Thursday came too quickly. Annika was keenly aware that she’d spent much of the previous night tossing and turning. She’d tried all her usual insomnia remedies—write down what you’re anxious about, count sheep, listen to soothing music. At one point, she’d gotten out of bed to do some stretching, but she couldn’t even complete one asana before she was stewing over Hudson’s big event and how he was sure to show off about his hundreds of thousands of breakups and his hot models and his free booze and how much of a loser she’d feel like when everyone in the building except her and June was completely won over by his charm.

And … maybe talking with June had shaken things loose, but she couldn’t help but ruminate again about the Hudson she’d known in Vegas, and the Hudson she was seeing now. There was something about him she couldn’t put her finger on. He seemed to want to tease her and be in her space at the same time as she felt a distance from him, a hardness that she didn’t remember being there before.

In Vegas he’d been … sweet. Down-to-earth. Funny. Had his success changed him that much? And then Annika was tumbling headlong down the Vegas rabbit hole, each memory like a slideshow that wouldn’t quit.

She remembered Hudson telling her about his parents. They didn’t have high school educations, but seeing the fire inside him, they’d given him every opportunity to succeed. They were determined their youngest son would make it. He’d shared with Annika his idea for an app that could help fine artists visualize their projects on the screen before they began. She’d been his sounding board. She’d even given him ideas about how to make it stronger.

And it had all been a giant lie.

He’d been waiting for her to drop morsels of her own as-yet-unformed idea for a dating app that could bring exes together with a touch of a button, and then he’d stolen and bastardized it. All the mind-blowing sex and vulnerable sharing had been intended to turn her head, to make her trust him even more—which it had accomplished, of course.

But she had to go to his event, because if she didn’t, she’d feel even worse. She’d wonder if she’d done all she could for Make Up, especially with Mr. McManor’s threats looming over her.