Except shehadlooked at their ledger, and… well, it was probably because of the delivery scam. She would have needed more time with those old contracts and receipts to figure out the discrepancy and how they had somehow managed to stay afloat as a business. But that felt like overstepping even more than she already was, even if they had practically begged her for ideas on scheduling so they didn’t have so much waste.
Rose slipped the other parchment out from under the art district research, adding sixth and seventh items.
6. Based on foot traffic and income, there is an opportunity to soft launch having the second weekday closed—as it is your lowest profit day of the week—and the second day of the weekend open until just after lunch rush. Less hours, but this could provide a higher profit from foot traffic alone.
7. A demon will be by this week to fix your heating rune. He has been sufficiently persuaded.
“Does that smile mean your date went well? Or are you finding grammatical mistakes in an official document again?”
Rosalind shifted her list back under her proposal documents. “Can’t it be both?”
Mozke swept into the room with a flourish, the heels of their boots clicking on the floor. “Gods, you didn’t need a night out; you needed to be given a list to organize.”
“I told you,” Rose huffed as theysat next to her.
“Are you still mad at me?”
She pursed her lips like she was actually contemplating it. “I suppose dinner last night was a step toward an apology.”
“And here I thought it was the giant stack of research I delivered to assist you with your proposal.”
“That certainly helped.” Rose gestured to her latest budget assessment. “What do you think about this?”
Mozke skimmed the page. Then read it again. And by the third time, Rosalind was going to need to change blouses for how she was sweating.
“Well?”
The frown lines between Mozke’s eyes were not reassuring, but just as Rose’s heart began climbing her throat, they snatched the paper and held it as close to their face as possible.
“It’s beautiful.”
Rosalind blinked, the shock momentarily calming her fear. “Beautiful?”
They made a retching noise. “Yes, beautiful. I just called workbeautiful, but damn it all to blazes, this is the most beautiful proposal I’ve ever seen in my life.” With a flick of their wrist, the paper was handed back to Rose. “Please, take it. Your brilliance is blinding me.”
Rose’s cheeks burned as she looked it over again even if she had the thing memorized. It didn’tfeelbeautiful, but she was proud of it. Succinct language, summarized laws, budget rearranging?—
“You read the numbers, too?” she asked.
Mozke hummed, now pretending they weren’t looking over all of Rosalind’s other notes after just claiming they were disgusted by work. Their finger landed on the line item. “Where did that one come from?”
Rosalind tried not to outwardly smirk at the curiosity in their voice. “That’s the mystery.”
Mozke raised a pierced brow. “Sweet little human, requesting that much money we don’t have is not going to go well.”
“What happened to my beautiful proposal?” she teased.
“I assumed I wouldn’t have to fact check your brain.”
“You don’t. But you should fact check the books, because that money ispoof”—she clapped her hands for emphasis—“gone.”
Mozke narrowed their eyes, then gestured for her to continue.
“Fundraising over the years, income on projects, taxes? This numbershouldexist in our ledger, but it’s not there.” Still holding her proposal protectively, she pushed her latest migraine toward the pastel blue demon. “Look at this trail I’ve been following. These are the hands and laws that it has to pass before it should be allocated to us, but instead?—”
“Everything is ruined!”
The shout snapped the silence of the office, and Mozke darted Rose a confused look before scrambling out of their chair. Rosalind was right behind them, making it to the doorway as the curses started.
