Page 17 of Dark Masquerade
“I’m sorry, Viv. I really am.”
“You haven’t done anything wrong, Elli. This article is completely unjustified, and what’s more, false ineveryway. I can’t believe the editor let it get through.”
Elli sighed, somewhat relieved. “Look, I’m coming in to work. We can talk about it in greater depth and consider how we might respond.”
“Are you sure? What about what the doctor said?” Vivienne asked.
“That was days ago. I’m fine. See you soon.”
Elli put her phone back on the table. “Well, I guess the vacation is over.”
Aldo leaned over and stroked her cheek. “Don’t worry about this joker. Look, I’ll walk you to work, but then I have to go away for a few days for work. Will you be okay?”
Elli was surprised. “You’re going away?”
“Yes. Is it a problem?”
“You haven’t mentioned it before is all. Where are you going?”
“New York. I’m sorry. I thought I had.”
She shook her head. “But then again, there’s no reason you should have to run anything past me, so don’t worry about it.”
“You sure,Bella? You look a little annoyed.”
She shook her head, but the truth was, she was a little scared. This business trip seemed to come out of nowhere and she wondered if Aldo thought a little distance between them would be a good thing after the article.
Aldo was watching her, and as she got up, he pulled her onto his lap. “Whatever it is you’re thinking right now isn’t what’s happening. It’s just a short trip, and if I didn’t know you had work, I would have invited you to come with me. “
Elli leaned into him, already missing him. “I know. I’m sorry.”
At work, after Aldo had kissed her goodbye and promised to heat her bed with his phone call later that night, Elli went to see Vivienne, who hugged her, then asked her to shut the door behind her and sit down. “I called the editor of this rag.” She waved the offending newspaper in the air, still mad. “The article wasn’t from one of his own people, rather an anonymous submission. He thought it made good points—which, by the way, it doesn’t—and put it in. Elli, did you piss this guy off at all?”
Elli thought back, then shook her head. “I don’t think so. But then that paper has never liked magazines like ours—we’re too ‘elite’ or ‘left wing.'”
Vivienne still looked unhappy. “Smearing one of my employees is not something I’m willing to let go, Els.”
“Fair enough, but if we engage with them, it’s like saying their opinion is worth something. I hate to say it, but let’s just leave it alone. I’ll just have to make sure that my future articles are …”
“As good as they always have been,” Vivienne said, a little forcefully. “Do not let this asshole make you feel as though you’re not talented. You were born to do this, Elli, and you know it.”
“Thanks.” Elli got up. “I’m going to distract myself with some work. I’m fine,” she emphasized, before Vivienne could check up on her yet again. “Sitting around at home won’t do me any good.”
As promised, she immersed herself in her work. It felt good to be back in her office, calling some of the shots in her life. She did some general research on some pending pieces, then called Maceo Bartoli and set up a meeting with him to discuss working together. “I’d love it if we worked on something that was both investigative and beautiful to look at,” Elli told Maceo. “If we could do something actually in your own gallery—I’ve heard it’s a beautiful space.”
Maceo laughed a deep, sexy chuckle. “You should come have lunch with Ori and me sometime and have a good look around. Then you’ll see it’s chaotic and frenzied, but. yes, I adore it. We’ve managed to build it up over the last few years so that we have a family atmosphere. You would enjoy it.”
Elli smiled down the phone. “I would love that.” They set a date for the following week, and Elli said goodbye, feeling a lot happier. She also got a message from her colleagues, supporting her after reading the article. A couple of journalists from local T.V. reached out to her, but she politely turned down their requests for interviews. “I’m not the story,” she told them, wishing she could go back to the relative obscurity she had known a few weeks ago.
It was three o’clock before she looked up from her work, and then it was only because she heard a commotion out in the reception area.
Suddenly, a girl with bright blue hair burst into her office. “Konnichiwa!”
Elli gaped at the girl. “Tandy? Oh my god!” She got up and the two women embraced, hugging each other tightly. Tandy, a part-Japanese, part-American woman in her early twenties had been Elli’s best friend for a few years, ever since the younger woman started as an intern at the magazine. Tandy Li had only one ambition—to travel to every country in the world—and over the last two years, she had been doing exactly that, working her way (sometimes illegally) through the Americas and Canada, down to the Caribbean, and then to Europe.
Elli made some coffee and they sat in her office. Tandy told her she was in Italy for just a week. “I’ve finally got enough money to go to India,” she said. “But I couldn’t do Europe without coming back to say hi to my bestie. How're things? Viv said you’re getting some decent sex at last.”
Elli nearly choked on her coffee, but then laughed. “Nothing is sacred, is it?”
