The Girlfriend (The Boss 2)

Well, almost only one.

The glass door to the beauty department was open, but I knocked on it anyway. Only India Vaughn, the lead beauty editor, was inside, peering at some lipstick swatches on the back of her hand. When she looked up, her pleasantly neutral expression froze for an instant.

“I’m here to clear out my desk,” I said, holding out the box.

Her eyes narrowed, and she nodded, pursing her lips. “Ah. Spy number two. My already very full workday is complete.”

“Uh...” My gaze flitted around the room. Jessica Nguyen, the other assistant beauty editor, was nowhere to be seen. When I’d met with my old boss, Gabriella, she’d told me Jessica was coming to work for her. But India seemed to be taking it a little more personally than if it was just a simple change of career. Had Jessica been a mole? “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about you, and Jessica, working for Gabriella right under my nose.” India rose from the stool she’d been seated on. “You know, at first I thought you were spying for Neil Elwood, since he gave you the job. Ballsy move, biting the hand that promoted you.”

I shook my head. “I wasn’t anybody’s spy, India.”

“What did you tell Gabriella?” India shrugged and crossed her arms. “Did you tell her I was drinking again? Because I know she would have asked.”

“I told Gabriella that you were a very capable editor. I am not in bed with her.” Poor choice of phrasing, I realized. “And I’m not working for Neil, he fired me.”

“That’s the part I don’t understand. He fired you, but you’re not working for Gabriella?” India’s curiosity was winning the battle over her anger.

“Look, if I tell you— “ I looked to the open door, sighed, and set the box on the work table. “Do you mind if I close this?”

“This sounds intriguing. Let me get my coffee.”

While India moved to her desk in the corner, I shut the door and pulled the blinds over the long window.

What are you doing? This is stupid. It could potentially hurt Neil. It could potentially hurt Porteras.

But if I knew one thing about India Vaughn, it was that she loved this magazine more than she loved anything else in the world. It was her dream, the way it had been mine. I could trust her with this information.

I spoke very softly. “Look, I didn’t get fired because I was spying for Gabriella. I never told her anything. I warned Rudy at the beginning of December to watch out for Jake Kirchner, because I had a feeling something was up. We were work friends, before he became a total douche bag.”

“He’s always been a total douche bag, Sophie.” In India’s working class London accent, it sounded like a condemnation of Jake and sympathy for my shortsightedness at the same time.

I shrugged. “You take Gabriella’s dog to the holistic vet for Hopi ear candling, and then you come back and tell me how easy it is to separate real people from fake ones.”

“Point taken.” India sipped her coffee. Her nails were filed into ovals, and painted a yummy shade of deep plum. Very festive.

I was going to miss working in fashion.

“Anyway, I got fired because I knew that someone in the company had access to the subscriber list and was feeding the information into Gabriella’s new magazine venture. And I didn’t tell, because I didn’t want to jeopardize the possibility of being offered a job with her.” Wow, that sounded super sleazy out loud. No wonder Neil had been pissed enough to consider dumping me. “But I wasn’t spying for her.”

“No, Jessica was.” India tilted her head. “Why didn’t you tell me, or Rudy, when you knew about the subscribers?”

I took a deep breath. “If I tell you, you have to swear this goes no further than this room. It could damage Elwood and Stern, it could damage this magazine, and it would really not endear you to Neil Elwood. I think you know he’s not a guy you want to piss off, if you still want to work in publishing.”

“Understood,” India said easily. That made me wonder what other secrets she’d heard over the years and kept to herself, because I had never heard any serious office gossip attributed to her as the source.

“I was going to tell Neil. Because I’m his girlfriend.”

India’s eyes couldn’t have gotten any bigger and still fit on her head.

“It’s a long story,” I continued. “I didn’t get a chance to tell him about the subscribers leak before he found out about Gabriella offering me a job. No, I’m not the leak. No, I didn’t know about the Elwood and Stern takeover, and no, I’m not going to work for Gabriella.”

“So, you and Neil Elwood?” She made a little noise that sounded like she was grudgingly impressed. “I thought for sure that was just an unfounded rumor. And he’s not—”