Naomi hesitated.
“I know enough.”
Victor frowned.
“What are you two talking about?”
Henry answered in English.
“The land acquisition.”
Victor leaned back.
“No problem.”
Henry looked at him.
“The parcels aren't cleared.”
“They will be.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
“How soon?”
Victor's confidence faltered.
“Within the month.”
Henry said nothing.
Naomi continued pouring tea.
But something bothered her.
She had worked in acquisitions.
“Within the month” was not an answer.
Especially not when the project involved hundreds of millions of dollars.
Henry apparently felt the same.
He asked Naomi quietly in Mandarin, “Do you know anything about Harbor Point?”
Naomi looked at Victor.
Then at Henry.
“No.”
Henry nodded.
“Good.”
Victor suddenly stood.
“Naomi.”
She looked at him.
“I need you to leave the table.”
Henry interrupted.
“She can stay.”
Victor's jaw tightened.
“This is a private business conversation.”
Henry replied calmly.
“Then perhaps you should have one.”
The other businessmen looked down.
Victor sat again.
Naomi stepped away.
But as she walked toward another table, she noticed Victor watching her.
Not with contempt anymore.
With suspicion.
The Name on the File
At 11:45 p.m., the restaurant began closing.
Naomi removed her apron and placed it inside her locker.
She was exhausted.
But she couldn't stop thinking about Harbor Point.
She had seen the project mentioned in the news.
A waterfront development.
Luxury apartments.
Technology offices.
A marina.
Restaurants.
A public promenade.
Victor Hale's name appeared beside it.
She had assumed it was simply another major development project.
Now she wasn't sure.
Her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
Naomi answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a man's voice.
“You should stay away from Victor Hale.”
Naomi froze.
“Who is this?”
“Someone who knows what happens when people ask too many questions.”
The call ended.
Naomi stared at her phone.
She immediately called the number back.
It was unavailable.
She looked around the empty staff room.
The restaurant suddenly felt different.
The next morning, Naomi searched the Harbor Point project from her apartment.
She found planning documents.
Investor presentations.
Environmental filings.
Property maps.
Everything looked normal.
Almost too normal.
She opened the acquisition records.
Three parcels were listed as pending.
She recognized one address.
It belonged to an elderly couple whose property had been in their family for decades.
Naomi frowned.
Then she found something else.
A subsidiary company.
Hale Waterfront Development LLC.
She searched its directors.
Victor Hale.
Two lawyers.
And a holding company registered in Delaware.
Naomi opened the company's records.
One name appeared as a consultant.
Marcus Reed.
Naomi knew that name.
Marcus Reed had once been a senior executive at the investment firm where she had worked.
He had disappeared from the industry after a regulatory investigation.
Naomi stared at the screen.
Then she noticed the date.
Marcus Reed had become a consultant to Victor Hale's company only three weeks before the final financing round.
Her phone rang.
It was Henry Lin.
“Naomi?”
“Yes.”
“I hope I'm not disturbing you.”
“No.”
“I need to ask you something.”
“About Harbor Point?”
Silence.
Then Henry said:
“So you already know.”
Henry's Offer
They met at a quiet café the next morning.
Henry arrived without assistants.
Without security.
Without the expensive entourage Naomi had expected.
He sat across from her and placed a folder on the table.
“I want to be clear,” he said.
“About what?”
“I am not asking you to investigate Victor.”
Naomi smiled slightly.
“Then why did you bring a folder?”
Henry smiled.
“Because you are going to investigate him anyway.”
Naomi opened the folder.
Inside were financial summaries.
Property acquisition documents.
Construction estimates.
A list of investors.
And a single page marked in red.
Naomi read it twice.
“The numbers don't work.”
Henry nodded.
“That is what I think.”
“The projected cost is understated.”
“Yes.”
“By at least two hundred million.”
“Yes.”
“And the expected return assumes land values that haven't been established.”
“Yes.”
Naomi looked up.
“Why would you consider investing?”
“We won't.”
She paused.
“What?”
Henry leaned back.
“That is why I asked to meet you.”
Naomi studied the folder.
“So Victor knows you are pulling out?”
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to know what else he has hidden.”
Naomi closed the folder.
“You think he's committing fraud?”
Henry shook his head.
“I think there are discrepancies.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
“No.”
Henry's expression became serious.
“And I don't accuse people without evidence.”
Naomi nodded.
He pushed another document toward her.
It was an old financial report.
A company she recognized immediately.
“That's the firm I used to work for.”
Henry nodded.
“Marcus Reed was there.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know him?”
“Yes.”
“Was he good?”
Naomi thought carefully.
“He was brilliant.”
Henry waited.
“And?”
“He was also willing to bend rules.”
Henry nodded.
“That is what I was told.”
Naomi looked at him.
“Why me?”
Henry smiled.
“Because you saw the problem without being paid to look for it.”
Naomi shook her head.
“I'm a waitress.”
Henry replied quietly.
“You're a woman with six years of experience pretending she doesn't know exactly how dangerous powerful men can be.”
Naomi looked down.
He was right.
But there was another reason.
She had spent years avoiding this world.
She had no desire to return.