ME: I mean it.
MARGOT: Noted.
The merge analysis took the rest of the morning. My eyes felt like someone had sandpapered them, but I was running on a high-octane mix of adrenaline and righteous paranoia.
As I walked down the hall to the boardroom, Gabriel fell into step beside me. “You look like hell,” he said, almost admiring.
“Good, means it’s working,” I replied.
He smiled. “I respect your hustle.”
“Don’t make it weird,” I said, but it already was.
The boardroom was cold and overbright, and everyone was already assembled, all thirty million dollars of tailored suits and veneered teeth. The analysis went fine. Better than fine. I saw two members of the board exchanging glances when I finished, and I allowed myself the smallest sliver of satisfaction.
After, Gabriel closed the door behind us as we stepped into the hall, trapping me in the little glass vestibule that separated the boardroom from the rest of the world. He stood close, too close, and lowered his voice.
“Someone’s targeting you,” he said. Not a question.
I looked up at him. His pupils were dilated, or maybe it was just the light. “No shit,” I said.
“Any idea who?”
“Other than you?” I asked.
He shook his head. “If I wanted you out, you’d already be gone. You know that.”
“Maybe you like to watch me struggle.”
That made him smile, slow and dangerous. “Not in this context.”
For a second, neither of us said anything, the tension humming at a frequency only we could hear.
He reached out, almost brushing a strand of hair that had slipped loose from my bun, then thought better of it. “Let me know if you need backup,” he said.
I wanted to say something cutting, but all I could muster was, “Don’t hold your breath.”
He watched me walk away.
Trusting him was stupid and a mistake I wouldn’t make. I made it back to my office, shut the door, and dialed Margot. She picked up after one ring.
“Are you alive or am I talking to a ghost?” she said.
“I’m being set up,” I said, letting the words tumble out. “Someone’s logging into my account from Midtown, they’re sending emails, canceling meetings, the whole nine. And they want me to fail, in front of the board, in front of Gabriel.”
A pause. “That’s actually hot.”
I snorted. “You’re such an asshole.”
“Only to balance out your perfectionism,” she said. “Have you slept at all?”
“I can sleep when-”
“You’re dead, I know. I know,” she said. “But listen. You need to eat. You need to take a nap. Then you need to come back with evidence. At which point, I will help you destroy this motherfucker, whoever they are.”
I stared at my reflection in the black glass of my laptop screen. I looked like someone who bit back, even when she was already bleeding.
“I’ll call you after the nap,” I said.