Elle

Monday, December 19th

The chill in the air stings my eyes. I inhale the New York City cold, and it satisfies me in a disturbing way.

“Put your purse under your coat,” I say, turning to point at the strappy black bag at Olivia’s side.

“What?” she calls, jogging to catch up.

“We’re in New York.”

She unzips her coat, struggling to pull the purse inside while trying to keep up in her wedge heels.

“Would have been easier with different shoes.” I point out, beginning the descent to the subway.

“Like yours?” she snaps back, her gaze darting to my kicks. “People like professional businesswomen.”

“Then I guess you’ll have to manage the sales.”

“What’s that smell?” she asks, catching up to me.

“That’s the unmistakable smell of the NYC subway. You got a problem with urine and body odor?”

She giggles, twisting her face in disgust.

“Don’t make me laugh,” she chokes out.

While she’s distracted, I glance over my shoulder, making sure we’re alone.

As the train thuds to a stop in front of us, I yank her forward, navigating the crowd. She stands close to me, her gaze darting around the space, taking in the array of people.

A man shoves into us. The hair on my neck stands. My muscles engage.

“Watch out,” he demands, giving my shoulder an extra bump before settling inches from me.

He faces me and Olivia, looking us both up and down. First, in dominance. Next, in desire. He closes the distance between us.

Olivia squishes into my side, clearly uncomfortable. The man takes it as an offering and with the movement of the crowd, shuffles until his crotch is resting on Olivia’s hip. The unmistakable squeak of a woman afraid to take back her rights escapes Olivia—making my blood boil.

This asshat is fucking with the wrong woman.

The train lurches forward, and in the movement, I slip my hand into his pocket and extract his wallet. Smooth. Unnoticeable. With the flick of my wrist, I slide it up into the wide sleeve of my coat—the tweed design that Olivia insisted I wear may make me look like a rich bitch, but I’m just a basic bitch acting on anger and taking revenge.

When we shuffle off the subway fifteen minutes later, I pull Olivia up the steps and back into the fresh-ish air. I don’t fucking care if this place reeks; it’s the best place on earth.

“Want a coffee?” I turn to Olivia.

“Yes, that would be…” Her words trail as I extract the man’s wallet from my coat and hand it to her.

“Courtesy of asshat on the subway,” I say, flashing a wry grin.

“You didn’t,” she gasps, but her eyes twinkle with satisfaction.

I link our arms and match my stride to hers. Coffee or no coffee, I think I’ve stolen her heart with my thieving ways.

Olivia pulls her shoulders back and walks into the jewelry store, clearly taking my earlier remark to heart.

Fine. I’ll stand back and see how well she does with her sales pitch.

She walks right up to the register with a grin plastered on her face.

“Good morning,” she says cheerily. “Is your buying manager in?”

The woman behind the register crinkles her forehead. “Yes,” she answers, dragging the word.

“Great,” Olivia proclaims. “We’d like to meet with them.” She gestures behind her back at me.

The woman reluctantly turns and retreats into the backroom. A couple of minutes later, a middle-aged man with thick, salt-and-pepper hair follows her out. He’s fit under his suit, and I watch as Olivia takes him in. Liam.

The cashier points to Olivia. The man offers a warm smile.

“Hello,” he says, nodding to Olivia. “How can I help you?”

“We would like to discuss the possibility of partnering with you to sell some one-of-a-kind pieces,” Olivia says with all the confidence in the world.

As Liam extracts a velvet platform from beneath the counter, he makes eye contact with me. I place a finger to my lips and gesture toward Olivia.

His eyes return to her as I come to the counter. Her cheeks are bright red.

She bats her eyelashes at him and nudges me with her elbow.

“Elle is our designer. Her things are exquisite.”

“Nice to meet you,” I add, playing along.

I lay out a couple of our items on the black velvet pad as Olivia continues, “These are a few of our pieces, but we have more with us if you’d like to see them.”

Liam picks up a ring, admiring the work he’s familiar with.

“These are beautiful,” he says, grinning.

“Would you like to see the rest?” Olivia asks.

“Yes, thank you.”

Piece by piece, he picks them up and admires them.

“I think several of our high-end clients would be interested in this collection, assuming that the stones are high quality.” He peers up at me. Our agreement is unspoken. He’ll check, but he knows that they are.

I nod. “Go ahead.”

His eyes twinkle as he picks up the velvet board full of our jewelry.

“We have some other buyers interested in many of these pieces already, but we thought we’d stop here first,” Olivia adds, stepping up her selling game.

Liam glances at me. I shake my head just out of Olivia’s periphery.

“I’m Liam, by the way.” He reaches out a hand to her.

“Olivia,” she says, placing her hand in his.

The two linger for a moment, enjoying each other’s touch. Then, her cheeks brighter than ever, Olivia pulls away and tucks a brown strand of hair behind her ear.

“If we buy these, are you looking for cash or account deposit?” Liam asks.

“Oh, umm,” Olivia glances at me, confused.

“Cash or check would be great,” I answer. It’s been a long time since I’ve opted for my own payment rather than depositing it into Ricardo’s account.

Liam nods, smiling brightly at Olivia.

When her eye candy disappears behind the locked door, I turn to Olivia. Her face is ablaze.

“You dog,” I say, chuckling.

“What?” she asks, her hands coming together as she rubs her thumb along her nails.

“You know what.” I drape my arm over her shoulder and bump her hip with mine. “Good job, by the way. You know this business stuff, after all.”

If I hadn’t already gotten preliminary confirmation from Liam that he’d be our buyer, Olivia would have sealed the deal with her wily ways.