Chapter 14 · The Noon Audit

The audit hit the sixtieth floor at 12:04. Four minutes late.

I counted them off the elevator with my coffee going cold in my hand. Two forensic accountants. A compliance officer with a laptop bag chained to her wrist. A woman in gray carrying a litigation hold notice the way you carry a grenade with the pin already gone.

Twelve people. All of them Caspian's.

He came in last. Navy suit, hair still wet from the rain, wearing that smile he puts on right before he lies to a jury.

"Helena." He said my name like he was reading it off a headstone.

"Caspian."

"You're not on the audit committee."

"Neither are you."

"I'm a director."

"You're a director with a conflict of interest and a hell of a lot of nerve for a Tuesday."

His eyes dropped to my mouth. To the split in my bottom lip. Then they came back up, slow, and I watched him do the math and get every single number wrong.

Marcus hadn't moved from the desk. One hand flat on the polished wood, shirtsleeves rolled to the elbow, and he didn't look at the auditors at all.