Page 23 of Darling Beasts

“Why?” Talia blurted, locking her eyes onto my face. Her eyebrows seemed stronger than usual, like she’d purposefully darkened them to increase the intensity of her scowl. “Why are you here?”

“Because I was asked? Multiple times. Including by you.” I still didn’t understand why Talia asked me in person, especially when she had to go to the effort of borrowing a car. A better sister might’ve given her the benefit of the doubt, but I couldn’tshake the notion that she wanted to snoop or spy or otherwise check things out. Talia was a nosy gal, forever suspicious about what the rest of us were doing, but too afraid to ask outright.

“You told me no,” Talia reminded me. “I’m asking, what changed?”

I shrugged, unwilling to admit I’d done it for the money, because I refused to let money be the whole deal. I’d convinced myself I’d come to work, and “help Dad,” and perhaps get even more out of it. Credit for time served with family, or a missing piece of the PBS puzzle, if dos Santos stopped smelling his own farts for a second. Either way, I’d stay for a month or two to build a cushion and secure my twenty-five-year gift. In the meantime, Sydney would come up with a plan to make SHCC profitable.

“I thought about it,” I told Talia, and this was true enough. “You made several good points, and Ustenya...” I flicked my eyes away. “She also presented a compelling argument.”

“Oh. I’ll bet,” Talia said.

“In the end, I didn’t have a good reason to say no.”

“Interesting. Where’s Diane?”

I cocked my head, debating whether this was a trick or some kind of power play. She must’ve already known about Diane. Due to her snooping and status as number one kid, Talia was always in on the tea. But, in that moment, her face remained blank.

“Ustenya fired her,” I spit out, and Talia gasped.

“Oh, Gabs. I had no idea,” she said, sincerely. “I mean, it makes sense, obviously.”

“Obviously.” My eyes started to water.

“Don’t cry. It’s not like she’s dead!”

“Definitely not,” I agreed, though it sort of felt that way. “Anyway. You’re right. Who cares.” I flapped a hand. “Bound to happen. And so on. Okay, moving on! What am I supposed to do now?”

Talia hesitated, as if wanting to say something more. Finally, she exhaled. “Here,” she said, plucking a neon-pink sticky note from the wall behind her. “Your log-in credentials.”

I grabbed the paper, mildly annoyed she had my password becauseugh, that was so Talia.But then I remembered I could change it, and there wasn’t even anything to see yet.

Username: [email protected]

Password: Gunn100%

My problems were really piling up, and now I had a whole new inbox to check, and an email address that used Dad’s government name. This job was getting very serious, very quickly, and I began to swirl in a storm of inner despair.

“This is also for you.” Talia passed me a badge affixed to a bright yellow lanyard. On it was a picture of me I’d never seen before. My eyes were downcast, and I suspected it was taken by one of the security cameras at Water Mill. Beneath the incredibly sketchy photo were two words. Reading them, I pulled back. “What is aComms Director?”

“It’syou,” Talia said. “This is not a vacay, Gabby. You’re not here to sun yourself by the pool.”

I snorted. “Have you met me?” I lifted a very pale arm. “I haven’t ‘sunned’ myself a day in my life. I assumed my title would be a little more... plebeian. Like ‘errand girl.’ Who decided this?” Surely not Dad. He wouldn’t place anything so important in my small, shaky hands.

Talia returned her attentions to her computer. “Beats me. You’re way overthinking this,” she said, which was super freaking rich, coming from her. “It’s a job, and you’ll do it. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Do you want a list, or...?”

“Not to worry. You’ll catch on eventually. In the meantime, if you’re looking for something to do, can you figure out why Ivan deposited a live dog by our door?”

Chapter Fourteen

Ozzie

It was his third meeting with Barclay in one week. A lot more money was going out than coming in, and Ozzie needed aplan. He’d already agreed to sell the plane. It almost made him puke thinking about it, but Barclay wasn’t satisfied.

“You have to stop spending money on nonessentials,” he said.

“I have!” Ozzie protested. “I’ve been so good. I gave you access to all my accounts. You can see for yourself!”

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