A

ore the security head cleared his throat, visibly uncomfortable at being

ly. "The partners on the call. T

t leave mine. "Gi

line for tomorrow's signing

the security head retreated without further argument,

luster of guests still whispering behind raised phones, his hand light

tly what you know about how tonight happened," he said.

fort to steady it. "My aunt asked me to help with the guest

r au

rlier surfacing with new, horrifying clarity. "Before the blackout, I saw her near the east staircase. Talking to a

sharpened. "What

d official. Stamped, maybe. I couldn't

our identification suddenl

panic threading through my voice again. "I have my own

. "Convincing enough to fool my own security team under pressure, timed exactly to a blackout that conveniently di

he room had spent the last ten minutes calling me by a s

hat could they possibly gain from makin

front of two hundred witnesses and a room full of international investors currently

t happe

omething calculating and unreadab

circling for any excuse to back out of this deal, and hope whoever orchestrated tonight doesn't simply try again with more success next time." He paused.

ou," I said, disbelief coloring my voice. "To a

learly has resources and reach I don't yet understand, and mine, because that deal doesn't simply fund my next projec

d yet, weighing the terrifying strangeness of his proposal against the very r

"Tell him something's happened, before he se

say to anyone right now, including him. If someone inside your own fa

on sent ice

berately," I said. "Not simply s

right before a convenient blackout, then fails to correct a very public case of mistaken identi

his conclusion settling uncomfortably into

appearing at the edge of our conversation, his expression tight

t, something almost like an apology f

porarily, while I sort out the truth. Or I correct this now, a

firm he'd spent thirty years building hanging by threads Samira had made very clear she control

asting strange and heavy i

aybe, or simple satisfaction at securing exact

embling the composed, confident billionaire the cameras expected to see. "I promis

letting him lead me back into a room full of strangers who now beli

mpse of Samira watching the entire scene unfold with an expressi

is" actually was, my aunt had w

bsolutely n