Chapter 406

[ 1,019 words ]

Julian’s POV

“Vesper,” I repeated. “The company shares the family’s name p>

“It does,” Marcus said. “Which could mean nothing or could mean everything, depending on who actually built this company and what they intended by naming it after themselves p>

“Find out everything you can about Noah Vesper before the gala,” I said. “If he is close enough to the CEO to hold a vice president title at a company this secretive, he may be the closest thing we have to a direct line to whoever is actually running it p>

“I am already on it,” Marcus said. “I should have something before the end of the week p>

I ended the call and sat back in my chair, looking out at the city beyond my window, the same skyline that had been quietly hiding an enemy from this family for over a decade, apparently confident enough now to send engraved invitations to the very people he had spent years watching from the shadows.

Katia found me there an hour later, a plate of food in her hands that I suspected was more about checking on me than actual hunger on either of our parts.

“You have not eaten,” she said, setting the plate down on my desk.

“I have been thinking,” I said.

“About Elliot,” she said. It was not a question.

“About all of it,” I said. “About how confident a man must be to finally step out of hiding after this long, to send invitations under a company that shares his own family’s name, hidden in plain sight the way he apparently prefers to operate. That kind of confidence usually means he believes he has already won something, even before the gala actually happens p>

Katia sat down in the chair across from my desk, her hand resting protectively over the small, still barely visible curve of her stomach.

“Or it means he is finally tired of waiting,” she said. “A decade of patience is a long time to carry a grievance in silence. Perhaps he simply wants to be seen now, wants Grandma Celeste and you and Gail to finally understand exactly who has been standing behind everything that has happened to this family this year p>

I considered that.

“Either way,” I said, “we walk into that gala with our eyes open. No assumptions. No mistakes. If it is him, I want to know before he has the chance to reveal himself on his own terms p>

“And if we cannot find out beforehand,” Katia said, “we watch every face in that room the moment the CEO finally steps forward, and we do not let a single reaction go unnoticed p>

I reached across the desk and took her hand.

“Together,” I said.

“Together,” she agreed.

Delia’s POV

Noah Vesper’s office sat on the top floor of the same glass building. The desk was black stone. The chairs were low enough that anyone sitting across from him had to look up. I noticed that the second I walked in.

He did not stand when I entered. He pointed at the chair opposite him with two fingers.

“Sit p>

I sat and placed the printed guest list and seating chart on the desk between us and kept my back straight.

Noah picked up the first page and scanned it in silence. His eyes moved slowly. When he reached the top of the list, he stopped.

“Windsor, Julian, and Katia,” he read aloud. “Main table. Center seats p>

He looked up at me.

“Explain p>

“They are the most powerful couple in the city right now,” I said. “Every donor on this list watches what the Windsors do. If they attend and sit anywhere else, people will assume Vesper Group is either afraid of them or not important enough to keep them close. Either way, it hurts the launch p>

Noah set the page down.

“You spent two years pretending to be his wife. The entire city watched that fall apart in public. And now you are the one placing him and his real wife in the seats of honor p>

I met his eyes.

“Yes p>

“Does that bother you p>

“It is business p>

“That is not what I asked p>

I held his gaze. “Yes. It bothers me. I still put them there because the alternative is worse for this event and worse for me p>

Noah leaned back in his chair. He studied me the way someone studies a problem that might still be useful.

“You need this job,” he said. “You need the money and you need the doors it opens. That means you do not get to protect your pride when it conflicts with the work. If I tell you the Windsors sit at the main table, they sit at the main table. If I tell you that you will be the one to greet them at the door, you will greet them at the door. Clear p>

Heat crawled up the back of my neck.

“Clear p>

“Say it properly p>

I kept my voice even. “I will place the Windsors at the main table, and I will greet them when they arrive p>

Noah nodded once, satisfied. He turned the next page.

“Sterling, Tessa. Why is she here p>

“She is one of the most connected racers in the city. Keeping her inside the room is safer than leaving her outside inventing stories p>

“And your parents p>

“They still carry the Kensington name. Leaving them off would start questions I do not want attached to this gala p>

Noah flipped through the rest of the list without speaking. When he finished he set the papers down and looked at me again.

“You are good at this,” he said. “You know where every important body in this city belongs. That is why Adrian hired you. It is also why I am still deciding whether keeping you is worth the noise that follows you p>

I tilted my head. “The noise is already public. It does not get louder because I am organizing a seating chart p>

“It gets louder if you make a scene the night of the event p>

“I will not make a scene p>

“You made several very public scenes over the last month p>

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