—
When I seeLiam at the far table in the Sterling Club library, I’m caught off guard. Seeing him makes me lightheaded, and as much as I want to be, I’m still not over him.
Determined not to let it show, I settle into the chair across from him. He looks up from his laptop and pushes a to-go cup of coffee toward me that saysMason.A small reminder that he still cares.
I draw my hand into my lap and refuse to touch it.
“About last night—” Liam starts, but I stop him.
“It’s fine.” I’m finding it hard to meet his eyes. They’re a murky greenish blue, the color of the bottom of a lake, and they seem to be able to see right through me. “We were both with other people.”
Liam raises an eyebrow. Good. I’d meant for that to sting.
We sit in awkward silence until I nod at the tennis racket, hoping to change the subject. “How’s the season going?”
“Could be better. It’d be nice to have my hitting partner back.” Half of his mouth curls up. Margaret St.Clair had taught me to play tennis at her country club, and I was pretty good.
On those rare free afternoons when neither of us had practice, we used to go out to the tennis courts and play until the sun set, then go back to his room to rip each other’s clothes off. It was an intense, all-consuming kind of love. The memory sends a shiver from the base of my spine up to my neck.
I soften. “That’s not a real answer.”
“We’re three and three in the Ivy League, 17–8 overall…” Liam leans back in his chair and runs a hand through his blond hair, his eyes never leaving mine. “You’re killing me, you know that?”
I roll my eyes. This is his way of flirting. “Why’s that?”
He laughs. “One minute you’re in my bed, the next you refuse to speak to me.”
I look away, feeling my cheeks warm. Liam is not the type of guy I’d normally go for. Zee teased me about how I’d have to teach him how to dance, and I was skeptical of his old-money family. Their relationship was strained, and I’d always hoped to be with someone with a big, loving family.
Sitting up straighter, I force myself to stay present. “So what’s so important?”
Liam looks over my shoulder, then dips his head low. “Professor DuPont told me there’s some stuff going down at Hunt. It’s bad, and he’s worried it’s going to affect…things.”
I lean forward, interested.
Liam runs a hand through his hair again, exposing the tattoo onhis forearm, the Greystone insignia—a tattoo of which only members would know the significance.
He turns his laptop around. He shows me an article.Hunt Group Under Scrutiny for Insider Trading, Securities Fraud.
I sit back, not sure what to think. Had there been signs that I missed while I was there? Something illegal going on behind the scenes? In upper management?
“Obviously this would be bad for Greystone…financially.”
Theodore Hunt’s firm prided itself on having some of the highest-net-worth clients in the world. Many Greystone Society alumni trust them with their portfolios…as did Greystone itself.
If a scandal broke out, and their clients started to panic and pull their money, the fund could risk losing billions. Not anticipating the recent interest rate hike, they’d made risky bets and were already overleveraged…And if someonehaddone something illegal, Theodore or other alums at Hunt could go to prison. It would be a total shit show for Greystone…and Sterling too.
“A whistleblower leaked thousands of emails to theTimes.They’re launching an internal investigation to find out who went to the press…but they’re running out of time—the SEC showed up at the office on Friday. I heard Hunt’s legal team are going to interview everyone who worked there over the summer. I wanted to warn you.”
My breath stops. “Why would they need to talk to me?”
“They think it might have been an assistant. Maybe someone recently let go. Anyway…I didn’t want you to be blindsided.”
Chapter Thirteen
Maya
May 2023
