Chapter 10

On Monday morning,the predawn was cold and pitch black. Natalia wore her cream-colored wool suit. It was one of her favorite pieces, and it was rarely cold enough to wear it.

She should have been pleased that the late January cold front had given her the opportunity to wear vintage Chanel, but she couldn’t muster anything but irritation.

Annoyed that her espresso machine had decided to break that morning. Bothered that her hair had taken her forever to force into compliance, she left her silent, boreal tundra of a house in a poisonous mood.

Waiting for her garage door to open, Natalia’s mind slipped into Samantha’s bed. Got lost in the sensation of her body on hers. The scent of her skin and the sound of her soft moans and labored breaths.

Closing her eyes for just a moment, Natalia let herself drift. Let her body react to the memory. To feel the ache and hunger and thirst for Samantha’s kiss and the confidence with which she grabbed Natalia’s thighs. The way she touched her like she was too reckless to care about consequences.

A moment was all she allowed herself, and then she was rolling out to the driveway. Focused, she crushed her desire to kiss Samantha under her Christian Louboutins.

She got as far as the massive iron gate separating her community from the rest of the world when her phone rang. The display on her dashboard told her it was Zoe calling. Any unscheduled call from her clients gave Natalia heartburn, but one this early in the day was followed by an impending sense of doom.

Never one to put things off, especially if they were bad, Natalia accepted the call. A second later, Zoe’s voice was coming out of all the speakers in her car.

Without pleasantries, or pretending to care that she might have woken Natalia out of a dead sleep, Zoe was a computer-guided missile. “What’s going on with Prof. Reyes’ book?”

“She doesn’t want to sell,” Natalia replied flatly, concealing her disappointment. “She won’t budge.”

“Let me get this straight. You, the great and powerful Natalia Flores. The woman that makes heartless Hollywood execs shit their pants with a glare couldn’t get a random college professor to sell the rights to a book no one else in the world would ever try to make into a movie?”

Natalia’s jaw tightened, but she kept her tone cool. “And what would you have me do, Zoe? Hold her at knifepoint until she signs on the dotted line?”

“You’re my agent. You expect me to tell you how to do your job?”

“I expect you to understand that my job does not involve walking on water, curing leprosy, or performing any other miracles. She does not want to sell, Zoe. I can’t force her. I understand you’re frustrated, but there’s only so much I can do when someone flat out refuses to negotiate,” Natalia said evenly.

“Oh, come on, Natalia. You’re seriously telling me you don’t have any tricks up your sleeve for a situation like this?” Zoe scoffed. “I expected more.”

Natalia gripped the steering wheel tighter, tamping down the flare of anger in her chest. “What you’re failing to grasp is that Prof. Reyes feels very strongly about retaining full creative control. This is her life’s work. I can’t bully her into handing that over.”

“Since when do you take no for an answer?” Zoe snapped, voice high-pitched enough to shatter glass. “Are you telling me you’ve gone soft?”

“Because you’re frustrated, I’m going to give you a moment to collect the mind that appears to be evading your grasp. I would hate for you to totally lose it and?—”

“Listen, I’m sorry, okay?” she said, without managing to sound the least bit apologetic. “I didn’t mean to talk to you like that,” she added, despite obviously having meant every word she said. “I just… I can’t let this go. This story is something, Natalia. This just… I’m so sure it’s going to be one of those moments in life that when I look back at it, I can point to it and go … yes. You know? I can say this was it. This was the moment I broke through. That I went from A-list to fucking legendary.”

Natalia took a deep breath and let the anger ebb. Tried to forgive Zoe’s tunnel vision and forget the roiling in her stomach. Tried not to feel like what she was about to suggest wasn’t a betrayal. She didn’t owe Samantha anything. She wasn’t her client. Her only job was to protect Zoe’s interests.

“Why don’t you adapt a screenplay from the original texts,” Natalia suggested, bile burning the roof of her mouth. “You don’t need?—”

“You don’t think I tried that already? The second she turned me down, I said fuck it and went to the source. There are more original lines from Sappho’s poetry than there is of this. It’s just tattered untranslated fragments. Reyes’ interpretations and theories make up the lion’s share of what there is. It’s her damn take I have to tell as much as that kills me. Please, Natalia,” she begged. “I need your help.”

Natalia let the silence linger, thumb over the call button on her steering wheel. “I’ll see how walking on water pans out.”

“If there’s anyone who can do it, Natalia, it’s you.”

Natalia rolled her eyes and hung up the phone. Instead of slamming her foot down on the gas, she relaxed against her white leather seat. She had not fought her way to the top of this industry by being faint of heart or timid of conviction.

Zoe’s delivery was irritating and smacked of the spoiled child she’d been as a teenager, but her take was correct. It was Samantha’s story that they needed. If Natalia’s mission in life was to expand the sapphic footprint in entertainment, how much bigger would it be to catapult a historical myth about strong, female-led societies where the queerness was baked-in to the narrative not assumed. Where they didn’t fall to the might of invading armies.

It was important work, Natalia couldn’t deny that. Was it her duty not to give up?

Dr. Reyes’ ideas were dripping with it. With the kind of magic that propelled projects into the stratosphere. She owed it to future generations of women who would find power in the myths and legends of ungovernable badasses. That alone was worth a last ditch effort.

She’d try the good professor again, she thought with an involuntary smirk. Memories of Samantha with her head tipped back flooded her mind. She could think of worse consolation prizes.

