Chapter Twenty-Seven

Margo celebrates the CPS case closing with friends, but the night winds down to a quiet moment with Suzie. Suzie admits she wants to be part of the team, not a creator herself. Margo offers to make Suzie her full-time nanny and promises to include her in business decisions, cementing their partnership.

Days later, JB calls from Los Angeles and asks to meet. Margo brings Bodhi to an Arby’s, wary of romantic expectations. JB surprises her by saying they shouldn’t date but proposes a business venture instead, acknowledging their strong connection while seeking a practical path forward.

Over sandwiches, JB outlines a consulting company leveraging his machine-learning ad targeting to identify and grow OnlyFans audiences, paired with Margo’s expertise in persona, scripts, and storytelling. They discuss tiered services, a percentage-based fee (Margo pushes for 10%), and ethical concerns—joking they’d be “ethical pimps”—plus security offerings like anti-doxxing support.

They navigate their mutual attraction, agreeing that physical involvement would jeopardize the business and setting provisional boundaries. JB reveals he already quit his D.C. job and may relocate, though not necessarily to Los Angeles. They brainstorm names; JB suggests “Ghost Ink.”

Outside, JB gifts Margo a bag of Runts he painstakingly collected, and they formally shake on becoming partners. Margo is elated by a future where their creative and analytical strengths combine, leaving romance for another time while committing to build the company together.