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“She’s the boss’s daughter, I don’t think firing her is on the table,” Ellie said.

“She’s too dangerous to keep around,” said Carys.

“She could ruin everything,” said Ellie quietly. “That’s why… Why I panicked. I just thought about all the damage she could do if she wanted to and… And then there wasn’t enough air in the room.”

Mo went to the kitchen and Ellie could hear them boiling the kettle.

“What do you want to do about it?” Carys asked.

“I honestly don’t know,” said Ellie. “Maybe I should withdraw from the contract altogether. I mean, it’s better not to have the job than to have it and do it badly, right? Our reputation would never recover.”

Carys shook her head. “That seems unfair.”

“It is unfair,” Mo said, bringing in three teas. “Yours has extra sugar,” they told Ellie. “It’s unfair and unnecessary.”

“Look at the woman, for god’s sake, Mo, won’t you?” Carys barked. “She’s spent a morning with this harridan and she’s already panicking.”

“You two need to let light into your lives,” Mo said primly, taking their tea.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Carys demanded.

“It’s supposed to mean that we don’t always assume the worst,” said Mo, putting their hot mug down again. “It’s easy to assume that everyone has bad intentions, when in fact most people just have their own intentions, without meaning for them to be either good or bad.”

“You’re giving me a migraine,” Carys warned.

“Listen, this Jem woman isn’t an evil witch from a fairy tale.”

For a second Ellie had a vision of Jem with her hair wild and her eyes flashing and she felt a strange surge of warmth.

“She has her own agenda, that’s for sure, but you have to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she didn’t think things through,” Mo said. “You’ve got to at least find out what her intentions are before you start going nuclear on her.”

Carys bared her teeth at Mo and Mo rolled their eyes.

“Fine,” they said. “You need to sit down and have a chat with Jem, that’s all. Find out what she was doing, what she’s thinking, and explain your point of view to her. If she’s still a problem after that, well, we can move on to more serious options, but right now, frankly, she just sounds like a spoiled little kid.”

“She’s spoiled alright,” Ellie said. “Her shoes cost more thanmy rent.” Then she blushed, aware that she sounded jealous.

But Carys snorted. “I know the type. Poor little rich girl, eh? Mo’s probably right, she’s probably just acting out. Talk to her.”

The last thing that Ellie wanted was to see Jem again. An hour in her company and she’d already felt like dying. “You don’t think, um, that she’s acting this way because… well, you know…?”

“Because she hit on you and you turned her down?” Mo said.

Ellie looked at Carys who shrugged. “I told them she was the one from the club.”

“Great. Now everyone knows.”

“Everyone important, at least,” Mo said cheerfully. “And maybe. I mean, no one likes being told no, do they? So maybe that’s something you should bring up with her. That you need to be professional and all that jazz.”

Ellie groaned again. “Why can’t this just be simple? Why can’t life ever be easy?”

“Because it’s a bitch,” Carys said, laughing. “And you need to come up with a new location, remember? Better that you report in to Mr. Darlington about the hotel than that Jem gets in there first.”

“Oh god.” Ellie laid her head on the table.

“Nope, up and at them,” said Mo. “Get your big girl trousers on, or skirt if you prefer. Make the call.”

“You’ll probably only talk to his assistant anyway,” Carys said.