Page 132 of Masks and Mishaps

“Perfect. Tell Harvard to get a contract together and to propose an equity stake. Make him handle the money. You’re the talent, so you focus on the product.”

“Done.”

“Lovely,” Claudia says. “I have a good feeling about us. I think we can make the kind of mess people need.” She ends the call and I stare at my phone in stunned silence, trying to process what just happened.

“Did she take five hundred?” Dalton asks, canting his head to get in my line of sight.

I exhale slowly. “A million.”

Dalton’s face lights up. “That’s my girl,” he exclaims before getting out of his chair to scoop me into his arms. “Essie, I’m so proud of you.”

“Me? I’m proud of you. You said you were going to make me money, and you did it in, like, eight hours.”

“Could have been faster, but Goodman Winchester kept mad dogging me in Salem,” he says, which makes me burst out laughing. We’re still laughing and hugging when our four best friends arrive at the bar—the same one where we all met two years ago.

“There they are,” Lander calls out, smirking as they approach our table. “We got you a gift, Dalt.”

Dalton releases me and takes the paper Lander passes him. He scans it before he scoffs. “An unemployment form? Fuck off, Lan.” He crumples it and throws it back to Lander, but he’s grinning.

“For the record, I wasn’t in on this unemployment scheme,” Everett replies, throwing his arm over Dalton’s shoulder and patting his other hand on Dalton’s stomach. “All Lander. I thought it was a waste of paper. But hey, are you good?”

“So good,” Dalton replies, looping his arm around Everett.

“What about you?” Cora asks, hugging me.

“Because we’ve been so upset all day,” Valeria chimes in, claiming my other side. “We almost came to get you, but then we tracked your location to Massachusetts.”

“Long day,” I admit. “We were in Salem.”

“Good thing you didn’t follow them, princess,” Everett says to Cora. “You might have been burned at the stake.”

“Go fuck your own face, Ev,” Cora replies while giving him the most adoring look.

Valeria tucks my hair behind my ear. “Are you okay though? Because Lander and I discussed the ways you could sue Weston, and there’s a solid sexual harassment case here—enough to ruin Hannington-Hale.”

Lander gazes at Valeria. “You should hear her talk about legal precedent. It’sso hot.”

I believe it wholeheartedly. I squeeze Valeria’s waist. “You two can put that down as plan B, but I think Hannington-Hale is already ruined.” I look at Dalton. “Should we tell them the big news?”

Dalton nods. “Yeah, guys, Essie and I are,” he begins, looking between our friends, “getting married.”

I snicker at first until Dalton digs his hand into his pocket and pulls out a ring with the single largest emerald I’ve ever seen. Seriously. The thing is so big, it looks like an entire monarchy could fall if it ever went missing.

“What the fuck,” I mouth while everyone stares with matching expressions of surprise. “Daddy. Dalton.”

“Yes,” he replies, beaming.

“Did you just propose to me in a bar—”

“Yep.”

“—on the day you quit your job—”

“Yep.”

“—in front of all our friends, who look so surprised that I have to conclude nobody was in on this—”

“Yep.”

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