Chapter 3

I was used to justifying my “late arrivals”; he didn’t need to warn me. So without rushing, I saved all the changes in the working documents, turned off the computer, and stood. Turning to the mirror, I tugged my jacket straight and touched up my lips with lipstick. Remembering that my problems concerned no one but me, I lifted my chin and smiled at my reflection, counting on my leg not to let me down and on my ability to remain composed and professional for the next hour. Open to any questions and discussion.

As always!

After telling the girls in the department that the Koreans were here, which meant zero hour had arrived, I exchanged the traditional good-luck wishes with Marik—“Break a leg!” “To hell with it!”—slung my purse over my shoulder, took the portfolio folder with the documents in my hand, and went to meet our shared future by signing the contract.

 
Leaving Regina Style, I crossed the lobby, got into the elevator, and descended through the business center, ending up in the central two-story atrium where, at that hour, workday bustle was in full swing and people were darting back and forth, hurrying about their business.

The enormous Galaktika building, constructed in the shape of an upside-down letter T, housed a multitude of companies and representative offices for respectable firms. Law offices, real-estate agencies, a couple of exchanges, a bank, and even a television channel operated there. There were several restaurants and cafes. Nearly a dozen conference halls and smaller business venues were available.

The largest and most presentable of the restaurants, Astoria, was located on the first floor of the business center, while its conference hall was on the second.

At our first meeting with the Koreans, two people had come from their company; by the second and third, about ten had shown up. It was for them that I had prepared and delivered a detailed presentation of our capabilities and services in this very hall. I had painted prospects, used the projector and Marik’s help, and tried to be persuasive. And it had seemed to me the clients were satisfied.

On Friday, I had personally ordered lunch at Astoria and chosen the menu at Arnold’s request, because Merzlyaev couldn’t make up his mind about the dishes, and Allochka knew nothing about East Asian cuisine. That lunch today was supposed to end with a signed contract and a transition to long-term cooperation with a serious company. With bonuses and raises for the whole team. But most importantly, with a new status for Regina Style.

We had already discussed everything with the Koreans earlier, hadn’t we?

So why did they need the conference hall again?

 
These thoughts spun in my head while I slowly crossed the atrium and walked toward the steel-and-glass escalator. While I rode up to the second floor, feeling an indistinct anxiety in my chest, like a warning about something.

Approaching the right room, I opened the door, intending to quietly join my team so I could play my role at the right moment…

However, when I entered the spacious hall with its empty rows of chairs, I saw only Regina, Alla, and Arnold at the long table. No one else was in the room.

Where were the clients?

All three of them stood unnaturally straight and silent, as if frozen in suspended animation.

And all three were very pale. You could tell even through the women’s makeup.

I didn’t understand…

“Hi,” I said, coming closer and stopping. Looking around the empty room, I set the folder on the table. “Where are the Koreans?” I asked in surprise. “They can’t still not be here, can they? Strange. That’s nothing like them.”

The pause of silence continued, and I suggested:

“Maybe we should call them? What if something serious happened? They’ve never been late before.”

The deciding voice in the trio always belonged to Regina, and she was the one who answered:

“There’s no need to call anyone, Angelina. They were here just now. But they’ve already left.”

“The clients?” I blinked, understanding nothing. “Where did they go? Why?”

“Presumably straight to Imperial-CUBE, to Orlov. As for why, they didn’t explain. Apparently because we no longer interest them.”

The gears in my head turned very slowly, as if refusing to grasp the obvious. A month of work, a hundred hours of preparation and project development. Hundreds of drawings, text options, and advertising strategy variants. Weekends at the computer, with no right to a private life…

“No.” I shook my head, refusing to agree. “That’s impossible! There has to be another reason.”

“There isn’t.”

“But, Regina, they agreed to work with us! They approved everything and were planning to sign the contract. You saw it yourself; they liked everything! Our proposals and our ideas. I don’t believe they simply left!”

“You were unconvincing, Angelina, and it cost us the best contract of our lives.”

“Me?” I was stunned to hear Merzlyaeva lie. “Are you joking right now, Regina?” I couldn’t believe the woman’s cold reply.

The brunette’s face had gone blank, but her lips remained pressed tight together and looked as thin as a gray pencil line.

“A seven-figure contract fell through for me, along with a chance to enter the kind of business where deals are made that you couldn’t even dream of.” My boss’s voice rose, hysterical notes breaking through it. “Do you think I’m in the mood for jokes?!”

“Are you mocking us, Lina, or do you not hear what we’re saying?!” Allochka immediately squeaked in outrage. “The deal with the Koreans fell through! And all because someone leaked information to Orlov!”

“Nonsense!”

“Really? Then why were you seen together today? You were talking!”

I tried to pull myself together. Something was wrong here.

I brushed the girl’s accusation aside as not worth my attention.

“Wait,” I said, raising my palms in a conciliatory gesture. “Explain again what the clients told you. They couldn’t simply reject a proposal that suited them completely two days ago. It’s illogical!”

“Do you really want to know the answer, girl off the street?”

Regina’s last form of address caught at me, but I “swallowed” the rudeness. Compared with the news, it looked like nothing.

“Of course. What else are we here for? I practically did magic tricks during that presentation, and you know it perfectly well. If a person can bend over backward, then I did it, Regina! For our agency!”

Merzlyaeva remained cold, but I noticed her hand tremble when she took a cigarette and lighter from her Chanel purse and lit up. After a deep drag, she carelessly pulled the ashtray toward herself across the table.

Her children stood on either side of their mother and said nothing. I had no choice but to wait for an answer.

“We all overestimated you, Angelina, and I was first in line,” came the icy reply. “I thought I had raised the best art director, pulled you out of poverty, and that you would have the sense to repay me for it. But you turned out to be an arrogant, ungrateful girl. Ordinary and… stupid.”

“Y-you mean?” I whispered, refusing to believe my own ears. Feeling a cold drizzle tighten around my soul from the inside.

Regina’s pupils drilled into me.