“I did not ask you.”
The words landed with more force than Kyle expected.
I pushed myself upright using the edge of a console table.
“Yes,” I said.
“But first I want witnesses.”
Celia entered without hesitation.
Martin followed.
Thalia took a step backward.
Kyle stared at them.
“What exactly is going on?”
Celia opened her portfolio.
“Mr.
Pierce, certain protections associated with your corporate credit facilities were revoked tonight.”
Kyle laughed once.
“That makes no sense.
Those facilities are locked for another eighteen months.”
“Only while the guarantor remains in place.”
His face changed.
“What guarantor?”
Celia looked at me.
Then back at him.
“Halston Family Capital.”
Kyle blinked.
I watched him search through years of assumptions in real time.
The dinners.
The sudden approvals.
The bank chairmen who returned his calls.
The investors who appeared after our engagement.
The development deal that had survived after everyone expected it to fail.
He looked at me.
“No.”
Martin spoke quietly.
“Yes.”
Thalia frowned.
“I don’t understand.
What does that have to do with her?”
Nobody answered immediately.
That frightened her more than any explanation could have.
Kyle turned toward me.
“Who is your father?”
There it was.
The question he should have asked years earlier.
I bent carefully and picked up the envelope I had shown him.
“My father is Adrian Halston.”
Kyle’s mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Adrian Halston’s name rarely appeared publicly, but Kyle knew it.
Anyone who had ever sought private financing above a certain level knew it.
His company had spent years trying to attract investors connected to the Halston network.
He had never realized he had been sleeping beside the man’s daughter.
Thalia gave a nervous laugh.
“That’s ridiculous.”
Martin looked at her.
“You’re wearing a bracelet purchased from an account belonging to a Halston family trust.”
Her hand dropped from her wrist immediately.
Kyle turned on her.
