Lena's POV
Gabriel looked at Marcus Hale and said: "I worked for you."
The room went absolutely still.
Not the held-breath stillness of anticipation. The deeper kind. The kind that follows a statement that rearranges the furniture of everything you thought you understood.
I looked at Gabriel.
He was looking at Marcus with the particular expression of a man who has been waiting to say something for a very long time and has finally found the room and the moment for it.
"Ten years ago," Gabriel said. "Before the deal. Before any of this." He held Marcus's gaze. "I ran due diligence for your property division. Eighteen months. You knew my name. You knew my face." He paused. "You knew exactly who I was when you chose the broker for that transaction."
Marcus said nothing.
"You chose me s
