TAKE YOUR HAND OFF HER

Three weeks before the foundation gala, Celeste invited Nora to lunch.

The restaurant occupied the top floor of a private club where members paid more each year than Nora’s mother had earned in a decade.

Celeste had already ordered.

“Grant tells me you’re adapting well to your new position.”

“I’m learning.”

“Learning what?”

“How the company operates.”

Celeste lifted her teacup.

“That answer could mean many things.”

“I assume that’s why you asked the question.”

Celeste smiled.

The meal arrived beneath silver covers. Nora barely touched hers.

After several minutes of harmless conversation, Celeste placed a cream envelope beside Nora’s plate.

Inside was an invitation to the private dinner at Grant’s penthouse after the foundation gala.

Only twelve guests were listed.

Nora was the thirteenth.

“Why am I invited?”

“Grant requested you.”

“For financial advice?”

“For entertainment, perhaps.”

Nora’s fingers tightened against the invitation.

Celeste noticed.

“My son enjoys testing people,” she said.

“Is that what you call it?”

“What would you call it?”

“Cruelty.”

Celeste rested her hands on the table.

“When Grant was nine, another boy pushed him into a swimming pool. Grant could not swim. He nearly drowned while adults laughed because they believed he was pretending.”

Nora waited.

“Afterward,” Celeste continued, “I told him never to enter a room without knowing who controlled it.”

“That explains his fear. It doesn’t excuse what he became.”

“I am not asking for your forgiveness.”

“Then why tell me?”

“Because you mistake his behavior for carelessness. It is not. Grant humiliates people to measure them. Anger reveals secrets. Fear reveals loyalties.”

“And what does cruelty reveal?”

“Power.”

Nora looked at the invitation again.

“Why are you really inviting me?”

Celeste’s gaze remained steady.

“Because someone inside the company is copying information.”

Nora allowed surprise to cross her face.

“Do you think it’s me?”

“I think you are intelligent enough to know what happens to disloyal people.”

“Is that a threat?”

“No. Advice.”

The same word Grant had used.

Nora folded the invitation and placed it inside her handbag.

“I’ll attend.”

Celeste leaned back.

“I expected you would.”

After lunch, Nora walked six blocks before entering a department store. She moved through three floors, changed elevators twice, and exited through a side entrance.

Evelyn waited in a delivery van.

“She knows there’s a source,” Nora said.

“She may be inviting you to confirm her suspicion.”

“Or to force a confession.”

“We cancel.”

“No.”

“This is not a discussion.”

“It has to happen at the penthouse. Grant and Celeste will both be there. The hidden ledger is stored on Grant’s private server.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I saw the security logs. The remote connection activates from his penthouse every Sunday night.”

Evelyn’s jaw tightened.

Nora continued.

“The private dinner is on Sunday.”

“Even with probable cause, we may not get a search warrant before the gala.”

“Then get them to confess.”

“That is not as simple as television makes it appear.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”

Evelyn opened a metal case containing recording devices, emergency transmitters, and a small camera.

“If you enter that penthouse, you follow the plan exactly. You do not provoke Grant. You do not search rooms. You leave the moment we tell you.”

“How will you get inside?”

“The guest list includes financial consultant Evelyn Shaw.”

Nora stared at her.

“You’re attending?”

“Grant has never seen me.”

“Celeste might have researched federal agents.”

“My public employment record lists a private compliance firm. The agency built the identity six years ago.”

“You’ve used it before?”

“Yes.”

“Doing what?”

“Things I can’t discuss.”

Nora laughed without humor.

“There she is. The sister who answers every personal question with classified information.”

Evelyn closed the case.

“The dinner is not an opportunity to repair our relationship.”

“No. It’s an opportunity to arrest the people who stole seventy-three million dollars.”

“We still need direct evidence.”

Nora removed the cream invitation.

“Celeste believes fear reveals loyalties.”

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking we should let her believe I’m afraid.”

Nora explained her idea.

She would act increasingly nervous during the final weeks. She would allow Grant to catch her reviewing incomplete files. She would suggest that she wanted money in exchange for silence.

If the Mercers believed Nora was corrupt, they might try to purchase her loyalty.

The payment itself could connect them to the hidden accounts.

Evelyn hated the plan.

Ruiz hated it more.

But the prosecutor approved a limited version.

Nora could discuss compensation only if Grant raised the subject first. She could not demand money or encourage additional crimes.

As Nora left the van, Evelyn caught her hand.

“You don’t have to prove you’re brave.”

Nora looked down at their joined hands.

“I’m not doing this to prove anything.”

“Then why?”

“Because people like the Mercers survive by making everyone believe resistance is impossible.”