Cruel Heart

PART 7

"Dinner was great, you should have been there!" Kallie groaned from her desk. Her charcoal pantsuit matched the stark decor of the office. Even the heavy black that lined her eyes fit in with the office's 'I've given up on life' vibe.

Mia shrugged awkwardly. "Yeah, sorry about that. Last minute plans came up. Wish I could have been there," she lied. Man, Mia was getting good at that. If she was Pinocchio her nose would have been in the heart of China by now.

Kallie shook her head. "No worries. But you're coming next time!" she confirmed with a wink.

Mia smiled weakly. "For sure."

Kallie looked around the mostly emptied office. It was still early so most of the senior partners wouldn't be in for another half hour. Most of the people at the office this early were assistants and junior interns.

Kallie leaned in, her voice lowered in the way she does before spilling a pot of gossip. "Did you hear about the new CEO's party last night?" Kallie asked, her eyes wide like a child talking about Christmas.

Mia blinked. "Uh." She cleared her throat with a shake of her head. "No, I didn't. There was a party?"

Kallie nodded, her bleached brows so high they threatened to disappear in her hair line. "A friend of a friend was there and they told me that Mr. Veers' ex showed up."

Lucy.

Mia cringed as the memory of last night played on repeat. The longer she sifted through the events of last night, the more painfully clear it became that she never belonged there.

"Really?" Mia asked.

"Oh yeah. She made this big scene I guess. She went around the house and shattered all the TV screens! She even tried to light the house on fire! They had to evacuate the party before the fire department showed up." Kallie blew out a long breath. "Crazy stuff."

Mia nearly choked on her own spit.

The fire department?

Harlan had said things between him and Lucy were complicated. He conveniently left out that things between them were lethal.

"Crazy," Mia echoed. She supposed it was a good thing she left when she did. Mia had a good feeling that Lucy would have tried to turn her into fire kindling.

"It sounds like Mr. Veers has a thing for hot psychos," Kallie added while turning on her computer. The bah-dum sound of her computer roaring to life tore through the still office.

Mia shook her head. "What makes you say that?" she asked.

"Well," Kallie began. She never did seem to run out of gossip. "I hear he has a loooong list of lovers. All of them models of somekind, and all of them insane! One of them last year even broke into his house and tried to cut off his...you know," Kallie said.

Mia hissed. "Oof," she muttered.

Kallie nodded. "Yeah it was in all the papers."

Mia leaned back in her chair. She bit the inside of her cheek as a question rang throughout her cranium. "Soo," she drew out, rolling back and forth in her chair. "What else do you know about this ex? The one that crashed the party last night," Mia asked.

It wasn't her business. It really wasn't. But she couldn't help but ask. Couldn't help but wonder about that woman with the electric blue hair who made Harlan react in a way she'd never seen before.

Kallie looked up in thought. "Lucy Morris, I think her name is? I guess her and Mr. Veers go way back. And I mean like way, way back since they were in highschool. They've been on and off for years now. She moved to LA for this big modeling gig with Covergirl a few years ago and she just moved back in town last week."