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“Yes. Of course, yes. Your nonchalance is killing me.”

“I got the details of the management team at Worcester Asset Management,” Fabien explains. “I’ve spoken to their assistants. I’ve offered a highly exclusive private viewing. An offer too tempting to refuse. Didn’t you read in your newspaper arts section that I’m the hottest art gallery in town, especially now that a certain Escoffier has been put out of business?”

It all starts to click.

“Worcester Asset Management? They’re coming here? Today?”

“And not just them,” Fabien adds. “I have others coming from Wall Street. It’s an entire brigade. Big shots like them can’t resist the allure of fine dining and fine art, so they’re coming like moths to a flame, and this is where we’re going to catch them.”

I’m shaking my head.

“But even if you get them here, which may well be impossible, they will not listen to me, Fabien,” I snap back. “Steven has them wrapped around his finger, totally under his control. You should’ve seen how expertly he outmaneuvered Clement and me the other day.”

“And that’s why I’ve got one more ace up my sleeve, Angel.”

“What is it?”

“I’ve got a man on the inside of Steven’s operation,” Fabien explains with a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. “A man whose loyalty to the Castaways outweighs his loyalty to his slimy boss. Steven’s very own finance director. He’s got dirt on your former mentor.”

“Dirt?”

“Even you don’t know this, but Steven’s been playing against the rules for years now. His success is because of his dirty tricks. He’s a con man, and you’re not the first he’s scammed. There are other stories of his past dealings, and we have the evidence. In spades. This is not the first acquisition he’s hijacked through underhanded means.”

“How did you get this, Fabien?”

“That’s a question you don’t want to ask.”

“The fucking Castaways, right?”

Fabien just nods.

“Okay, but what kind of proof do you have?” I ask him. “Because it will have to be good. It will have to be very good before you start throwing accusations at Steven Rinde. You don’t know how smart he is. I was played by him. He humiliated me.”

Fabien guides me to a new table set up in the middle of the gallery under a Juniper Wren painting. This one isn’t full of fancy food and champagne, only stacks of folders.

“Read this.”

He offers me a folder, and I quickly skim through it. My eyes widen at what’s contained within. At all the evidence inside.

Steven. Names of other companies. Testimonials. Receipts. Sworn statements. Transaction records.

“He’s done this before?” I ask, breathless with discovery. “The exact same thing as he did to me?”

“That’s what I’m telling you, Jolie.”

“Look at this,” I say, flipping through the pages. “Look at what they’re saying here. No way. I can’t believe this. I thought I was a one-off, but there are so many people like me in here. People like me he’s screwed over...”

“As a consultant, he’ll follow his familiar pattern as outlined in these folders,” Fabien calmly explains, his finger tapping one of the folders. “There’s a clear pattern here. He’ll drain these clients dry and then run away with the spoils, making sure he’s covered his tracks. Well, not this time.”

Turns out, I wasn’t special to Steven at all. I’ve simply been another pawn in an old game he’s been playing for years.

Just like I’m a pawn in the Castaways.

“I didn’t know he was like this,” I say, my heart and my head simultaneously pounding. “I worked with him...”

“It’s his modus operandi, and now it’s time to end it,” Fabien replies. “Now it’s time for you to reclaim your power, Angel.”

“But Fabien... how?”