Chapter 2

“I’m not your girlfriend,” I told Ethan. “That money was for keeping quiet, not for buying my time.”

He offered a weekly arrangement. I named my rate, added a weekend surcharge, and told him I’d invoice for every hour. He agreed before his friends could talk him out of it.

On Monday, he showed up at my apartment with a designer dress and two assistants.

“I need you somewhere.”

“That wasn’t in the contract.”

“Ten times your rate.”

“Confidentiality costs extra. Deposit first.”

He paid. The car took us to Cole Holdings, where a board meeting was underway. Ethan seated me in a corner and told me to stay quiet.

The executives were discussing a plan to buy a small construction company, Redwood Development, at a distressed price. Their finance chief rushed past a set of suspicious numbers.

I raised my hand.

“The third-quarter cash flow doesn’t match the construction assets,” I said. “There’s money moving through a shell vendor. Who’s getting paid?”

The finance chief called me uninformed. I walked to the screen and pointed out three mismatched entries. The room fell silent.

Ethan ordered an internal audit. Then he asked how I’d noticed.

“Accounting degree. Top of my class.”

“You left that out.”

“You never asked.”