Chapter 4

The sun risingthrough the window behind Natalia stung her sleep-starved eyes. Pulling off her reading glasses, she marked the page she was on and closed the thick folder. She hadn’t meant to spend all night in the office, but anger had taken the wheel after her less-than-ideal encounter with Dr. Reyes.

She’d already read the horrifically titled, but admittedly engrossing, Power, Procreation, and Patriarchy. It hadn’t been the dry academic tome she’d expected based on the cover. Dr. Reyes had woven a vivid, multifaceted, and intricate story that read more like The Song of Achilles rather than a textbook. She hadn’t been able to sleep when she finished it, so she’d gone to the office in the middle of the night and printed every paper Dr. Reyes had ever authored.

She was in the middle of Dr. Reyes’ Damsels in Revenge: How Horror’s Women Win with Masculine Might — which posited that the only female victims who survived horror movies did so by taking on male attributes — when she decided she needed more coffee.

Standing in Dominion’s kitchen waiting for the espresso machine to whirl to life and overcome her lack of sleep, Natalia’s thoughts drifted to the professor’s lecture two days earlier. She’d underestimated her. Maybe high academia was a cutthroat, competitive arena that sharpened her to a fine point. But Natalia didn’t make mistakes twice.

Natalia imagined Dr. Reyes on stage, dressed in her suit and wearing her cocky little grin. The woman was magnetic. She hadn’t expected that either. Would she have approached the situation differently if she’d known she was attractive?

Instead of indulging in her attraction, Natalia lamented the woman’s insane aversion to money. She had that it factor. That undefinable star quality people either had or they didn’t. Reyes had it in immeasurable quantities and she was wasting it standing behind a podium and writing scholarly papers no one in the world would ever see.

Reyes’ ideas were interesting, trailblazing — she’d spent the last ten years immersed in a thousand-year-old myth about the likes of Cleopatra having been part of a sapphic vampire cabal. That was fucking marketable.

Natalia returned to her body before inadvertently crushing the Dominion mug in her hand. She put it under the spout a moment before the espresso started flowing.

She was busy stirring honey into her latte and thinking of different ways to approach the stubborn professor when a noise forced her attention toward the door.

Adriana and Lola walking into the office together, talking instead of fighting. Not even a hint of Resting Lola Face.

The kind of warmth found only in fresh baked bread and childhood summers crept into Natalia’s chest. She’d picked her proteges well, and they were finally starting to figure out that they complemented each other. Fire and ice in perfect balance.

When Natalia expired sitting on her navy leather throne, everything she’d sacrificed — all the storms she’d weathered to build her empire brick by brick — would be safe in their hands. Together, they would carry on her legacy, amplify it. Improve it.

It was too bad she’d never get to tell them. They wouldn’t know about the keys to her castle until her lawyer told them before the lavish funeral she’d planned for herself. The indulgent part of her wanted to tell them now. To experience their reaction. But she couldn’t say anything.

Motivation ended when accomplishment showed up. What was the point of working hard and staying sharp if you’d already climbed the peak? There always had to be another level. Another desire just out of reach.

Her affection for Adriana and Lola would never let her fail them. They each had tremendous instincts and acumen. No question they were on their way to great things under the Dominion banner. It was her duty to keep them in fighting shape, and Natalia never failed at her job.

Slipping around the back of the kitchen and moving toward her office, the word failure rang in her mind, crashing against the inside of her skull. She was failing with Dr. Reyes. Deals failed to materialize all the time. That couldn’t be helped sometimes, but Natalia always got to plead her case. Why was the professor so determined not to even listen to a pitch? Not from Zoe. Not from her.

Natalia sat down at her desk and unlocked her computer. The only reason she could think of for not even wanting to listen was a fear that she could be persuaded. Maybe all Natalia needed to do was be persistent. That hadn’t worked for Zoe, but Natalia often succeeded where others floundered. She defied odds like when no one believed a talent agency devoted only to sapphic clientele could ever survive.

An internet search for Dr. Samantha Reyes helped Natalia build her dossier. Tailoring her sales tactics would be critical, she thought to herself before entering Dr. Samantha Reyes partner into the search bar for purely research purposes.

Images of Dr. Reyes at various events flooded her screen. She was often photographed with women, but Natalia couldn’t tell whether they were dates or fellow attendees.

An image of Dr. Reyes in a white tuxedo complete with black bowtie stopped her scrolling. If the step and repeat hadn’t been littered with the public library logo, she would have guessed the professor was on a Hollywood red carpet. Slicked back bleached hair and oversized glasses, Dr. Reyes smoldered into the camera.

Chiding herself for getting distracted — Dr. Reyes being exactly her type was no excuse — Natalia navigated to the University’s faculty directory. Her bio page said nothing of a significant other, but it did list her upcoming appearances.

In a few days, the Cuban-American Historical Society of Miami was featuring Dr. Reyes and other intellectuals for a Friday night discussion of their respective works. Light refreshments to be served. Natalia opened her densely packed calendar and found a few things to move.

After she’d purchased a ticket to the event, Natalia found herself back on the page of image results. Dr. Reyes knew she was attractive. It was obvious from her easy confidence and body language. Natalia was also certain that the professor was attracted to her in return. There had been something of a vibe between them. It would be stupid not to use that to her advantage.

There was no rule that said Natalia couldn’t flirt with her. She wasn’t her client. And anyway, flirting was just another way of being charming. It was worth a try.

Enlivened by the prospect of seeing Dr. Reyes again for strictly professional reasons, Natalia went back to her reading. She wasn’t going to be caught off guard twice. Now she knew she was swimming with a fellow shark and adjusted accordingly.