Chương 2 - The Gala Where Everything ChangedLarkin offered me his arm.
Not because he was romantic.
Larkin Steves didn’t do romantic gestures.
He offered it because everyone was watching.
I placed my hand lightly against his sleeve.
A tiny movement.
Yet the ballroom reacted as if someone had fired a starting pistol.
Whispers traveled.
I heard my name.
Then stopped hearing it because people were deliberately lowering their voices when we passed.
“You’re causing a problem,” Larkin murmured.
I kept smiling.
“I’ve been here three minutes.”
“Exactly.”
I glanced at him.
“You invited me.”
His jaw moved slightly.
“Thomas suggested it.”
There it was.
I almost laughed.
Instead I said, “I know.”
He stopped walking.
“You knew?”
“I work in accounting, Mr. Steves. Recognizing bad intentions is half my job.”
The corner of his mouth moved.
Not quite a smile.
“You continue to surprise me.”
“That sounds like a management failure.”
This time he almost definitely smiled.
We approached a group near the center of the ballroom.
I recognized every person before Larkin introduced them.
Victor Morelli.
Shipping.
Cyrus Dane.
Construction.
Elena Falcone.
Real estate, hospitality, and half a dozen businesses with suspiciously complicated ownership structures.
Their names had crossed my desk hundreds of times.
Larkin expected me to be intimidated.
Instead, I already knew how much each of them owed.
Victor took my hand.
“Miss Woods. Larkin has kept you hidden.”
“No,” I said.
“I’ve kept myself hidden.”
Elena smiled.
“Why?”
I looked around the ballroom.
“Rooms like this reward people for being underestimated.”
Her eyes sharpened.
Larkin glanced at me.
Thomas appeared moments later.
He had recovered his smile.
“Penelope,” he said loudly, “I almost didn’t recognize you.”
“That makes two of us.”
Several people laughed.
Thomas wasn’t one of them.
He stepped closer.
“I didn’t realize secretarial salaries were so generous.”
His meaning was obvious.
He wanted everyone to know I didn’t belong.
I lifted my champagne glass.
“They’re not.”
A woman nearby smiled into her drink.
Thomas continued.
“So what did all this cost?”
“Less than your last accounting mistake.”
Silence.
Larkin looked at me.
Thomas’s expression changed.
I had gone too far.
Except I hadn’t.
Three days earlier, Thomas authorized a duplicate payment on a logistics contract.
Two hundred seventy-eight thousand dollars.
I had caught it.
Larkin knew.
Thomas knew.
Now everyone around us knew there was something to know.
Thomas leaned closer.
“You think you’re clever tonight.”
“I thought I was clever yesterday too.”
Before he could respond, Larkin stepped between us.
“Thomas.”
One word.
That was enough.
Thomas left.
But as he walked away, he looked back at me.
The expression on his face was not embarrassment.
It was warning.
The evening continued.
Dinner.
Music.
Conversations disguised as pleasantries.
At 10:30, I stood near the balcony doors when an older man approached.
Adrian Vale.
I recognized him instantly.
He represented a rival organization controlling several waterfront interests.
His company had spent eight months trying to acquire a shipping terminal Larkin wanted.
“Miss Woods.”
“Mr. Vale.”
His eyebrows lifted.
“We’ve met?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know me?”
I took a sip of champagne.
“You own thirty-eight percent of East Meridian Freight through two holding companies registered in Delaware.”
His smile disappeared.
Larkin, standing several feet away, turned his head.
Adrian studied me.
“And how would a secretary know that?”
“Public records.”
“Those holdings aren’t public.”
I smiled.
“Then perhaps I’m mistaken.”
He stared.
We both knew I wasn’t.
He walked away without another word.
Larkin appeared beside me.
“Balcony.”
It wasn’t a request.
Outside, Manhattan glittered below us.
Cold air moved through my hair.
Larkin closed the glass door behind him.
“Explain.”
“Which part?”
“You identified Adrian Vale’s private holding structure.”
“I do your books.”
“You shouldn’t have access to that information.”
“But I do.”
“How?”
I turned toward the city.
“Because people are careless when they think the woman reading their numbers doesn’t understand them.”
His voice dropped.
“Penelope.”
I faced him.
“I have spent three years making sure this organization’s books balance. Do you think I never noticed what I was balancing?”
His expression became still.
Dangerously still.
“How much do you know?”
“Enough.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the safest answer I can give you.”
The silence lasted several seconds.
Then the balcony door opened.
Thomas stepped outside.
“Larkin. We have a problem.”
His eyes moved to me.
“A serious one.”
Larkin’s posture changed immediately.
“What?”
“Someone accessed the internal ledger.”
My stomach tightened.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
Larkin’s gaze cut to mine.
Thomas noticed.
Then smiled slowly.
“Well,” he said, “isn’t that interesting?”
I understood instantly.
He was going to blame me.
Thomas continued.
“The login came from Penelope’s credentials.”
My pulse remained steady.
Barely.
Larkin stared at me.
“Did you access the ledger tonight?”
“No.”
Thomas laughed softly.
“Of course she didn’t.”
I looked at him.
“You sound disappointed.”
He ignored me.
“Security is checking the terminals.”
Larkin said, “Lock down the office network.”
Thomas nodded.
Then he looked at me again.
“Maybe we should also search her apartment.”
I went cold.
Not because I had stolen anything.
Because I did have something hidden there.
Three years of handwritten notes.
Names.
Accounts.
Transactions.
Insurance.
The kind of insurance a woman collects when she realizes she works for people who might someday decide she knows too much.
Larkin watched my face.
And for the first time that evening, I knew my disguise had slipped.
Not the secretary disguise.
The calm one.
He saw fear.
Thomas saw it too.
His smile widened.
“There,” he whispered.
“That’s the Penelope I recognize.”
Larkin stepped closer to me.
“Is there something in your apartment I need to know about?”
I didn’t answer.
Thomas laughed.
And at that exact moment, my phone vibrated inside my clutch.
Unknown number.
One message.
I opened it.
Four words appeared on the screen.
I KNOW WHAT YOU KEPT.
Below it was a photograph.
My apartment door.
Taken minutes earlier.
I lifted my head.
Larkin saw the color leave my face.
“What is it?”
I handed him the phone.
His expression turned lethal.
May you like
Because somebody had already gone looking for my secrets.
And whoever it was had reached my home before we did.
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