“I don’t know.”
It was the first answer she gave him that night without certainty.
Aaron seemed to respect it more than the confident ones.
Everly turned another page.
“Marcus said he didn’t draft it personally.”
“He also said it was standard language.”
“Both statements could be true.”
Aaron’s gaze sharpened.
“He could have received the draft from the other side and failed to challenge it.”
“Or?”
“Or he knew exactly what it did and wanted distance from authorship.”
Aaron picked up Marcus’s abandoned briefcase from beneath the table.
It was locked.
He looked toward the door.
One of his men entered at once.
“Open it.”
The man took the case without comment and left.
Everly stared after him.
Aaron noticed.
“You disapprove.”
“I’m considering whether I’m now involved in several felonies.”
“You read a contract.”
“I watched you point a gun at a lawyer.”
“You also kept correcting him.”
“He was wrong.”
“That may be the most dangerous reason you’ve given tonight.”
Everly pushed back from the table.
“I should go.”
Aaron did not stop her.
Instead, he slid Marcus’s business card toward her again.
The handwritten number remained on the back.
“I meant what I said.”
“I already have a job.”
“You have an apron.”
Her jaw tightened.
His expression changed immediately.
Not softer.
More attentive.
Everly stood.
“Do not confuse where I work with what I am.”
Aaron looked at her for a long moment.
“Good.”
She frowned.
“That was a test?”
“No.
But it was the correct answer.”
Everly left the money exactly where it was.
She took the card only because refusing it suddenly felt more theatrical than accepting it.
Then she walked out.
She expected never to use the number.
By sunrise, Marcus Vail was gone from Chicago.
By noon, the agreement he had presented was frozen.
By evening, Everly understood the trouble had not ended with either of those things.
Her manager at The Marlowe called her into the office before dinner service.
He did not fire her.
That would have been easier.
