The Business of Pleasure Chapter 2

Return trip.

No trains at this hour.

I don't remember how I found a ride back.

When I snapped back to reality.

I saw the group chat spamming messages.

Everyone was congratulating Bella for signing the Miami contract.

Her DM came quickly.

[Sister Vivian, I did it! I did it!]

Attached was a cute bear emoji clenching its fist.

I replied with a "Congratulations."

Alone, staring at the computer.

I knew that deal was definitely not her doing.

Julian and I were hired by the same company right out of college.

Sales Department. We ran neck and neck.

Competing for first place.

From mutual dislike to a strange mutual appreciation.

Until he approached me privately.

"Vivian, I want to build something of my own. Will you join me?"

The terms were tempting.

No capital investment needed. Just my help, and I could get nearly half the equity.

We rooted ourselves in the city.

Shoulder to shoulder.

On his birthday, we drank a little.

He held my hand and we lay in his rental apartment.

He said: "Vivian, having you is my luck."

I always thought.

We were partners in every sense...

Ability, methods, even in bed, we were perfectly compatible.

But I never expected... today, I couldn't even enter his hotel room.