Arriving at the office in record time, she drove into the building’s parking garage. She averted her gaze from the Audi SUV parked where it didn’t belong with its fogged-up windows. A tiny chuckle rattled in her throat while she drove by it.

Lola should be smarter than to think they wouldn’t be seen because they’d parked in a visitor spot. But Lola’s clarity had been somewhat compromised by her relationship with Carmen. The new-car scent of their budding love was unmaskable.

Natalia couldn’t imagine falling so hard that it made her lose her damn mind, but she had to admit she was pleased for Lola. A tiny part of her had feared that Lola might never let her guard down enough to connect to anyone. Not that there was anything wrong with remaining unattached, but she knew people well — and Adriana and Lola even better than that.

Both of them wanted a love life. They just hadn’t figured out how to make space for it. Now that they had, Natalia had to admit it was a net good for them. They were still young. Still hopeful.

The nausea returned to spoil her pleasant thoughts. She didn’t want what they had, but the sickly cold sweat crept over her chest, anyway.

Maybe I’m coming down with the flu, she decided reasonably and ordered a disgusting vitamin-filled smoothie from a food delivery app before getting out of the car.

Looking down at her phone while striding to the elevator, Natalia went back to Dr. Reyes’ faculty bio. She only spared a second, looking at her photo before scrolling down to her list of speaking engagements.

In a few weeks, Dr. Reyes would be speaking at a bookstore. The day after Valentine’s Day.

Curiosity drifting, Natalia wondered whether she had plans for the day before. Whether the professor would be taking someone to dinner. Would she still smell like her? Taste like her?

The reflective elevator doors slid open to reveal a woman with cropped gray hair, an alarming amount of turquoise silver jewelry, and layers of colored silks that didn’t have a beginning or end — just flowing in a way that defied gravity. Even if the button for the penthouse hadn’t been illuminated, she would have recognized the strange woman as Sky Bamford’s lackey.

“Good morning,” the woman beamed before hitting the button for Dominion, like Natalia should be impressed that she knew where she was going.

Natalia kept her attention on her phone. Despite usually having cell reception in the elevator, Palmetto Pride Books’ website refused to open.

“Everything has a dual nature, doesn’t it?” Silks said.

Natalia wouldn’t have looked up from her useless phone, but Silks’ rocking on her heels was creating an irritating clinking thanks to the arm full of silver bangles. She glared at her, willing her to stop moving.

“Just look at the Lilith vampire myth,” she continued, unaffected, like she was immune to her ire. “Female energy in perfect balance. Both predators and sentient beings are capable of complex emotions and social structures.” She put up her hands, metal jangling. “Balancing new predatory instincts with their retained aspects of humanity, creating an ongoing tension between their beastly and human sides.” She smiled, pale eyes gleaming. “Life and death, light and dark, human and monster.” A grin broke out on her lips like a felon on the run. “A captivating tension indeed.”

Natalia leveled her with a look before feeling the shape of Dr. Reyes’ book under her arm. She confirmed that the top of the book was peeking over the top of her bag and relaxed her shoulders.

It was odd that Bamford’s Shadow recognized the tome from a sliver of the cover, but the woman herself was odd. One day she was Bamford’s trusted advisor, and the next day she was teaching Lola anger management and then suing her. Anything was possible.

She softened her expression into something neutral. Bamford was as unpredictable as this charlatan. She’d silently endure her and avoid another unhinged attempt to evict her. But only because she didn’t have time to waste on Bamford’s eccentricities.

“Though, in truth, is not everything a dance of opposites?” Silks continued, undeterred. Her bangles jingled as she gestured expansively. “Masculine and feminine, earth and sky, strength and vulnerability. No one is ever just one thing, are they?”

She regarded a stoic Natalia like she was delivering a moving, one-woman stage performance. “Even the most powerful among us must balance many contradictions within the self. Our hopes and fears, confidence and doubt. The world may see only what we project, but we alone know the full truth.”

Natalia forced herself not to roll her eyes. Not to wear her you’re-so-full-of-shit expression. She thought about how much she loved her office instead. Remembered how much she loathed change.

“It’s a rare gift to be seen and known so completely. To lay oneself bare without fear of judgment. But when we find that person, it unlocks something within us.”

Natalia glanced up again, meeting Fortune’s earnest gaze. She should start packing Yerba Buena in her purse for occasions such as these. A little spiritual cleansing felt in order.

“The one who holds the key to our heart is always closer than we know,” Fortune said gently. “If we can find the courage to open the door.”

Just then, the elevator yawned open. Fortune’s smile was bordering on maniacal when she held the door for her. “Have faith, my dear. Trust in love’s power to transform us all.”

Natalia stared coldly at Silks, her gaze dripping with disdain. It was all she could take. Bamford’s unpredictability be dammed. “I don’t have time for your rambling philosophies,” she said icily. “Some of us have real work to do.”

Without another word, Natalia brushed past Silks, not sparing her so much as a glance. She could feel the woman’s bemused smile clinging to her back like an insect she longed to crush under her heel.

Stepping off the elevator, Natalia straightened her already pristine blazer, steeling herself. She despised aimless chitchat, especially first thing in the morning. And Silks’ spiritual mumbo-jumbo set her teeth on edge.

Natalia had no patience for whimsical notions about love or destiny. She dealt in facts, logic, business. Abstract concepts held no currency in her world. She strode into Dominion feeling more like herself and refused to let the rest of her day play out like a damn root canal.