At her.
Naomi frowned.
“Daniel?”
“Yeah?”
“Why are they looking at me?”
Daniel turned.
Before he could answer, the restaurant doors opened.
A tall woman in a charcoal suit entered.
She walked directly toward Table Twelve.
Victor stood immediately.
“Evelyn.”
The woman didn't shake his hand.
She looked at Chen Wei.
Then at Lin Qiang.
Then at Zhao Ming.
Finally, she looked at Naomi.
Her expression changed.
“Naomi?”
Naomi stepped out of the manager's office.
“Yes?”
The woman smiled.
“I thought you'd be here.”
Victor's face went pale.
Naomi looked confused.
“I'm sorry. Do I know you?”
The woman walked closer.
“No.”
She extended her hand.
“But you knew my father.”
Naomi stared at her.
“Your father?”
The woman nodded.
“Robert Carter.”
Naomi's breath caught.
Her father's name had not been spoken in this restaurant in years.
Victor looked between them.
“Wait.”
Evelyn turned toward him.
“Mr. Hale.”
Victor swallowed.
“How do you know her?”
The woman smiled.
“Because she is the reason my family still owns our company.”
The dining room seemed to disappear.
Naomi couldn't move.
And Victor Hale suddenly realized he had made a catastrophic mistake.
He had told the wrong woman to get out.
The Woman Behind the Uniform
Robert Carter had died seven years earlier.
Naomi still remembered the sound of rain against the hospital windows on the night he passed away.
Her father had been a quiet man.
He wasn't wealthy.
He didn't own a company.
He didn't have a private aircraft or luxury homes.
He had spent thirty-two years working in corporate finance.
But he had been exceptionally good at numbers.
He could look at a balance sheet and see things other people missed.
He could recognize hidden liabilities.
He could identify fraudulent transactions buried beneath layers of accounting language.
Naomi had inherited that ability.
She had never understood it as a talent.
To her, numbers simply made sense.
Her father used to joke that she could smell a bad investment from three rooms away.
When Naomi was sixteen, he began teaching her how to read financial statements.
Not because he expected her to become an accountant.
Because he wanted her to understand how the world worked.
“Money talks,” he had told her.
“But numbers tell the truth.”
Those words had stayed with her.
After Robert died, Naomi had stopped looking at numbers.
She had gone to college.
Dropped out after two years when her mother became sick.
Worked several jobs.
Eventually becoming a waitress.
She had never imagined that her father's lessons would bring her face-to-face with one of San Francisco's most powerful developers.
And yet here she was.
Standing in a restaurant while Evelyn Carter looked at her as though she had been searching for her for years.
Naomi stared at the woman.
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
“I'm sorry. I don't understand.”
Evelyn smiled.
“My father was Robert Carter.”
Naomi's heart began pounding.
“My father?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Not your biological father.”
Naomi froze.
“What?”
Victor stepped forward.
“Evelyn, perhaps this isn't the place—”
She turned toward him.
“You should probably stop talking.”
Victor stopped.
Evelyn looked back at Naomi.
“Your father worked for my grandfather's company before he died. He was the person who discovered that several senior executives had been moving money through shell companies.”
Naomi stared.
“I knew about the investigation.”
“You knew?”
“My father told me.”
Evelyn's expression softened.
“He didn't tell you everything.”
Naomi felt something cold move through her stomach.
“What didn't he tell me?”
Evelyn looked around the restaurant.
“Not here.”
Victor immediately spoke.
“Evelyn, we have business to discuss.”
She turned.
“We did.”
Victor blinked.
“Did?”
“You were supposed to receive an investment commitment tonight.”
His face changed.
“Supposed to?”
Chen Wei stood.
“I think we should leave.”
Victor's voice sharpened.
“Mr. Chen—”
“We have seen enough.”
The three executives stood.
Victor's chair scraped backward.
“No. Wait.”
Chen looked at him.
“You spent the entire evening trying to impress us.”
Victor swallowed.
“Yes.”
“You talked about your wealth.”
“Yes.”
“You talked about your political connections.”
Victor said nothing.
“You talked about your aircraft.”
Still nothing.
Chen pointed toward Naomi.
“But you never once asked the most important person in this restaurant a question.”
Victor looked at Naomi.
“What question?”
Chen smiled.
“Why she was hired.”
Victor stared.
Naomi did too.
Daniel, the restaurant manager, had come out of his office.
He looked terrified.
Evelyn walked toward Naomi.
“Come with me.”
Naomi shook her head.
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“I have work.”
Evelyn looked at Daniel.
“How much does she make?”
Daniel hesitated.
Naomi whispered, “Evelyn.”
But Evelyn continued.
“How much?”
Daniel gave the number.
Evelyn's expression darkened.
Then she looked at Naomi.
“My father would have been furious.”
Naomi smiled sadly.
“He wouldn't have wanted me to take charity.”
“This isn't charity.”
“What is it?”
“An offer.”
Evelyn reached into her bag and removed a thin folder.
She handed it to Naomi.
“Your father left instructions.”
Naomi stared at the folder.
“Instructions for what?”
“You.”
Naomi opened it.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
Her father's handwriting.
Her hands began shaking.
Naomi read the first line.
If you're reading this, then I've failed to explain what I should have explained years ago.
Her vision blurred.
She looked up.
“When did he write this?”
“Three weeks before he died.”
“Why didn't you give it to me?”
“Because I didn't know where you were.”
Naomi looked at Evelyn.
“I've been here.”
“We didn't know.”
Victor stood several feet away.
For once, he was silent.
Naomi continued reading.
Naomi, there are people who believe power belongs to those who own the building. It doesn't.
She swallowed.
Power belongs to the person who understands what everyone else is afraid to say.
Her breathing became uneven.
Evelyn watched her.
“He knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That one day you would have to decide whether to remain invisible or step forward.”
Naomi closed the letter.
“I don't want power.”
Evelyn smiled.
“Neither did your father.”
She looked toward Victor.
“But sometimes power finds you.”
Victor finally spoke.
“This is ridiculous.”
Everyone turned.
He straightened his jacket.
“I don't know what game you're playing, Evelyn, but I have a contract waiting for signatures.”
Evelyn's expression became cold.
“No, you don't.”
“What?”
“The investment agreement was conditional.”
Victor stared.
“Conditional on what?”
“Due diligence.”
Victor's face drained of color.
“We completed due diligence.”
“No.”
Evelyn looked at Chen.
“They did not.”
Chen shook his head.
“We requested additional documentation.”
Victor turned toward his legal adviser.
“What documentation?”