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Jo loved Emma for this, for her fire, for her refusal to back down. She loved her and she wanted to be with her and she knew she deserved so much more than Jo could offer. So Jo didn’t tip her hand.

“I’ve been busy,” she said calmly.

“You haven’t done anything but shut yourself in this office all day,” Emma snapped.

“Yes, well, I had some calls to make,” Jo said. “Someone had to take care of the photographer who was outside of your apartment Saturday night.”

The color drained from Emma’s face. “What?”

“He was set to make quite a lot of money for photos of Jo Joneskissing her assistant in front of her apartment building at one in the morning,” Jo said. “It’s been taken care of.”

She fluttered her hand like it was nothing.

“What did you do?” Emma’s voice was wary.

“Oh, for Christ’s sake, Emma, it’s not like I had him killed.” Jo rolled her eyes. “I bought the photos. And the contract he’s signed means if he still has any copies and they show up anywhere, I take basically everything he owns. Including his dog.”

Jo didn’t want his dog, but Evelyn had added a little levity to the NDA.

“How much did you pay for them?” Emma asked.

That wasn’t something Jo would ever tell her.

“You’re asking the wrong questions,” she said instead.

Emma’s brow furrowed. It took her a moment, but she got there.

“Why was a photographer in front of my apartment at one in the morning?”

“There it is,” Jo said.

“Why was a photographer there?”

“I let your friend Phil go earlier this afternoon.”

Jo kept her voice detached. She watched a wave of emotions cross Emma’s face: confusion, understanding, anger. Emma glowered.

“Why does it even matter?” she asked. “It never mattered when people thought I was fucking you formonths, butonepicture of us kissing and you ignore me for the entire day trying to deal with it?”

Jo gaped at her. Was it possible Emma truly didn’t understand how far over her head Jo was when it came to her? Emma didn’t flinch. Jo pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Are you serious?”

Emma crossed her arms, chin held high. Jo should’ve taken the out, should’ve pretended it was nothing to her—she was just protecting Emma’s reputation. Instead, she snapped.

“Of course it matters now,” she said with more emotion than she’d shown Emma all day. “It didn’t matter when it was a stupid rumor that meant nothing. This means something, okay? It meant something to me, and I don’t think the entire world should see it.”

Her chest heaved. Emma’s arms dropped to her sides.

“It meant something to you?” she asked, voice small.

Jo’s voice was just as small when she replied, “Of course it meant something to me.”

She wasn’t supposed to admit it. She was supposed to send Emma into a new position with nothing holding her back. A clean break.

She took a breath and moved on. “Which is why I gave Phil an excellent severance package, provided he also signed an NDA.”

“Right,” Emma said.