Chapter 2 - DINNER WITH THE ENEMY
Le Bernardin was the kind of restaurant where nobody raised a voice because wealth had already paid for silence.
Naomi arrived at seven fifty-eight.
Alone.
At least technically.
She had spotted Roman’s black sedan three blocks away and another familiar face pretending to read a newspaper near the entrance. Dominic had ignored her instructions.
Naturally.
The hostess led Naomi to a private table near the back.
The man waiting there stood.
Jinaro Varga was not what she expected.
No scar.
No obvious bodyguards.
No vulgar jewelry.
He was fifty, silver at the temples, with an elegant navy suit and the smooth manners of a university president who had never personally threatened anyone because other people found it more efficient to volunteer.
“Ms. Callahan.”
“Mr. Varga.”
“You came.”
“You knew I would.”
“I hoped.”
He pulled out her chair.
She sat without thanking him.
A bottle of wine waited.
Naomi turned her glass upside down.
Varga smiled.
“Dominic trains suspicion well.”
“Dominic doesn’t train me.”
“No. That has always been his problem with you.”
She looked at him.
“Let’s skip the anthropological observations. You mentioned Delaware.”
Varga sat.
A waiter appeared.
Varga ordered for himself.
Naomi ordered sparkling water.
When they were alone again, he folded his hands.
“The company you dissolved two weeks ago was not compromised by accident.”
“I assumed sabotage.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Did Dominic?”
“Ask him.”
Varga smiled.
“I have. For years. He rarely answers.”
“Something we agree on.”
The smile widened.
“You see? This is why I wanted to meet you.”
“You threatened my brother.”
“I did no such thing.”
“You knew about his debt.”
“Everyone knew.”
Her pulse changed.
“Explain.”
“Five years ago, Leo Callahan owed ninety thousand dollars to a bookmaker affiliated with the Valente organization.”
“I’m familiar with the story.”
“Are you familiar with why the bookmaker extended that much credit to a twenty-three-year-old barista with no assets?”
Naomi’s fingers tightened around the water glass.
“People who take bets are not famous for lending standards.”
“True. But ninety thousand?”
She said nothing.
Varga leaned back.
“Leo was allowed to drown because someone had already noticed you.”
Naomi stared at him.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“You were an auditor at Crenshaw & Holt.”
“So?”
“You found a discrepancy in a shipping client’s revenue recognition.”
Her stomach tightened.
She remembered.
A regional freight company.
Numbers that moved strangely between quarters.
She had flagged them.
Her senior manager had removed the note.
Two weeks later the client changed firms.
“The freight company belonged to Valente through three intermediaries,” Varga said.
“That proves nothing.”
“Dominic read your memo.”
Naomi went very still.
Varga watched her reaction with satisfaction.
“He learned your name before Leo placed his first bet.”
“No.”
“Ask him.”
“What exactly are you claiming?”
“That your brother’s debt was bait.”
The room seemed too warm.
Naomi heard cutlery somewhere behind her.
A glass touching a plate.
The ordinary world continuing.
Varga continued.
“Dominic needed someone who could modernize the financial side of his organization. His older accountants were loyal, but they thought encryption was something used by spies and bank reconciliation was an annual event.”
Despite herself, Naomi almost laughed.
The description was accurate.
“He could have hired me.”
“You would have said no.”
“Yes.”
“So he created a reason you couldn’t.”
Her face went cold.
Varga slid an envelope across the table.
Naomi did not touch it.
“What is that?”
“Copies of credit extensions authorized by one of Dominic’s bookmakers. Instructions not to cut Leo off.”
She opened the envelope.
The documents looked real.
That meant nothing.
She had made real-looking documents for a living.
Still, there was a notation.
ALLOW CONTINUATION.
Initials.
R.H.
Roman Hayes.
Naomi’s throat tightened.
“Could be forged.”
“Of course.”
“Probably is.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about.”
She closed the envelope.
“What do you want?”
“Your professional services.”
“No.”
“You didn’t ask the terms.”
“No.”
“Three million dollars. Clean. Legitimate consulting arrangement through a European investment group.”
“No.”
Varga studied her.
“You’re loyal.”
“To competence.”
“Dominic.”
“To competence.”
He smiled.
“Are you sleeping with him?”
Naomi’s expression did not change.
“Do you always negotiate like a twelve-year-old?”
“I’m assessing conflicts.”
“My conflict is that you bore me.”
“That’s not what I hear.”
Her patience thinned.
“What do you hear?”
“That you’re the only person allowed to challenge him in meetings. That he remembers what you drink. That he removed a capo named Belasco for making a remark about your legs.”
Naomi blinked.
“What?”
“Ah.”
Varga’s smile turned almost kind.
“He didn’t tell you that either.”
“Belasco moved to Florida.”
“Yes.”
“I assumed taxes.”
“Dominic persuaded him Florida was healthier.”
Naomi looked toward the entrance.
Roman’s man was no longer visible.
That bothered her.
Varga leaned forward.
“Dominic does not love like ordinary men.”
She hated the sentence immediately.
“I didn’t ask.”
“He acquires. Secures. Contains. He will call it protection until you can no longer distinguish safety from ownership.”
Naomi stared at him.
“And you’re warning me out of concern?”
“No.”
At least that was honest.
“I’m warning you because a woman who understands the cage may eventually open it from the inside.”
Their food arrived.
Neither touched it.
Naomi said, “The Delaware leak.”
“One of Dominic’s people.”
“Who?”
“Not yet.”
“Then this meeting is over.”
