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The woman replied with a practiced smile. “Ms. Vargas doesn’t usually accept unannounced visitors.”

“I know, that’s so Carm, right?” Lola laughed when she really wanted to take off in a sprint. It’s not like this lady was going to vault over her desk and tackle her. “Such the tiny control freak,” she said, with a little too much bass in her voice. “If it’s not in her planner, it doesn’t exist, right?” She added another smile, hoping it didn’t look like a sneer.

The woman’s smile warmed to something more genuine.

Emboldened by her progress, Lola eased out of her smile and triedconcernedon for size. “She’s just been having such a hard time these days. She’s so busy all the time. I was hoping to drop in and pull her away for a little girls-only lunch.”

The woman glanced at her watch. They both knew it was too early for lunch, but Lola had to sell it for all she was worth.

“You know she won’t take a break if we don’t make her,” Lola whispered conspiratorially.

In the seconds that the woman considered it, Lola held a white-knuckled grasp on her little skit. Acting was not usually in her repertoire — and according to one professor from her MFA program, she lacked emotional range — but her urgent need to regain the upper-hand had filled her with an almost unnerving calm. She hoped it was enough to suffocate the anger throwing itself against the walls of the temporary cage she’d shoved it in.

“I suppose you could have slipped in behind someone without me seeing you,” she finally replied before hitting a little buzzer under her desk.

Lola smiled. “You’re a gem.”

The moment Lola slipped behind enemy lines, she realized she had no idea where the hell she was going. Embodying Natalia, Lola straightened her spine, looked straight ahead, and willed herself to look like she belonged. Like she knew exactly what she was doing.

She made it three feet before a young man poked his head out from the maze of cubicles at the center of the incredibly busy office.

“Can I help you?”

Lola dropped the Natalia act and smiled. This time she went for embarrassed and a little unsure. It landed better thanfriendlyhad.

“I came to drop something off for Carmen,” she whispered when she leaned into the cubicle’s opening. “But for the life of me, I can’t remember where her office is.” She called upon every stupid damsel-in-distress character and tried to look vacant behind the eyes.

He smiled so easily, Lola almost felt bad about conning him, but she focused on the ends. Not the means.

“You can leave it with me. I can take it to her.”

Lola tightened her grip on the envelope like he might try to snatch it away from her. “Oh that’s okay. I wanted the chance to say hi.”

Without a hint of suspicion, he pointed her down the maze and toward a corridor where she’d find Carmen next to the kitchen. Lola pretended to remember, adding in a detail about an amazing cappuccino machine, and started toward her target.

Luckily for Lola, the hallway where Carmen had been stashed was practically abandoned. Bathrooms, a copy room, and a nice kitchen were Carmen’s only co-workers.

She would have expected the princess to be handed a corner office with a view of the bay. It went to show how little Carmen probably did. Rolling in whenever she wanted to collect a hefty paycheck without having to work herself to death to keep her job like everyone else.

Carmen’s door was open when Lola reached it. Sitting behind a nice wood desk, surrounded by ornately framed diplomas and other accolades. Her office was dark and oppressive. The light reflecting off the building next door was not nearly enough to brighten all the wooden furnishings.

Behind her desk, Carmen wasn’t sitting with her feet kicked up and laughing at mindless social media videos like Lola expected. Instead, she was intently reading papers on her desk. Resting her forehead on her palm, her long, light brown hair fell in perfectly straight swaths over her exposed shoulders.

Lola didn’t have more than a second to get distracted. Mercifully, Carmen looked up. Her hazel eyes the sea during a storm. Her jaw set and her eyes narrowed.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Carmen cracked like a whip unfurling.

CHAPTER19

The last thingCarmen needed was Lola standing in her doorway. But because the universe only seemed to give her more Lola no matter how much she donated to charity or hours she volunteered at the cat rescue, there she was. Big brown eyes and slicked back hair and the audacity to look angry.

Carmen stood, intending to get her out. To bodily remove her if she had to, but hoping she’d do something quietly for once. She didn’t want her mother to catch her here. It was bad enough that she had an outrageous lawsuit sitting on her desk.

“Get out of my office before I call security, Lola.” She infused every syllable with the frustration vibrating in her body and trembling in her hands. “I don’t have time for your bullshit games today.”

Lola crossed her arms like she was bracing for impact. “And make a big scene in front of Mommy?” Her lip curled at the end like a cartoon villain. “You want to get that nice lady in the front fired?”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Carmen tilted her head to one side like it would make Lola more understandable. “Blanca has worked here for over twenty years. Why would we fire her because you tricked her into getting back here somehow?”