Page 19 of Breaking the Ice Queen
“Then stop carrying it alone. It’s annoying and it’s not what business partners are for.”
A laugh broke out of Sienna, sudden, genuine, the first thing in hours that had cracked the weight sitting on her chest. Dani grinned at her, and the grin was warm and fierce and exactly what Sienna needed, which was Dani’s gift and always had been.
Sienna’s phone rang at eight-forty that evening.
She was in her apartment, a one-bedroom in Echo Park with high ceilings, too many books, and a fire escape that she used as a balcony when the evenings were warm enough. She was sitting on the couch with her laptop open and her notes spread across the cushions, reviewing the verification plan she and Dani had assembled for the financial documents, when the screen lit up with a number she didn’t recognize.
She almost didn’t answer. Unknown numbers at eight-forty on a Tuesday were either robocalls or sources who had changed their minds about talking, and the ratio leaned heavily toward the former.
She answered.
“Ms. Ramirez.” The voice was low and immediately recognizable.
Sienna’s entire body went still. Her pulse kicked and her breathing caught and she sat motionless on her couch with the laptop open and Adriana Lovett’s voice in her ear.
“Ms. Lovett.” She kept her own voice level. “This is unexpected.”
“I’m aware. I’d like to request a private meeting.” A pause. Not the performative kind Adriana used in confrontations. A hesitation. More human. “No explanation in advance. No demands. Just a conversation.”
None of the obvious explanations fit. Not a trap, not a settlement offer, not a legal maneuver. Adriana’s voice was steady as always, but there was a strain beneath it that said picking up the phone had cost her.
“When?”
“Tomorrow evening. Eight o’clock. I’ll send a location.”
“Why should I agree to this?”
Another pause. Longer than the first. Sienna could hear Adriana breathing on the other end of the line. She sounded alone.
“Because I have information you need,” Adriana said. “And because I think you have information I need. And continuing to have those conversations in cocktail lounges is not producing results that are useful to either of us.”
The formality was still there, but Adriana had not wanted to make this call, and she was doing it anyway. Sienna’s documentary instincts caught it before the rest of her did—Adriana was afraid of what she was about to do by making this call.
“Where?” Sienna asked.
“A restaurant. Quiet. Private. Not in Hollywood.” A pause. “I’ll text you the details.”
Sienna pressed her thumbnail into the pad of her index finger, a grounding gesture so old she barely registered it.
“And if I don’t come?”
“Then I’ll understand that I’ve given you every reason not to trust me and no reason to start. But I’ll ask you to come anyway.”
Sienna closed her eyes. Adriana’s voice was low and sure and somehow, in this moment, the most honest thing Sienna had heard in weeks.
“I’ll think about it,” Sienna said.
She hung up and sat in the silence of her apartment with her heart beating hard and Adriana’s voice still echoing in the quiet.
Dani’s text arrived eleven seconds later:What happened? My Sienna senses are tingling.
Sienna called her.
“Adriana Lovett just called me.” Sienna was pacing, a habit Dani had been observing and tolerating since their second year of film school.
“WHAT?!” Dani’s voice went from zero to protective in a single syllable. “On your phone? She has your number?”
Sienna stopped pacing and stood at the window, her reflection a dark outline against the glass.
