Page 101 of Shout Out To My Ex

Elle leaps up and hugs her.

‘You’re the best.’

They leave the office to swap outfits in the fitting room, leaving me with my client – myactualclient.

She falls into her office chair. Again, I hope she has something nice planned for herself after all this is settled.

‘So…’ I say, knowing that we have minutes at best, but I also need to couch what I’m about to propose carefully.

‘Remember when I asked you if it was worth it?’ she says, unwittingly pre-empting what I was about to say.

‘On that…’

She looks me square in the eye. ‘You think we should tell her, don’t you?’

Something I appreciate about Cassie Bliss: she always gets straight to the point.

‘Yes.’

‘She’s going to hate me.’

‘She won’t hate you. You’re her closest person.’

‘All right, she’ll be furious with me.’

‘Very possibly.’

In reality, this is almost definite, but agreeing may make Cassie decide against telling her sister what she’s done – whatwe’vedone.

She glances through the glass wall towards the back of the workroom – clearly, like me, she’s aware we have little time. But it’s her call and I won’t rush her. Besides, if she does agree, I’ll need approval from either Saskia or Paloma – likely both.

Cassie looks at me, her eyes heavy with sadness, and nods.

‘All right. So, how do we?—’

‘Before I walk you through it, I need to talk to my higher-ups – get their sign-off.’

She nods again and I excuse myself to make the call, heading to the only place where I’ll have privacy – the loo.

Saskia answers her mobile immediately. ‘Poppy, brilliant timing as we were just about to call you.’ Uh-oh, that does not bode well. ‘Right, you’re now on speaker.’

‘Poppy, it’s Mia,’ she says. ‘Spill the TeaandThe Juicehave both published new photographs of your client with the love interest.’

Wonderful – just two of the biggest gossip sites in the world. This means that in little over an hour, this story has already gone global.

‘Nasrin updated us that the engagement is a publicity stunt,’ says Paloma, ‘but even so, this doesn’t look good.’

Bugger. They’re going to ask me to close the case. The last time I stepped in it this badly, I’d fallen in love with the client.

‘Poppy?’ Saskia prompts when I don’t respond.

‘Uh, sorry. I’m here. Two things. First, this latest… uh, development… it’s not surprising. The paparazzi are currently camped outside Bliss Designs.’

‘Do you need an extraction?’ Paloma offers. These are so rare, there hasn’t been one since I joined the agency and I’d forgotten we offer them as a service.

‘All good in that department – we’re going with a decoy – but thank you.’

‘A convincing decoy? Because I could have a team there in twenty minutes,’ Paloma responds.

---