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Stephanie’s harsh expression didn’t soften. If Alex had taught her protege anything, it was how to be unreadable.

They’d kill at poker.

“Alex doesn’t trust people easily,” Stephanie decided after a beat. Her tense body reflected her discomfort at talking about Alex with her, or maybe it was the fact that it was a personal subject. “I can’t say I see what makes you so trustworthy,” she tightened her jaw “no o ense.”

Charlotte smiled. “None taken. I was once told I had shifty eyes,” she joked.

Stephanie didn’t break. “What’s done is done,” she said, resigning herself to her new reality. “But I’ll tell you this.

Alex is not someone you want to fuck with. If you so much as think about crossing her, ever, she will make sure you live to regret it. And I’ll never take my eyes o you. You try too hard and I’m not sure why.”

With her threat finished, Stephanie pushed the car door open and slammed it behind her. Speechless, Charlotte watched her walk toward Ataraxia’s main entrance.

It had been a mistake not to befriend her too, she could see that now. She’d been so concerned with enchanting Alex that she didn’t think about currying favor with her right-hand woman too.

That would have been too obvious , she told herself. She and Alex had gotten close for romantic reasons. What would that leave for her and Stephanie? Friendship wasn’t possible considering the woman rarely spoke to anyone. There was no opening for organic conversation. Seeking her out would have definitely been trying too hard.

She’s just trying to get in your head. Maybe she’s testing you.

It was possible that Stephanie’s confrontation had been an experiment. A guilty person might try and win her over, and even though Charlotte was guilty as sin, she’d have to keep playing it the way she had from the beginning.

Charlotte wondered if Stephanie had told Alex she didn’t trust her. Doubtless she had. If it were Charlotte, there’s no way she’d keep her mouth shut about it. Not with so much at stake. Guilt twisted her guts and made her regret the heavy lunch choice.

It’s almost over , she told herself.

In another month or so, she’d probably see everything there was to see and have more than enough to trade for a ticket to Quantico for her and a huge promotion for Jayson.

She just had to hold out a little longer.

CHAPTER 31

“IS this the guy you met at the Thatcher’s yacht party?”

Charlotte asked, looking down at the handwritten notes before they went into the shredder.

“One and the same,” Alex replied as she emerged from her o ce bathroom where she’d been touching up her makeup.

“That was like two months ago,” Charlotte noted after thinking back to early October when they’d attended the fancy shindig. “He only just reached out to you?”

Alex slipped on the black blazer hanging on the back of the chair. Charlotte hated seeing her sleeve of tattoos disappear. It marked the end of their private time together.

Although on this occasion she was getting to see what meeting a prospective client was like.

“No, he expressed interest in my services then.” She sat behind her desk, the mask Alexandra Leon fully in place.

“But I’ve only just completed my initial vetting process.”

Charlotte immediately thought of Jayson. Had his paranoia been well-founded? “What does that entail? What are you looking for?”

Alex tipped back in her chair. “A few things. Primarily, I need to ensure that he’s not working for the police. I have a private investigator on retainer. He watches him for a while.

Checks his phone records. Tracks his movements.”

Charlotte forced herself not to react. “Like, what? A plant?” She resisted the urge to ask whether she’d been vetted in the same way.

Alex laughed. “It’s happened twice. A few times I’ve also found people working for competitors.”

Grateful for a place to put her surprise, Charlotte raised her eyebrows. “You have competitors?”