Chap­ter 23

The morn­ing after, I walked into Eve­lyn’s office, anx­i­ety tight­en­ing my chest so much that I could feel the sweat drip­ping down my back. My thoughts were run­ning wild, mak­ing it hard to even focus on the con­ver­sa­tion hap­pen­ing in front of me between Eve­lyn and Grace. As Grace set down a plat­ter of char­cu­terie, my gaze was glued to the cor­ni­chons as I tried to push my nerves away. They chat­ted about Lisbon’s sum­mer offer­ings, but my mind was far from the con­ver­sa­tion, trapped in the upcom­ing con­ver­sa­tion I need­ed to have with Eve­lyn.

Once Grace stepped out of the room, I turned toward Eve­lyn. “We need to talk,” I said, my voice edged with both urgency and a hint of unease. Evelyn’s response was a laugh, light­heart­ed as ever, “Hon­est­ly, it feels like that’s all we ever do.” I pressed on, focus­ing on the mat­ter at hand. “About Vivant, I mean.”

“OK,” Eve­lyn replied, giv­ing me her full atten­tion. “Talk.” I could feel my heart rac­ing, but I stead­ied myself as I dived into my request. “I need some sort of time­line for when this book might be released,” I said, wait­ing for her to give me some­thing to work with. “Please,” I added men­tal­ly, hop­ing she’d under­stand the pres­sure I was under.

Evelyn’s tone remained calm as she lis­tened, yet I could feel the grow­ing frus­tra­tion inside me. “I’m lis­ten­ing,” she final­ly said, wait­ing for me to elab­o­rate. “If you don’t tell me when this book could real­is­ti­cal­ly be sold, I could lose my job. This could be years away—or even decades,” I explained. It wasn’t just about my career; it was about sur­vival, and I need­ed clar­i­ty.

Eve­lyn, ever the sharp one, quipped, “You cer­tain­ly have high hopes for my lifes­pan.” I couldn’t hide my exas­per­a­tion. “Eve­lyn, I either need a firm date or I need to promise Vivant an excerpt for the June issue.” I crossed my arms, steel­ing myself for her response, my patience on the edge.

After some thought, she final­ly replied with a nod. “OK. You can give them an excerpt—whatever part you want—for the June issue. But only if you stop push­ing for a time­line.” My moment of tri­umph was fleet­ing. I didn’t let the joy show on my face because I knew this was only part of the big­ger nego­ti­a­tion. I wasn’t done yet. I couldn’t rest until I had every­thing I need­ed to secure my posi­tion.

The weight of the moment hit me. Eve­lyn need­ed some­thing from me, some­thing impor­tant, even if I wasn’t sure exact­ly what it was. I wasn’t just an employ­ee. I had lever­age, and I had to use it just as she would if she were in my posi­tion. And now, the real test was about to begin. I gath­ered my courage, pre­pared to take con­trol of the sit­u­a­tion the way Eve­lyn would.

“You need to sit for a pho­to shoot. For the cov­er,” I demand­ed. The room fell into a heavy silence as I met her eyes, unflinch­ing. “No,” she replied instant­ly, her response sharp and firm.

“It’s non­nego­tiable,” I pressed, feel­ing the weight of the moment. She tried to argue, but I stood my ground. “Every­thing is nego­tiable. Haven’t you got­ten enough already? I’ve agreed to the excerpt.”

“You and I both know how valu­able fresh images of you would be for this,” I con­tin­ued, my voice steady. Still, she refused. “I said no.”

This was it. I had to push hard­er, just like Eve­lyn would. “You agree to the cov­er pho­to, or I’m out.” I could see her sit­ting straighter now, tak­en aback.

“Excuse me?” Eve­lyn asked, her voice low with dis­be­lief. I held her gaze and wasn’t afraid to stand my ground. “You want me to write your life sto­ry. I want to write your life sto­ry. But these are my terms,” I said firm­ly. “I’m not going to lose my job for you. I keep my job by deliv­er­ing a fea­ture with a cov­er. So either you give me a time­line, or you agree to this pho­to shoot. Those are your choic­es.”

Eve­lyn stud­ied me care­ful­ly. For the first time, I saw a flick­er of respect in her eyes, maybe even admi­ra­tion. “You’re hav­ing fun with this, aren’t you?” she said, a wry smile tug­ging at the cor­ners of her mouth.

“I’m just pro­tect­ing my inter­ests,” I said, final­ly let­ting a small smile slip through.

“Yes, but you’re also good at it. And I think you’re delight­ing in it just a lit­tle bit,” Eve­lyn teased, her smile grow­ing. “I’m learn­ing from the best,” I said with a shrug, my smile widen­ing.

Evelyn’s expres­sion soft­ened. “Yes, you are.” She paused, scrunch­ing her nose in thought. “A cov­er?” she asked one last time, her resis­tance final­ly crack­ing.

“A cov­er,” I repeat­ed, stand­ing firm in my deci­sion. It was my turn to win this bat­tle, and I had no inten­tion of back­ing down.