Chapter 28 · His Job

"Eighty thousand dollars," I said, and slapped the ledger down on his desk hard enough that his coffee jumped. "For 'property maintenance.' On a building we don't own."

Luca didn't even look up from his phone. "Good morning to you too, CFO."

"Don't." I put my finger on the line item like I was pinning it there. "I signed off on real numbers four months ago. I'm not signing off on whatever this is."

He finally looked at me then, and that was worse. Slow, like he had all day, like my anger was something he found mildly funny.

"You want to know what it's for."

"I want to know why it's disguised."

He stood up. Came around the desk. I held my ground because moving back would've meant something, and I wasn't giving him that. He stopped close enough that I could smell the espresso on his breath, close enough that the desk pressed cold against the back of my thighs.

"It's for a cleanup," he said. "A person who needed to become a smaller problem."

My stomach dropped anyway, even though I'd half expected it. "You mean—"

"I mean my job, Nora.