She’s different. A span of six years is a long time. But she’s also exactly the same.
Morning dawns with a loud thump outside my door and a yelled apology from a staff member. Sun streams through the balcony doors, illuminating the curtains I was too tired to close. The sky is an icy blue that immediately brings Calliope back into my thoughts because it’s the same shade as her eyes. Warmth sweeps through my chest and I nestle into my pillow, replaying her face over and over in my mind.
My phone buzzes repeatedly, interrupting my daydream of waltzing into Calliope’s office and demanding a date. Reaching up one arm, I have to feel around the end table for a few seconds before I find my phone. Hitting answer, I press it to my ear with a yawn.
“What?”
“Morning, sunshine.”
“Buster? Don’t you ever sleep?”
“Not when there’s money to be made.”
“God.” I groan softly. “Fucking Imogen called me last night.”
“What?”
“Mmhmm. Gave me a sad, drunk speech about missing me.”
“Yeah, missing you while another dude’s dick is inside her.”
I snort softly. “She misses my money.”
“Most likely. How are you feeling?”
“I feel… nothing. Is that bad? I was with her for two years.”
“Two years of performance and grief,” Buster murmurs. “Besides, how often were you two actually together? She spent most of her time using your name to get into parties and shows and shit. She never cared about you.”
“Mmhmm.” He’s right, and while I’m solid in my decision, it’s nice to hear the affirmation. “So, why are you calling me?”
“We have a problem.”
My eyes snap open and I push up onto an elbow. “What?”
“So Angelic Jewels is in some trouble. That we knew. But it’s much worse than just some debt.”
“Hit me.”
“Someone at Angelic Jewels has been siphoning funds.”
“Fraud?” I sit up fully, my back as straight as a board.
“Yup.”
“Shit. Who?”
“No clue. But we'd better find out quickly.”
14
CALLIOPE
“Listen, I understand that you’re frustrated,” I say while hurrying down the corridor toward my office. “You’re absolutely right, we did cancel your order back in November. The plan then was to include those bracelets as part of a store promotion and there was some miscommunication between staff, which is why they were accidentally placed on the website?—”
I pause as the angry customer launches into another tirade of how ridiculously unprofessional it is for us to do this and how it happened to them back in the summer with some Zircon sets.
“You’re right, the subscription box is more expensive, but you… I understand that, but there’s more than… no, it’s… yes, I’ll cancel your subscription. Have a—” The call ends, and I come to a stop in the middle of the hallway, staring down at the phone. “Nice day. Asshole.”
