Step Aside, I'm the King of Capital novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: Lavinia at the Door

Emerson was at the door before I could reach it.

She opened it with the chain still on and looked through the gap.

"Who's this?"

"Lavinia Crane," said the thin voice.

"It's midnight, Ms. Crane."

"I know what time it is." The chain rattled. "Please. I'm not here to cause trouble."

Emerson looked back at me.

I nodded once, and she undid the chain.

Lavinia stood in the hall in a camel coat over a silk slip, with her chestnut hair in a knot and her mascara run into grey half-moons.

She had never looked so rumpled in her life.

"Tristan," she said. "Thank God."

"Come in," Emerson said, in a voice with no welcome in it.

Lavinia took two steps into the kitchen and stopped.

She looked at the river, the long table, the thermos and the legal pad.

I watched her price the room.

"This is nice," she said slowly. "This is a very nice flat."

"It's an ice house," Emerson said. "It was a warehouse."

"I didn't know you had this." Lavinia turned to me. "I didn't know you had a wife who had this."

"What do you want, Lavinia?"

She drew a breath, and her chin trembled in a way I had once found moving.

"Mr. S says he doesn't know anything about the pledge," she said. "My father asked him at the table. He said he'd never heard of the Crane Foundation gift. He said it didn't come from his office."

"Did it?"

"My father says it did. The wire came from Halden Row." She was twisting the strap of her bag. "Someone sent two million dollars in Mr. S's name, and then someone took it back, and Mr. S says it wasn't him. And a man who isn't a liar doesn't say that."

I said nothing.

"I think you know something," she said. "I think you've always known something."

"I know you said no."

"I was scared!" The words came out cracked and loud. "Tristan, I was scared. Daddy was watching. You came back after six years with a ring from a pawnshop and nothing in your hands. I didn't know what to do."

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