STILETTO SISTERHOOD - Book Two

Priya | Chin up, Lipstick on.

Don't get mad, get even.

For the next few days, Priya clung to those words like armour. Used them to fortify her bruised ego. After going to Marai and getting little more than a verbal slap over the head and told to 'woman up', she decided one of two things had to happen. Either she'd quit, or she'd show Daniel she was not going to go down without a fight.

Priya had never quit anything a day in her life.

Daniel had no idea what he who or what he was dealing with. Buried in work, dividing herself between Marai and Daniel was challenging with hellish hours, but exhaustion was an old friend she greeted warmly.

She thrived under pressure. This would be no different.

"I don't know about you, dahling, but I'm famished." Lorraine sidled up to Priya's desk. Dressed in a crisp navy sheath dress with cider stockings and cream pumps. Her straightened black hair tousled around dark brown skin and fire engine red lips. She was a walking aesthetic for fall.

"What time is it?" Priya blinked at her monitor, knee deep in filing a slap on the wrist cease and desist for a Senior VP against a journalist currently trashing him in the New York Times.

"Almost two. Lord have mercy woman, how are you not keeling over with starvation?"

"I have to finish—"

"A DCMA isn't life or death." Lorraine flashed a hand with gold polish nails. "A twenty-minute lunch break won't kill you. Depriving your body of sustenance will."

Priya sighed. Smiled. "Fine. Twenty."

"Thirty." Lorraine winked. "What's an extra ten?"

Knowing better than to argue—lest Lorraine insist on forty-five—Priya grabbed her clutch and followed her out to the elevator bank.

"How's everything going with Daniel," she asked as the doors shut, sealing them inside.

"Wonderful."

Lorraine smirked. "I tried to warn you."

Priya cut her a glare. "You could've tried harder."

"Would you have listened if I had? Truthfully? Because the Priyanka Seth I've come to know is ambitious, stubborn and believes she can conquer any obstacle set in her path, and would rather show up to an interview hungover and without panties than risk losing an opportunity."

"Touché," she giggled. Sighed. "You got me there."

"I wish I could give you all the sordid details," Lorraine worried her bottom lip. "I truly do. You know I would if I could, but I can't take the chance of losing my job.":

Priya brushed a hand over Lorraine's shoulder. "I know. How is your mom?"

"Lousy." She rolled her eyes. "I swear, the doctors here are morons more interest in padding bills then actually saving lives."

"Fuck cancer."

"Sodding right."

Stepping off the elevator, they wove through the busy lobby and out into the crisp, damp air. Priya soaked in the blissful chill of autumn with a smile. She loved fall best. The way the leaves gilded and the sky went a soft, pillowy grey.

"Perfect. There's no line today." Lorraine gestured across the courtyard between the two tower buildings to the street where a food track was park. Bold blue with vibrant graffiti text.

EL LOCO LOBO splayed across the side.

"They do a Latin and Hawaiian fusion taking the Manhattan food truck scene by storm. I've tried three times this week and the line is always insane."