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Adriana laughed, her eyes less menacing in the new light. “Maybe it did. Or maybe for the first time I have something in my life outside of work,” Adriana said. She gave Lola a knowing look. “Seems you might have found that too during your little trip to California. I noticed Carmen’s car happened to be missing all week, too.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Lola muttered, but there was no bite to it.

“It’s a good look on you,” Adriana said as she stood. “Happiness is not a curse, Lola. And it looks good on you.”

Lola chanced a glance up. Adriana’s smile was open, free from judgment. Despite herself, Lola felt the nausea in her stomach loosen. She nodded slightly in acknowledgement.

“Try to listen to what I said. The sooner you do, the sooner Natalia will replace Martina.”

When Adriana was gone, Lola tipped back in her chair and tried to convince herself to try it Adriana’s way. She clearly wasn’t getting what she wanted this way, anyway. Ignoring the voice that told Lola that Adriana was giving her exact opposite advice just to humiliate her and get her fired, Lola decided to make the effort to try.

What did she have to lose other than everything? If she was losing her heart, what was her career and financial security, too? Anxiety returning, Lola opened her laptop and got to work.

CHAPTER50

Carmen swungher hips to Karol G’sTusaand stirred the sofrito sizzling in the pan. The scent of garlic and onions filled her kitchen, making her more and more confident that she was recreating some authentic ropa vieja. Her mother’s instructions were hazy since she hadn’t cooked in over a decade, but she’d filled in the gaps with online research and hoped Lola would appreciate the effort.

It had been a week since they’d returned from California. A week since Lola had come over every night after work. A week since they’d actually eaten any food for dinner.

Unfortunately, it had also been a week since Carmen filed the motion for summary judgment, attaching the damning affidavit from Brett. She’d expected Fortune’s sleazy attorney to try to poke holes in it immediately. To submit some rebuttal to the evidence that threatened to tank their whole case. But there had been radio silence from their camp. No objections, no counter motions. Just... nothing.

Carmen furrowed her brow as she added tomato paste to the pan. Why weren’t they putting up more of a fight? The hearing was still months away, but any competent attorney would try to attack the affidavit. Try to do damage control. Their lack of response was suspicious. It made Carmen uneasy, like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop and she didn’t know where it was coming from.

She shook her head and took a deep breath.Don’t get paranoid. Not everything is gamesmanship. Maybe they just know a lost cause when they see one. Decided not to waste resources fighting a losing battle.

Yeah, right. That’s not how the lawyers she knew worked. They had nothing to lose by attacking the affidavit. Were they going out to California to talk to Brett? Intimidate him into recanting?

The sound of Lola at the door made her put aside her worries. They couldn’t hide their hand forever. She’d at least know by the end-of-November hearing where they stood.

Carmen opened her front door because Lola refused to walk through it, even though she’d texted her that she’d left it unlocked. Dressed in a fitted white suit and hair pulled back in a bun, Lola looked unfairly hot. With a bottle of wine tucked under her arm, she gave Carmen a little smirk because Dolores Barros was trying to kill her.

Looking down at her leggings and tank top, Carmen instantly regretted not having ordered in. “If I’d known you were going to come straight after your meeting, I would have—”

Lola pulled her into a kiss before Carmen could finish her protest. Arms around her and lips overpowering hers, Lola showed her that what she was wearing was fine. That despite having been texting all day, she’d missed her, too. Demanding and possessive, Lola kissed her like she was starving.

“You look perfect,” Lola said against her lips before kissing her cheek.

Carmen couldn’t respond. Body buzzing and head swimming, she might not have returned to her senses if the smell of nearly overdone onions didn’t rock her back to earth.

“I made dinner,” Carmen said with a wiggle of her brows before starting back for the kitchen.

“I can see that.” Lola’s dark eyes scanned the mess on the stove like she was assessing the situation. “You need one of thosebless this messart things.”

“Don’t judge,” Carmen chided, stirring the pan. “At least you’ve been to my mess. I don’t even know where you live.”

Lola started opening the bottle of red wine. “Yeah, well. There’s no point. I’m moving soon.”

Carmen added the shredded beef and covered the pan. “What?” She padded over to Lola and accepted a glass of wine. “Why are you moving?”

Dark eyes darted away from Carmen. She didn’t answer her until she’d finished filling her own glass and held it up to clink glasses.

“I’m moving somewhere gated so my mother can’t just show up whenever she wants,” Lola explained, her tone hesitant, like she was embarrassed to tell Carmen the truth.

“We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” Carmen reached out for her hand.

“My therapist says I need to set boundaries,” Lola said after a beat, her warm fingers intertwined with Carmen’s. “She’s right — it’s long overdue.”

Carmen set down her wine glass and moved closer to Lola. Somehow, it never felt close enough. “Just because something is the right thing to do doesn’t make it easy. Putting yourself first can be tough—”