Page 60 of The Silent Hour

“She is my blood.” His voice trembled with quiet conviction and that made me all the more suspicious. Nothing about Lila would have ever made me believe she was related to this man and if she was, that led to a whole other set of problems.

I didn’t know if Lila was working for him, if she’d been manipulated, or if Cortez had woven a lie to protect himself. I didn’t know whether her role at the Marcelli Group was a coincidence or a conduit for his secrets.

Facts first.

Then accusations.

“Then you should’ve considered what that meant before allowing her to build a career inside a firm you might one day need.”

His charm drained away, revealing sharp angles in his face. For the first time, I saw the steel beneath the veneer.

“Careful, Marcelli.”

Eric shifted and crossed his arms. “If you’re trying to intimidate us into representing you, you’ve already made the decision considerably easier.”

A tense silence swallowed the room. Cortez leaned back, folding one hand across his stomach, his smile gradually returning.

“Review the files.”

“I intend to.” I rose, smoothing the front of my jacket and turning toward the door.

“One more thing.” His voice stopped me in the doorway. I looked back. His eyes bored into mine. “Lila cannot know I told you.”

The words landed like a hammer blow. Now we had a real problem. I realized

“We’ll be in touch.”

I closed the door behind us, leaving Cortez’s quiet confidence to echo in the now-empty room.

The electronic lock buzzed.

The door opened.

Eric and Katerina followed me into the corridor.

None of us spoke until steel slammed shut behind us.

Then Eric looked at me.

"He waited until the meeting was over to tell us. That was deliberate."

"I told him I wouldn't tolerate being blindsided."

Eric's mouth twisted. "And he blindsided you anyway."

I rubbed my thumb along my jaw.

That was what bothered me.

Not simply that Lila was his daughter.

That he'd waited.

He'd watched me conduct an entire meeting without one of the most relevant pieces of information on the table, then handed it over when I was already standing to leave.

A demonstration.

Dominic Cortez wanted me to understand that he controlled information.