Chapter 7 - The Fake Email
The fake email changed the shape of the problem.
Lauren’s behavior was still hers. Nobody forced her to humiliate me.
But someone had manipulated the meeting.
Ethan called his chief of staff while Charles contacted his information-security team.
Within an hour, we learned the spoofed domain had been registered three weeks earlier.
The account had sent only four messages.
All to Pierce Wealth.
All about us.
“Who benefits?” Ethan asked.
Charles looked uncomfortable.
“Potentially another advisory firm.”
“Or someone inside yours,” I said.
He didn’t argue.
That night, after the restaurant closed, I sat at the bar with a mug of coffee while Jenna finished her side work.
She hesitated near me.
“Ms. Bennett?”
“Maya.”
She glanced toward the door. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell anyone what that woman did earlier.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“She kept asking if I knew who you were.”
I looked up.
“What exactly did she ask?”
Jenna thought for a moment.
“She said, ‘Does Maya actually work here, or is she just playing owner?’ Then she asked whether you were usually on the floor during investor dinners.”
That was different from casual cruelty.
Lauren had been checking my habits.
“Anything else?”
Jenna nodded slowly.
“She asked where the private dining cameras were.”
My coffee went untouched.
“Why?”
“She said she hated being filmed while eating.”
I stood.
Private Dining Room Two was where Ethan’s committee meeting had originally been scheduled.
We had moved it into the main room at the last minute because a refrigeration repair had delayed service setup.
I called Tasha.
“Pull footage from the private hallway.”
Ten minutes later we watched Lauren arrive at 11:26 a.m.
At 11:31, she walked toward Private Dining Room Two.
At 11:33, another person entered from the employee corridor.
May you like
He wore one of our kitchen jackets.
But he didn’t work for us.
