Page 80 of Masks and Mishaps

With Lander, obviously

Me

We both know Lan agrees to anything, so bribery isn’t necessary

Val Pal

Fair.

Wife

…Do I want to know?

Me

Nope, sweetheart. You don’t want to know…

Cora Bora

Wait, did you say something about global warming?

You are SUCH a fucking ball sack.

Me

Two thousand

Are you there?

…I think I owe Cora two thousand dollars.

Twenty-Eight

ESSIE

IthinkaboutDaltona lot—constantly, really. And on Friday, the only thing between us and our second stream—another night of mask-filled mayhem—is the fate of the bank.

When I arrive at the conference room at Hannington-Hale, Dalton is already waiting.

“Romero,” he says, bobbing his chin politely. He watches me unload the cups of coffee Warner told me to pick up, and when I take the seat next to him, he says, “I need you to do a good job on this call with Claudia. I got her in the door promising we wouldn’t mirror her father’s portfolio, but Hannington is going to push for status quo.”

And he doesn’t say the tricky part: Hannington is like a father to him, which makes disagreeing with him uniquely complicated.

“I’ll make you proud,” I promise.

Dalton studies me in silence before the corner of his lips rises. “Of course you will.”

Right then, Warner barrels into the conference room, expression grim. Without a word, he grabs the coffee cup in the center of the table and flicks away the plastic lid. “Goddamn edamame,” he mutters. “Have you seen the numbers on soybean futures? Even more of a reason to get Claudia in line. I need the consistency.”

“Valid, but it’s worth mentioning Essie’s forex model is done,” Dalton adds, cocking his head in my direction. “I tested it on Wednesday. I put in twenty. Worked as expected—if not better.”

I glance at Dalton. I didn’t know he understood how to use the model—or that he beta tested it with twenty-thousand out of his own pocket.

Hannington scoffs. “If you’re suggesting we ask the bank’s biggest fish to invest into a model an intern made, you’re out of your damn mind.”

“Essie worked on it for three months, it’s been vetted by the Internal Audit team, and I checked it myself. It’s perfect,” Dalton states.

“Status quo,” Warner reiterates before taking a sip of his coffee. “You persuaded Claudia to stick around, which is what I needed you to do, but at this point, I’m making the call.”

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