.
Victoria pulls her closer, kissing her neck.
“And how lucky I was that you came to get me.”
Harper turns in her arms so they’re face to face. She remembers that night at her apartment perfectly: the heart-to-heart argument and Victoria tearing the ticket to shreds.
“You know what’s the most absurd thing?” Harper whispers.
“Tell me.”
“That for years I thought the problem between us was Paris, the distance, or work.”
Victoria looks down for a second, lost in thought.
“I thought so, too.”
“And that wasn’t it. It was us. Two women terrified of the idea of giving ground, convinced that loving someone meant losing control.”
“It took me a divorce and years of loneliness to understand that you can love someone without demanding that they change even a single millimeter,” Victoria confesses.
“And it took me just as long to realize that I could love you madly without becoming a shadow by your side,” Harper adds, stroking the back of her neck.
Victoria leans in until their foreheads touch.
“Don’t ever doubt what we are again, Harper. Never again.”
“It wouldn’t even cross my mind. I have the best co-director in Manhattan.”
“Just a co-director?”
“And the woman of my life. But don’t get too full of yourself.”
Victoria smiles, wrapping her arms around Harper’s waist. Together, they look inside the venue. Solange is gesturing animatedly with a glass in her hand, Julian seems to be giving a style lesson to a group of models, and Liam is laughing heartily with the photographers. An unbeatable team. A magazine that’s already the benchmark of international fashion. And a love that has managed to reinvent itself from the ruins of the past.
“We’ve done it,” Harper whispers.
“It still feels like a dream to me,” Victoria admits. “Sometimes I wake up and fear I’ll find myself back in my old office at Velvet & Silk.”
“Well, wake up, Victoria Vance. Because this is real. We built it ourselves, note by note, page by page.”
Victoria stares at her, and the spark of desire reignites between them, fiery and playful.
“So… what’s the next step in our strategy?”
Harper smiles mischievously, wrapping her arm around Victoria’s waist to close the distance between them.
“Right now?”
