Chapter 4 · Banquet on Fire

"You understood that?" Jae's hand locks around my wrist before I even finish turning.

No charm in his voice now. None of the boardroom smile he wears for investors. Just flat and cold, like he's reading a violation off a clipboard.

"Understood what," I say, but the ledger's still open in my other hand and his eyes drop to it before I can close the cover.

"That." His jaw tightens. "Downstairs. The call. You froze the second I switched to Korean."

"Maybe I froze because a man grabbed my arm in a service corridor."

"Lila." First time he's used my name like it costs him something. "How much."

I yank my wrist back. He lets go, but his eyes don't. They're on the ledger now, on the corner of a page where ink's gone brown with age. I snap it shut against my chest before the name shows all the way.

"I heard you sell a hotel that isn't yours to sell," I say. "That's how much."

Something moves behind his face — not fear, not yet, more like recalculation.