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"Work."

"Good."

Leo did not sit. She stood opposite the desk the way the narrow chair would have had her sit, because standing was what the afternoon was going to need from her.

"It is Lara Kossek."

Vivienne's pen stopped.

She set it down in the crease of the ledger with care Leo had seen her give to three things in five weeks, two of which were fountain pens and one of which was a glass of Armagnac at midnight, and she closed the ledger and looked up.

"Mm."

"You knew?”

"Yes."

"When?”

"Since the Bellini." Vivienne’s voice was steady.

"Since the night at Maison Noire?” Leo asked.

"Since before that.” She sighed deeply.

"Since when?”

"Since the first alert, Leo."

Honesty, finally.

A muscle in Leo's cheek pulled once and let go.

"And you did not tell me?”

"No."

"Why?”

"Because until three nights ago I had not decided whether telling you was a vulnerability I was prepared to offer a stranger I am paying a retainer.”

"And now?”

"Now I have been fucked in my living room by the stranger I am paying a retainer, so we may as well talk about Lara Kossek."

Leo held her eyes. Vivienne’s eyes were beautiful and strong in this light. She wasn’t afraid to talk about the fucking. There was something uncompromising about Vivienne that was so rare and very attractive.

Vivienne did not look away.

"Right," Leo said.

"Right."

"You have people in your organization with links to her. Gaudin at YLV is ex-Strauss. He phoned Renaud, who works for you, four times around your breaches. Claudel invited a YLV-adjacent consultant named Martel into your building the day I took him out of it. There is at minimum a trio here. You need to get rid of them. Today."

"I have a legal process."

"Shorten it."