Chapter 1 - The Seat at the Edge
Everyone thought I had brought nothing to Thanksgiving. They were wrong.
Liam slowly placed his napkin beside his plate.
Sarah touched his wrist.
“Are you okay?”
He didn't answer.
Gary gave a short laugh.
“What?”
Liam finally looked up.
“I’m fine.”
His voice was controlled, but I could hear the strain underneath it.
Gary frowned.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Liam’s eyes found mine again.
For the first time since he walked through the door, there was no confusion in them.
There was recognition.
Not the casual recognition of having met someone before.
Something deeper.
Something almost dangerous.
I took a sip of water.
Gary leaned back.
“So, Liam, what exactly do you do at Nexus?”
Liam hesitated.
“I’m in strategy.”
Gary nodded with exaggerated approval.
“Strategy. That's a real career.”
Sarah smiled proudly.
“He works with some of the senior people.”
Gary pointed his fork at me.
“That’s what I mean, Alina. There’s a difference between having a little consulting business and being inside a company that moves serious money.”
I let that one pass.
Liam didn't.
He looked at Gary.
“You said she has a consulting business?”
Gary laughed.
“Small one.”
I watched Liam’s jaw tighten.
“How small?”
Gary shrugged.
“I don’t know. A few clients, I guess.”
“Three?”
Gary looked confused.
“Maybe five?”
Liam glanced at me.
I said nothing.
Gary continued eating.
“She’s always been like this. Quiet. Keeps things vague. I told her she should get a regular job years ago, but she likes doing things her own way.”
Sarah lowered her eyes.
I looked around the table.
My aunt.
My uncle.
My cousin.
My cousin’s new boyfriend.
All seated beneath warm candlelight, eating food I had not brought, from a table where I had been given the seat beside the kitchen.
It would have been easy to become angry.
Instead, I felt strangely calm.
Because the truth was sitting three feet away from me.
And Liam knew it.
My phone buzzed underneath the table.
I looked down.
One message.
Liam: We need to talk privately. Now.
I typed back.
After dinner.
Three dots appeared.
Then vanished.
Another message came.
You understand what this means, right?
I stared at the screen.
Of course I did.
Three months earlier, I had personally approved the appointment that had put Liam in charge of Nexus’s North American strategy division.
He was one of the six people in the company allowed to contact me directly through my private executive channel.
He had never met me face-to-face.
Not officially.
The founder of Nexus had spent six years avoiding interviews, photographs, conferences, and every public appearance that might reveal her identity.
The company called me the Founder.
The press called me the Ghost CEO.
Most employees simply called me Ms. Vale.
And sitting at the far end of my uncle’s table, with three plastic containers beside my plate, was one of the few men in the world who knew exactly who I was.
Gary lifted his glass.
“You know what I always say?”
Nobody answered.
“You can tell a lot about a person by how they handle money.”
I almost laughed.
Not because the statement was funny.
Because Gary had no idea how perfectly he was describing himself.
He pointed at Liam.
“People like you understand that.”
Liam gave a small nod.
“Yes.”
Gary smiled.
“See?”
I looked at Liam.
He was staring at the plastic container beside my plate.
His expression hardened.
“Did you give her those?”
Gary shrugged.
“Leftovers.”
Liam looked genuinely offended.
“They were leftovers?”
Gary laughed.
“What else would they be?”
Liam leaned back.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he asked quietly,
“What's your consulting company called, Alina?”
Gary waved dismissively.
“Oh, nothing you'll have heard of.”
I met Liam’s eyes.
“Nexus.”
Silence.
The word seemed to hit the table like a dropped glass.
Sarah blinked.
Gary stopped chewing.
Aunt Debbie slowly lowered her fork.
Liam didn't move.
Gary eventually smiled.
“Nexus?”
“Yes.”
He chuckled.
“That little software company?”
“No.”
I folded my napkin.
“The software company.”
Gary stared at me.
Then he laughed again.
“No way.”
I said nothing.
He looked at Liam.
“You know it?”
Liam swallowed.
“Yes.”
Gary grinned.
“That's funny.”
I watched him.
“Why?”
“Because Nexus is huge.”
“Yes.”
“They've got offices everywhere.”
“Yes.”
“Millions in contracts.”
“Yes.”
Gary turned toward Liam.
“Pretty impressive company.”
Liam stared directly at me.
“It is.”
Then his phone buzzed again.
This time, I knew exactly who had sent him the message.
My assistant.
She had only one instruction.
Do not let Liam speak until I am ready.
He looked at me.
Then at Sarah.
Then at Gary.
Finally, he said,
“Actually, Gary…”
Gary smiled.
“Yes?”
Liam's eyes never left mine.
“I think you should ask Alina what Nexus means to her.”
I felt the entire room lean toward me.
And then someone knocked on the front door.
Three hard knocks.
Not a delivery.
Not a neighbor.
Someone expected to be let inside.
Gary frowned.
“Who the hell is that?”
My phone lit up.
One new message.
Security is here. We found the file.
May you like
I looked toward the door.
And for the first time that evening, I smiled.
