Kamila thought about defending herself. After all, helping an immigrant start a new business was literally the reason Kamila was late tonight. But unlike Marlene, Kamila wasn’t looking to earn a medal for doing it. This was just a party, and contrary to what Marlene believed, telling a caterer where to put food did not put them on par with Mother Teresa.

Kamila decided to be straight with Marlene instead of getting defensive.

“I know you don’t like me, Marlene. And do you know what? I don’t really care. I know I’m good at what I do. I don’t need a judgmental wannabe socialite philanthropist with cat hair all over her pantsuit to validate my self-worth. Vote to retain Emerald, or don’t vote for my firm. It won’t make a difference to me, so there is no use holding it over my head. C’mon, Jana. Let’s find someone more interesting to talk to.”

Jana laughed as soon as they were out of earshot of Marlene. “You have to teach me to do that, Kamila.”

Chin held high, she looped her arm through Jana’s. “Stick with me, Suleiman. We’ll tell off all our haters together.”

Later, at a rare moment when Jana wasn’t at her side, Anil found Kamila. There were too many people around for Kamila to throw her soda in his face, so she had to be nice, for the sake of Aim High.

“Kamila. You look beautiful as always.”

She snorted. She’d worked so hard to impress him with sophisticated clothes, and he was just as complimentary with her in a dog-print dress with a frilly crinoline. “Anil. Looks like the evening’s a success.”

“Yes, thanks to you. I, um, I see you’re here with Jana.”

“I am. She looks great tonight, doesn’t she?”

“She’s always stunning,” he said. “But…she’d probably not like me saying that.”

Kamila tilted her head. “Really? I remember a time when you said she left her glow behind in Central Asia. Now she’s stunning?”

He cringed, rubbing his hand on his bald head. Kamila realized it wasn’t actually very sexy after all. “Yes, well…”

Kamila shook her head. “You know, you’re a terrible person. I don’t even know why I’m talking to you. Why did you say those things about her? At Rohan’s party?”

He nodded. “I know, I know. I was a complete ass. It doesn’t do much to redeem me, but I didn’t know she was pregnant back then.” He sighed. “But I was still terrible. I fell for her so hard. I came to Toronto to try to win her back. But I couldn’t let anyone know about our past involvement. And…I was trying to make her jealous. It was a bad strategy.”

“It was a revolting strategy. You used me.”