Varga sipped his wine.
“Your brother flew into New York this afternoon.”
Naomi’s body went rigid.
“What?”
“Flight from Seattle. Landed at JFK at four twenty.”
She pulled out her phone.
Three missed calls from Leo.
How had she missed them?
Silent mode.
A voicemail.
She stood.
Varga did not.
“Sit down.”
“Go to hell.”
“Naomi.”
His voice changed.
For the first time, the polished layer cracked.
“If Dominic learns Leo is here before you understand why, somebody will die.”
She stared at him.
“Why is he here?”
“Because someone sent him proof that his debt had been engineered.”
Naomi’s mouth went dry.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
That, she believed.
Varga looked toward the front.
“And because he thinks you ruined your life to save him.”
“He didn’t know?”
“Apparently not.”
Naomi grabbed her coat.
A man stepped into her path.
Not restaurant staff.
Varga said calmly, “I am not holding you.”
“Tell him.”
The man moved.
Naomi walked out.
Roman was waiting across the street.
She crossed against the light.
He opened the door.
“Where is Dominic?”
“Harbor office.”
“Take me there.”
Roman started driving.
Naomi held the envelope in her lap.
For six blocks, she said nothing.
Then:
“Did you authorize Leo’s credit extension five years ago?”
Roman’s eyes met hers in the mirror.
Too long.
That was answer enough.
Naomi’s voice went quiet.
“Pull over.”
“Naomi.”
“Pull over.”
“I can explain.”
“Then explain before I open the door at forty miles an hour.”
Roman cursed softly.
“Dominic asked me to keep the bookmaker from escalating.”
“Why?”
“He’d read one of your audit memos.”
The city blurred outside.
Naomi felt suddenly detached from her own body.
“So Varga told the truth.”
“Not all of it.”
“Did Dominic create the debt?”
“No.”
“Did he let it grow?”
Roman’s silence was worse.
“Roman.”
“He knew Leo was gambling. He knew the bookmaker would eventually come looking for family.”
“And he waited.”
“He wanted leverage to recruit you.”
Naomi’s laugh came out broken.
“Recruit.”
“That was the original plan.”
“Original?”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“Then he met you.”
She stared at the back of his head.
“Do not romanticize this for him.”
“I’m not.”
“You’re doing it badly.”
Roman pulled the car to the curb.
Naomi did not get out.
“Why did he erase the debt?”
“Because you fixed the books.”
“That was the deal.”
“No.”
Roman looked at her through the mirror.
“The deal was supposed to be six months of work.”
Naomi went still.
“What?”
“He cleared Leo after nine days.”
She remembered Dominic sliding a stamped note across the table.
PAID.
She had assumed she had earned it.
Roman continued.
“He told everyone you were free to leave.”
“But nobody told me.”
“You knew.”
“No. I knew the debt was paid. I didn’t know the work was supposed to end.”
Roman looked uncomfortable.
“You kept coming back.”
Naomi stared out the window.
Five years.
Five years of believing the story began with Leo’s disaster.
It had begun earlier.
“Take me to Dominic.”
Roman restarted the car.
At the harbor office, Naomi walked past security without slowing.
Dominic stood behind his desk.
One look at her face and he dismissed everyone.
Roman remained near the door.
Naomi threw the envelope onto the desk.
Dominic glanced down.
Then at Roman.
Roman said, “She knows.”
Dominic’s face became unreadable.
Naomi’s voice shook once.
“Did you engineer my brother’s debt?”
“No.”
“Did you let it grow because you wanted me?”
“For the business.”
“Answer the question I asked.”
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
The honesty hurt more than denial.
Naomi nodded slowly.
“Five years.”
“Naomi—”
“Five years you let me believe I came to you.”
“You did.”
“After you built the road.”
“I stopped it.”
“After I walked in.”
“Yes.”
She laughed.
It sounded terrible.
“You protected me from a trap you helped set and expected me to call it loyalty.”
“I expected nothing.”
“Liar.”
Dominic flinched.
Barely.
But she saw it.
“Where is Leo?” he asked.
“Don’t.”
“Varga knows he’s in New York.”
“I said don’t.”
“He may be in danger.”
“And you don’t get to use danger as a way back into control.”
Dominic went silent.
Naomi took her access card from her purse.
Set it on his desk.
His eyes dropped to it.
“No.”
It was the first word he had spoken that sounded afraid.
Naomi swallowed.
“I quit.”
“Naomi.”
“I quit.”
“You can’t walk out tonight.”
“Watch me.”
“Varga—”
“I know about Varga.”
“You don’t know enough.”
“Then I’ll learn.”
Dominic came around the desk.
She stepped back.
He stopped immediately.
That made leaving harder.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
Naomi stared.
Dominic Valente apologized like a man speaking a foreign language he had learned for one sentence.
“I know.”
That surprised him.
“And it doesn’t fix it.”
His face closed.
“I know.”
She turned.
At the door, he said, “Are you going to him?”
Naomi looked back.
“Varga?”
His jaw tightened.
“Anyone.”
Despite everything, she almost smiled.
“Are you jealous?”
Roman closed his eyes.
Dominic did not answer quickly this time.
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then he said:
“No. Jealousy is fear that someone can take what belongs to you.”
Naomi’s pulse stopped.
“You never belonged to me.”
His voice lowered.
“That is the problem.”
Even Roman looked stunned.
Dominic continued.
“I want you to choose me. And I have spent five years making sure you had every reason not to.”
Naomi could not speak.
May you like
For once, neither could anyone else.
She left anyway.
