Page 135 of Rapunzel Is Losing It

“I said no.”

“And you speak for Cordelia now?”

“No, he doesn’t, but he knows the women in the shelter better than anyone.” Cordelia reached over to squeeze my hand. “If he says no, it’s a no.”

“This isn’t just about the shelter, it’s about the whole foundation. I mean, we’re just getting control over the situation with our Florida center. The good publicity of you picking up the pieces after Piotr Yelchin’s death would really help our image.”

“I don’t care,” Cordelia said, “this isn’t a publicity stunt.”

“I know that,” Amani scoffed.

“I’m also not setting myself up for a political career.” Cordelia leaned forward, one arm braced on my lap. “These women don’t need my face trending on their For-You-Pages, reminding them of what they’ve gone through. They want to move forward, and it’s our job to help them with that. This isn’t some trolley problem. The foundation isn’t going to collapse if we don’t profit from the documentary. We’re not going bankrupt. We just keep going. And we don’t ever put publicity above the needs of the people we help.”

I let a hand slide up Cordelia’s spine, resting it between her shoulder blades. Just to silently offer my support even if she might not need it.

“I know this might sound harsh to you. I’m sorry. I went along with the video campaign because it only affected me, but gave us the chance to help many more women. You’re great at what you do. But you don’t work for me. You don’t even work for the administration of the foundation. You work for the women who need our help.”

“Right.” Amani audibly swallowed on the other side of the screen. I had very little sympathy for her left after having witnessed how the whole campaign took its toll on Cordelia. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Cordelia said and leaned back, shifting into my hand, “if you want to talk about it more, we can schedule a proper call next week.”

“I’ll think about it,” Amani said. The computer made the little swooping noise of a call ending and Cordelia sagged against me.

“Did she hang up on you?”

“Yeah,” she sighed and dropped her head to my shoulder, “she didn’t look happy.”

“You did the right thing.” I pressed a kiss to the crown of her hair, inhaling her sweet summery scent. “I know that was hard.”

“Thank you. And thank you for saying no. You’re really good at this, you know?” She tilted her head back and gave me a quick, innocent kiss. “The girls at the shelter are all swooning over you.”

“Swooning?”

“So handsome. So nice. So attentive. Always knows the right thing to say. Never raises his voice to make a point.”

“Hmm,” I nudged my nose against hers, “almost like I have a few years experience in handling a woman with a complicated past.”

“You’ve neverhandledme,” she scoffed and sat upright.

“I handled you just this morning.”

“I damn well hope you don’t handle any other women like you handled me this morning.”

“Don’t worry, you get special treatment, zhizn’ moya.”

“Good,” she chuckled and leaned in to press her lips against my cheek, “next file, please.”

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

“The staff has cleared out,”Victor said outside the bathroom door. “One hour until the wedding.”

“Thanks,” I breathed shakily, staring at my strange reflection.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re a shitty liar, even behind closed doors.”

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