Her Quietest Enemy

Anya Rios can end a restaurant with one paragraph. She could never end the man who owns them. For four years Marcus Bell kept her in private rooms and after-hours kitchens, and she told herself it was fine. Then, in the ladies' room of his flagship, she heard him say what she was: a critic who reviewed what he told her to review. She didn't cry. She finished dessert. By morning she'd resigned on the record and named the conflict, and by the end of the month three of his restaurants were closed. He can apologize in ads. He can apologize in person. The only currency Anya accepts is correction that survives the news cycle — and that will take him two years, one subpoena, and every book he's ever cooked. An overheard betrayal grovel romance about a woman who can't be bought back, only earned.