Where is he, Mother?”
“He retired,” she said, recovering.
“Auden, what on earth does a retired lawyer have to do with the disaster you’ve made of tonight?”
“He went to Yelena’s hospital room in Queens,” I said, watching her face the way you watch a fault line.
“He handed her an envelope.
He told her I was marrying into the Wexley family.
And he threatened to destroy her if she ever tried to reach me again.” I paused.
“She just described him to me without knowing his name.
And I recognized every word.”
My mother did not flinch — she was far too disciplined for that.
But her knuckles went white around the handle of her handbag.
Chapter 17 — The Audit
“That,” she said smoothly, “is a desperate lie, from a woman who took two hundred thousand dollars from our foundation and vanished.
I showed you the wire transfer myself, Auden.