Chương 4
Transfer.
Damian noticed.
He moved farther toward the windows.
“We’ll discuss it tomorrow.”
The caller spoke.
Damian’s face drained.
“What do you mean it already cleared?”
Arthur’s eyes hardened.
Damian ended the call.
For a moment, he stared at the dark phone in his hand.
Then he turned.
Nobody spoke.
Vanessa finally did.
“What cleared?”
Damian put the phone in his pocket.
“Nothing.”
“You just said—”
“Vanessa.”
She flinched.
He saw it.
So did everyone else.
The room became very quiet.
Vanessa picked up her champagne glass again, then set it back down without drinking.
“I want to leave.”
Noah said, “You can.”
Damian looked sharply at him.
Noah continued, “Assuming Ms. Cole was not involved in restricting Evelyn’s movement.”
“I wasn’t.”
Damian said, “Vanessa.”
She turned on him.
“What?”
He seemed shocked by the volume.
Vanessa pressed one hand to her stomach.
“I stood here.”
Her voice shook.
“I stood here while you did that to her.”
Evelyn looked away.
She was not ready to comfort Vanessa.
Vanessa seemed to understand.
“I thought she was lying,” she said.
Evelyn stared at the glass wall.
“You wanted me to be.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
“No. You wanted me to be stealing from him because that made tonight simple.”
Vanessa said nothing.
Evelyn finally faced her.
“You didn’t have to decide whether he was cruel. You could decide I deserved it.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“That’s fair.”
“It isn’t.”
“I mean—”
“I know what you mean.”
The exchange ended there.
No reconciliation.
No dramatic apology.
Just two women standing in the expensive quiet of a room where one had failed the other.
Arthur’s phone vibrated.
He checked it.
His face changed.
Noah saw.
“What?”
Arthur looked at Evelyn.
She hated when adults did that—looked at her before speaking as though deciding how much reality she could tolerate.
“Say it.”
Arthur hesitated.
Then he handed Noah the phone.
Noah read the message.
“Halcyon reserve account?”
Arthur nodded.
Evelyn looked between them.
“What happened?”
Arthur rubbed his thumb against his wedding ring.
He had worn it for six years after Evelyn’s mother died before one morning removing it. Tonight the pale line beneath it was long gone, but the habit remained.
“Someone initiated a transfer from a Halcyon-linked escrow account.”
“How much?”
“Forty-eight million.”
Vanessa sat down.
Damian looked bored.
Too bored.
Evelyn watched him.
“When?”
Arthur said, “Nine minutes ago.”
The penthouse seemed to tilt around her.
“The drive.”
Arthur looked at her.
“What was on it?”
“I don’t know.”
Damian laughed softly.
“You’re all making extraordinary assumptions.”
Noah said, “Who is Mercer?”
“No one you need to know.”
Arthur’s voice went flat.
“Ben Mercer?”
Damian’s eyes flicked toward him.
Enough.
Arthur nodded once.
“Your CFO.”
Damian said nothing.
Evelyn felt the pulse of the pendant against her skin.
Green.
Dark.
Green.
Dark.
The little object had been a gift from her father after the accident when she was fourteen. Not because he believed jewelry could keep her safe, but because after months of panic attacks she had refused to carry anything she associated with protection.
No radios.
No visible security button.
No tracked bracelet.
The pendant had been the compromise.
She had hated it.
For years she left it in drawers.
Tonight, she had worn it because it matched the dress.
That absurdity almost made her smile.
Arthur said, “Noah, call Mara.”
Damian’s head snapped up.
Evelyn looked at her father.
“Mara?”
“Our general counsel.”
Damian said, “This has nothing to do with Reed Strategic.”
Arthur turned toward him.
“My company is the counterparty on Halcyon.”
Evelyn stared at him.
That was the first thing her father had said all night that felt like a betrayal.
“You told me Halcyon was dead.”
Arthur closed his eyes briefly.
“It was supposed to be.”
“No. You told me the deal was dead.”
“It stalled.”
“You lied.”
“This is not the time.”
She laughed.
It came out ugly and small.
“Of course.”
“Evelyn.”
“Of course it’s not.”
She walked toward the windows.
Noah started to follow.
She raised a hand.
He stopped.
Traffic moved below in silent ribbons.
She suddenly wanted something boring.
Coffee from the terrible machine in her apartment.
The old gray T-shirt she slept in.
A sink with two dishes she had forgotten to wash.
Anything ordinary enough to prove this night belonged to someone else.
Behind her, Arthur spoke quietly into his phone.
Damian asked for his attorney.
Vanessa sat with both hands pressed between her knees.
Noah waited near the door.
Nobody seemed to know what Evelyn was supposed to do.
That helped.
For once, no one tried to decide for her.
She turned.
“Dad.”
Arthur looked up.
“How long have you been negotiating with Damian?”
Silence.
“Arthur,” Noah said softly.
Arthur exhaled.
“Four months.”
Evelyn stared at him.
Damian watched them.
A new kind of interest had entered his face.
This was useful to him.
Family fracture.
Leverage.
Evelyn hated that she could see him calculating.
“Four months,” she repeated.
“Yes.”
“And he met me eleven weeks ago.”
Arthur’s face changed.
They both did the arithmetic.
Vanessa whispered, “Oh.”
Damian looked at Evelyn.
“Don’t.”
Her voice became very quiet.
“You knew who I was before the museum.”
“Of course I knew who you were.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“You’re Arthur Reed’s daughter.”
“No. Did you know I would be at the museum?”
He did not answer.
The silence went on too long.
Vanessa stood.
“Damian.”
He looked at her.
She looked ill.
“You told me you’d never met her before.”
“I hadn’t.”
“You said you didn’t even know she was coming.”
“I didn’t.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“You made me switch tables.”
Damian’s face hardened.
Evelyn looked at her.
“What?”
Vanessa pressed her palms against the sequined fabric at her hips.
“At the museum dinner. We were supposed to sit with the Langleys. Damian asked the host to move us.”
Evelyn looked at Damian.
He smiled.
May you like
Not because anything was funny.
Because there was nothing else left to wear.
