“C’mon … let it out. I know that smile,” Julia tells me, pushing another martini into my hand. I take it hesitantly, and then just swirl it around, playing with the green olive floating inside the glass.

“What are you talking about?” I ask her, but even my tone of voice is betraying me right now. Julia can see through me as if she had put a listening device inside my brain; it’s impossible to lie to her.

“Are you kidding me?” She takes her tequila shot to her lips and then throws her head back, downing the whole thing at once. “God,” she grimaces, sticking her tongue out, and then turns her gaze back to me. “I remember when you started dating Piece of Shit.”

Ever since Ben broke up with me, Julia refuses to call him by his name. According to her, evil bastards like him don’t deserve to be acknowledged as real human beings.

“So?”

“So you have the same dazed smile on your face right now. Which can only mean that…” she trails off, waiting for me to finish her sentence, but I just take a sip of my martini and then shake my head.

“Uh-uh. You’re wrong. It’s not like that.”

“It’s exactly like that. You’re falling for Malcolm, aren’t you?” See what I told you? There’s no fooling her.

“I…” For a fraction of a second, I almost give in to the temptation of trying to feed her some bullshit excuse, but I quickly give up on that. “I don’t know, Julia. I really don’t.”

“Now I regret ever suggesting you should lose your panties in order not to lose your shirt,” she sighs, waving her finger at the bartender and asking for one more shot of tequila. The bartender, a bearded guy with a bowtie and suspenders, winks at her and turns around to prepare her drink.

“It’s not like I had a choice, Julia.” I sigh, my gaze wandering over the crowded room. We’re at the Death & Company bar and, despite its grim name, it’s actually a nice place to get shitfaced. Which I kinda need right now. “When Ben came into my office, he --”

“I knew it! That fucking piece of shit meant trouble!” she shouts drunkenly, snatching her tequila out of the bartender’s hand and drinking it down like a true sailor. She grimaces again, and then wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. “What did that asshole want?”

“He threatened me … Or, well, he threatened the company. If I don’t make Malcolm fall in love with me, he’ll leak the tapes.”

“Fucking bastard,” she mutters under her breath. I don’t need to explain to her about the tapes; that’s a story I’ve already told her long ago.

“Yeah. So, aside from having to worry about the money, now I also have this on my plate…”

“And you’re falling in love with Malcolm, don’t forget about that,” she nods sagely, almost as if she really believes I’d forget about such a thing. If anything, I can barely think of anything else. “But that isn’t so bad, right? If you’re falling for him, and if he falls for you… Your company will be safe.”

“It’s not so simple, Julia,” I tell her with a sigh, finishing my martini and waving the empty glass at the bartender. Like clockwork, he snags the glass in front of me and replaces it with a full one. “Ben wants me to succeed because that means Malcolm will have to pay up the $100 million… and why would Ben want such a thing to happen?”

“I… uh, I have no idea,” she mumbles.

“I’m pretty sure he wants to see Malcolm’s company burn. That’s the only explanation for this. And I… I can’t allow that to happen. You’re right…” Another sigh takes over my lips, and then I finally admit it all. “I’m really falling for him.”

“Shit,” Julia whispers again, setting her empty shot of tequila in front of her. This time she doesn’t ask for another one. “That’s not good. I mean, I’m happy you’ve put an end to that all men suck philosophy of yours, but overall it isn’t looking good.”

“No, it isn’t looking good,” I repeat after downing my martini with one single gulp. Then, for good measure, I pop the olive into my mouth. It seems that only now that Julia has decided to slow down her drink-all-the-tequila rhythm, I’ve picked up the speed. Matters of the heart and alcohol—I wonder why they always go hand-in-hand.

“What are you going to do now?” she asks me, and that’s the same question that’s been hammering my mind for the past few days. And, despite spending all my days trying to think of a solution, I still haven’t gotten anywhere. This seems like an unsolvable puzzle, one that I’m being forced to complete all the same.

“I have no idea,” I sigh, taking the martini to my lips and allowing the bitter liquid to burn its way down my throat, scorching just a bit more of my rationality as it settles on my stomach and escapes into my bloodstream. “All I know is that I can’t let Ben win.”

“Of course not. That asshole needs to be stopped! He’s using you, and he’ll keep using you and blackmailing you even if you do what he wants…!”

“I know, I know… God, I’m fucked.”

She looks at me with her wide eyes, trying to look for the right words, and then she rests one hand on my shoulder and gives me a comforting smile.

“Yes, you are,” she whispers, and my jaw hangs open slightly.

“Thank you for the support,” I laugh bitterly, and then ask the bartender for another martini. Maybe if I get drunk enough I won’t dream of all this bullshit tonight.

“Now, seriously… before you do anything, you need to be sure of Malcolm’s feelings.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that you don’t know him that well, Athena… You’re falling in love, and you’re trying to protect him. I get it, I really do. But you need to be sure he’s worth it.”

I look at her and smile, nodding. She’s right, of course... but, deep down, I already know that Malcolm’s worth it.

Why? Because I’m in love.