Karma's Kiss

Chapter Eleven: Debrief

*Copyright: All Rights Reserved, Stephanie Myrick, 2024. Posted to Wattpad ONLY*

Antonia, Raven and Jynx sat around the small round table they used for staff meetings with Jay Morgan and Posey Debuis early on Monday morning. They went over their plan for the next three weeks, put Jay to work on the advertising for the sale, and focused on going over the inventory and doing up sale signs with the markdowns. Raven headed out to see about pushing the production of the clothes. Jynx and Antonia went to the office and began looking up new fixtures, deciding on paint colours and decor and putting together a bunch of samples for Raven to look at when she got back. Noticing Jynx was looking through other colours and office furniture that had nothing to do with the store, she asked what she was doing.

"Putting together stuff for Mave to look at. His office is terrible." She pulled out her phone and showed her the pictures. Antonia raised her eyebrow when she saw it.

"What'd he do? Raid a landfill?" Maybe not a landfill, but he had clearly bought all of it second-hand or gotten it free.

"I think so." Jynx chuckled. "He's never been into aesthetics, "as long as it's functional and comfortable, it's fine." She quoted him. "You should see his apartment."

"I can imagine." She shook her head and leaned back, stretching. "What's the plan for lunch?"

"It's Chinese this week," Jynx said absently. They rotated through different restaurants on Monday, buying lunch for everyone. Antonia nodded and placed the usual order for pickup at the restaurant down the street from the store and texted Raven so she could grab them on her way back to the store. "Are you going home tonight?"

"If I'm going to keep acting like everything is fine, I'll have to." She frowned and rubbed her forehead as she tried to figure things out.

"Have you heard from him?"

"Yeah." She nodded and smirked. "He's texted a few times and says he feels off and out of sorts."

"Wonder if it has anything to do with everything in the condo being off." Jynx snickered. "Funny how everything just being slightly off around you will disorient you."

"Just enough to be annoying." Antonia's smile faded. "I don't know what to do. I don't want to go home."

"No, I wouldn't want to either," Jynx murmured, and Antonia knew she was watching her closely. "You know you don't have to stay with him to get proof, right? Maverick will take care of that."

"I know." She stared at the table. "I just want the upper hand. I want my money back, and I don't know how to get it. I want there to be some consequence for him and Nola. If I walk away, what happens? He gets to stay in the condo I poured all my savings into and gets to keep his job. Nola gets to go on living her life without any consequences... All they lose is me, and obviously, I don't mean that much to them if they did this."

"Oh, Sweetie." Jynx came over and wrapped her arms around her. "They aren't worth anything. And if you think losing you wouldn't impact them, ask Mave how it impacted and still impacts him."

Antonia put her forehead on Jynx's shoulder. "I just want some consequences that will actually matter to them. I know you think I've shut down, but the truth is I don't know how to react. I want to be angry, but I'm afraid I'll lose my chance to get my money back. I want to be sad and cry, but for whatever reason, I can't. I'm afraid and not sure of my next steps."

"Let's wait and see what Mave finds out." She rubbed her back soothingly. "We can make a plan from there. Are you still planning to do the small, petty revenge?"

"Yeah. I know it's childish, but it's giving me a lot of satisfaction right now." She sat back and shook her head sheepishly. "I'm going to buy decaf coffee on the way home. I need to get groceries anyway. Luckily, we use reusable Keurig pods, so it will just be a matter of emptying the coffee container and replacing it with the decaf. I'm also going to rip out the stitches of his pants the first chance I get."