#Chapter 81: Something more subtle

Fiona I heard Alexander’s key turning in the door and flipped the magazine I’d been reading upside down, so it wouldn’t be the first thing he saw when he walked in the room. It was an old issue of a finance magazine I’d picked up months ago, before I started working at Crescent Ventures. The one in which they’d interviewed Conrad about his success there as CEO and owner of the company. There was a picture of Conrad on the cover, and if Alexander walked in and saw me reading the interview, he’d know right away what was on my mind. And I wanted to handle this carefully. I had more questions for Alexander about the secrecy and lies he’d referred to earlier as “mistakes.” But the tenuous peace we’d reached in the afternoon had been a relief, and I didn’t want to just drop a grenade into it. The bedroom door swung open and in came Alexander, carrying a single long-stemmed white rose. It was very pretty, a huge flower in full bloom. He put his hand to his chest when he saw me, his