Page 3 of The Love Haters

Cole blinked. Clearly, he thought everyone already knew this. “You know those big spinny blades up top?”

I gave him a look. “Yes.”

“Just below them is the engine.”

I nodded, like,Huh.

“So helicopters are top-heavy,” he continued.

“So they just—roll belly-up?” I asked.

“Only if they crash.”

“But they don’t crash, right?”

Cole shrugged. “Sometimes they do. When it happens, it happens. The crew has to train for it. They have to get strapped into a simulator… and then practice getting out. And whoever we send for this project has to do that training, too.”

Wait—what?

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Whoever’s doing this video has to getflipped upside down inside a helicopter underwater?”

“In a simulator,” Cole said. “Insurance requires it.”

I shifted to a poker face. “Cool.”

I decided not to ask any more questions.

“Anyway,” Cole went on, refocusing. “Just making sure you’re fine with water.”

“Yes.” I nodded definitively. That wasn’t a lie, right? I mean, who isn’tfine with water?

“Great,” Cole said. “Because I’m trying to help you out here.”

He was? “You are?”

“Yes,” he said, impatient. “Jaden’s out, but I could’ve gone with Dylan. Or Arjun. Or Mila.” Other recent hires who were now also on the chopping block.

“Why me, then?” I asked, surprised I was on his radar.

“Because Sullivan’s about to lay off fifty percent of the company.”

“Fifty?” I said. “I heard it was thirty-three.”

“It’s fifty. It’s going to be a bloodbath. She’s restructuring everything. She’s hired consultants. You heard about her divorce, right?”

I nodded.

“Did you hear he cheated on her with his Pilates instructor?”

Oof. That was rough. I shook my head.

“And he did some kind of sneaky shit with the lawyers where he walked away with most of their money.”

Now I frowned protectively for Sullivan. Who I had never talked to.

“That’s what I’m saying. She’s got some rage to burn. And she’s channeling every ounce of it into turning this company into a profit machine. And that means getting rid of people like you.”

“People like me?”

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