Page 158 of Sugar & Shadows

“Motherfuckers,” she hissed. “I’ll get to work.”

“No.” I sighed. “This will all get worked out in the courts. I need to be focused on Maplewood. I can’t let this derail all the work we’ve done.”

A familiar crash sounded in the background.

“Was that a child or sensitive government secrets?” I asked.

“Yes,” she responded as she jabbed at her keyboard. If I knew Meg, she had a satellite image of my mom’s house pulled up right now.

“Leave it alone.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, the familiar roil of nausea creeping up inside me. “Go take care of your kids. And stay focused on Maplewood. We need to nail the Games proposal and Gabe’s recall vote.”

“No fucking way,” she growled. “We’re in this together. You don’t get to be all noble and sacrifice yourself while billionaire Wall Street dicks drag you through litigation hell.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” I said. “You covered our tracks, and the feds redacted my name from the grand jury transcripts. No one from my firm would ever; it would tank the entire company. And I had to promise them I would not say a word.”

“I’m not blaming myself.” She laughed. “I’m blaming Ethan Calloway.”

“What?”

“You think I’m going to let some asshole fuck with you and not hack into their lives and learn every detail I can? It’s called friendship.”

I sank into the kitchen chair and put my head in my hands. “Tell me.”

“The legal actions have been simmering for months. We knew it was likely. But all this exploding yesterday? It was Ethan.”

“How do you know?”

“Because his executive assistant forwarded an ‘intelligence report’ to four media contacts at 2:14 p.m.”

I blinked a few times. We were in that meeting then. Was he actively sabotaging me from the same room?

“You hacked his assistant?”

“No. I hacked Ethan. The assistant was just collateral damage.”

“Meg.” My breath shuddered. I loved her, but this could get me into even more hot water.

“Please,” she scoffed. “Rich nepo babies deserve it. And he said awful things about you.” She was shouting now. Very little surprised Meg, but she was loyal to her core. “He has a whole narrative. That you’re unstable, unethical, and a danger to Maplewood. He implies you’re influencing the ‘ineffective Mayor Gabriel Harding’ and trying to scam the town.”

I laughed. “Scam the town? Out of what? A few bottles of maple syrup and alpaca knit socks?”

“It’s serious. He mentioned your personal involvement and said that Gabe’s judgment is compromised and he must be recalled.”

Red-hot rage flashed inside me. “That motherfucker.” It was one thing to drag me; I deserved it. But Gabe?

“So on a scale of one to ten,” she asked sweetly, as if she could sense the shift in my energy, “how badly can I destroy him?”

“You can’t at all. Not yet.” I stood and paced. I needed a plan. A strategy. And my team. “We will fuck him up, but not right now. First we save Maplewood and make sure Gabe keeps his job. Then we get revenge.”

“That’s my girl,” she said. “Should I text the others? Rally them at the command center?”

“Yes.”

Once we ended the call, my first inclination was to pack my bags and run. Get out of this place and lie low while I waited for the dust to settle. But then I looked around my mom’s house, taking in the childhood photos and the cheery floral curtains. Considering the life I’d unexpectedly built for myself here.

I placed my hand on my stomach. “Baby, I’m so sorry about this. But Mom’s gonna fix it. Sometimes life requires we do the hard thing.”

I had to stand firm and face this. Finish my job. Then I’d be coming for Ethan Calloway.