Page 72 of The ARC Unit: Breach
Luca looked back at me. “Should I remember you?”
“Milan. Private-capital conference. Hotel bar. You spent ten minutes explaining why your fee structure was not obscene.”
He stared at me for half a beat, searching memory that Raven had designed to remain fuzzy.
Then he laughed. “Now I am offended. I would remember winning that argument.”
“You didn’t.”
“Then perhaps I intentionally forgot it.”
“That’s very convenient.”
“For me, yes.”
He studied my face again, more deliberately this time. “Mia...”
“Morgan.”
“Morgan. American?”
“Connecticut originally. New York professionally. Europe whenever somebody convinces my employer there is money worth chasing.”
“And is there?”
“I’m still here.”
“That sounds like yes.”
“It sounds like free champagne.”
He smiled wider.
This was easier than I expected.
Not easy enough that I forgot Raven in my ear or Wolf listening to every breath the microphone picked up. Still, Luca was not an interrogation target who needed to be tricked into a confession. He was a wealthy man at a pool party talking to a woman he found attractive, and the cover worked because I did not force it to become more complicated than that.
He asked who I worked with. I gave him the family-office version Raven had built and enough details about European property restructuring to make the answer boring in the correct way. Luca mentioned one of his own funds, then watched my face when I did not immediately praise it.
“There,” he said. “That expression. I remember it now.”
“You absolutely do not.”
“Maybe I remember the type.”
“Women who question your fees?”
“Women who enjoy telling me I’m wrong.”
I took a drink. “That sounds like a large demographic.”
His hand touched my waist when a server moved behind me, guiding me half a step closer to the bar so the tray could pass. The contact was brief and completely normal but my body still became aware of it. Luca left his hand there one second longer than necessary and Wolf’s voice instantly came into my ear.
“Stay on task.”
The command was quiet and flat.
I kept smiling at Luca. “I am.”
