Page 74 of I Want You

Two hours later, in a private booth at an unassuming bar in SoHo, Solange nearly chokes on her martini.

“Are you telling me you told Eleanor’s mommy to take a hike and that we’re going to start a magazine from scratch?!”

Harper laughs, taking a sip of her glass of champagne.

“Technically, Solange, we haven’t made you an official offer yet.”

Solange freezes with the olive halfway to her mouth.

“Vance, don’t toy with my feelings.”

Julian, who’s been poring over the LUMEN structure sketch for the past twenty minutes as if it were the Holy Grail, chimes in without looking up from the paper:

“This is a work of art. I already have an idea of what the first cover shoot could look like.”

Victoria observes the scene and realizes that the people in front of her are exactly who she needs: brilliant creatives who aren’t afraid to take risks.

Harper leans on the table, staring intently at her two colleagues.

“We want you to come with us.”

Solange sets her glass down on the table, letting her playful facade slip for a second.

“Are you serious?”

“You’d be the editor-in-chief,” Victoria announces. “And Julian would be the creative director. With your own budget and the freedom to work according to your own standards.”

Julian puts his hand to his chest and closes his eyes.

“Say it again, Victoria. Say it one more time, please.”

“Oh, Julian, stop acting like such a kid. I’m not going to sing your praises all night,” Victoria teases.

Solange bursts out laughing, shaking her head.

“You’re an idiot. An idiot with incredible talent, but an idiot nonetheless.”

“And that’s why we love him,” Harper says with a smile, clinking her glass against Solange’s. “We’ll have offices in Tribeca, the freedom to hire whoever we want, and the chance to create the magazine we’ve always wanted to read.”

“When do we start?” Solange asks, already pulling out her planner.

“First thing tomorrow,” Victoria replies. “It’ll take Eleanor three days to realize she’s lost her key team, and by the time she tries to react, LUMEN will already be the talk of the town.”

Julian raises his glass of gin.

“A toast. To leaving the old guard to wallow in their own mud, and to the most scandalous cover this city will ever see.”

“To LUMEN,” Harper adds, looking Victoria in the eye. “And to never again being afraid to start from the bottom.”

The four glasses clink in the center of the table. While Solange and Julian get caught up in a heated discussion about the color palette for the first digital edition, Victoria feels a warm hand slide under the table to intertwine with hers.

Harper looks at her with that cheeky smile that made her fall in love with her from the very beginning.

“What are you thinking about?” Harper murmurs, leaning in close enough for her breath to brush Victoria’s ear.

Victoria squeezes her fingers, savoring the tingling sensation that runs through her skin.

“I was thinking that this morning I thought I was coming here to save my career… and I’ve realized that all I needed was to be back by your side to take on the world.”