Sins of Mine - Mary E. Twomey Page 0,18
an hour would want to then model them? Unbelievable!”
Sloan is used to my rants, but I’m not often this fired up over a job. “They probably heard you contacted Elizabeth Lauren’s Vault. I can’t imagine something like you scheduling a meeting with their biggest competitor would go unnoticed.”
“I will never work for Natalia’s Secret again. Do you know what kind of bra I’m wearing today?”
Sloan throws his head back, his gaze fixed on the ceiling. “Not a clue.”
“Elizabeth Lauren’s Vault, the Swish Collection. I’m wearing their products before endorsing them this time, to see if I actually like them and want to put my name behind them. I’ve been researching their business practices, and you know what? They don’t have slaves making their clothes!”
“Imagine that.” Sloan exhales loudly through exasperated lips, filling the living room with an obnoxious noise. “Just tell Natalia’s Secret no. They cancelled your contract when you were sentenced. You’re under no legal obligation to go back to them. No need to get yourself worked up like this.”
I’m pacing back and forth through my living room. I can’t help it. “Refusing them isn’t strong enough. They made a huge profit off of us! Now that Natalia’s Secret has to pay for labor, they want my influence to help boost their bottom line?” I stomp out of the living room, too livid to think up anything productive to add to my unchallenged argument.
Concern creeps into Sloan’s voice as he calls after me, standing from the couch. “Arly, what are you doing?”
“I’m telling them ‘no’ in a language they’ll understand!” I tear into my bedroom and throw open my drawers. Sloan filled them with my clothes from my life before Prigham’s. I’d thought my designer outfits would make me feel more normal, but now my Natalia’s Secret garments are the bane of my existence.
Sloan watches me as if I’ve lost my mind. “You want to slow down, bunny? This is a big day. Everyone’s been waiting for the first street of houses to be brought in, and they’re literally on their way here. The neighborhood you set out to build is happening today. Don’t let the offer from Natalia’s Secret be the thing that steals your joy.”
I whirl with a huff and scowl at Sloan. “You sound like a greeting card. It wasn’t joy that set that plan to build a neighborhood in motion; it was determination. I am determined to take down a corrupt company, not simply shoot out a limb and watch them recover.”
“You sound like your father when you talk like that, you know.”
It’s the meanest thing he could say to me, though probably not entirely untrue. “I sincerely hope you enjoyed that little comment. You get one of those per year, and you just cashed in.”
Sloan lifts his nose into the air. “I rather did enjoy it, thank you.”
Like a good friend, Sloan moves to the next drawer and sifts through my labels, pulling out anything from the company I cannot stand. He adds to the pile I’ve got going on the bed. I should’ve done this when I first moved in here, but there were other priorities.
Everly Ann trots into the room, sniffing my clothes and yipping at Sloan, in case he’s doing something I don’t approve of.
I run my fingers over her fur. “It’s okay, baby.”
Sloan’s irritation is peaking. “Didn’t Cass ruin a whole bunch of shipments of underwear by making the thread disappear while you all were in Prigham’s? That’s vindication. That’s a very big message you sent. Then you freed their entire labor force. How can that not be enough of a lesson?”
I’m annoyed, because it sounds like Sloan is suggesting I go easy on Natalia and her stupid Secret. “Yes, but the company is still standing. If they found a way to take advantage of the system and of the people once, it’s only a matter of time before they try again in a new way. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want them to have that opportunity.”
Sloan turns his chin toward me. “What are you planning?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Truthfully, I don’t have a fully-formed plan. I don’t have much of anything, except tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of lingerie and day clothing, gifted to me by the company because I modeled everything in here.
I also have a gaggle of reporters outside the gate of my commune, chomping at the bit for a good story.
They’re here to photograph the new street of houses I’m having