Chapter 25
Ziva placed the stack of files on the conference table. The pages were clean now. Her notes, her questions, her brilliant little observations about the recycled steel beams were all gone. They were buried again. She had done the burying herself.
Lucien snatched the files from in front of her. He did not look at them. He looked at her, his eyes blazing with a quiet, performative fury meant for the client.
"What took so long?" he demanded, his voice a tight whisper. "You were gone for twenty minutes. It looks incompetent."
She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Her throat was still closed. She just shook her head slightly.
Lucien turned his back to her, his anger shifting instantly into a smooth, professional smile for Cyrus Blackwood. "My apologies again, Cyru
