Chapter 170: A Follow Up Consultation

It was finally evening on Thursday, Xavier checked the time. 5:47PM.

He closed the laptop and looked at the window for a moment. Thursday. Her restaurant. Standing arrangement.

He got up. Changed into the navy Hartley suit — the one that had become the Thursday evening default without him consciously deciding it — checked himself once in the mirror and headed out.

The Panamera was in the usual spot. He got in, started the engine and pulled out into the Thursday evening city.

_ _

The restaurant was doing its usual thing — warm, mid-week busy, the particular atmosphere of somewhere that had earned its regulars and knew it.

Selene was already at the corner table when Xavier arrived. First time she’d beaten him there. She was looking at her phone when he walked in and looked up when she registered him crossing the room.

Something different in how she looked up.

Not the professional register — that had been gone since Millhaven. Something more direct. The particular look of someone who had stopped calibrating how they looked at a person and was just looking.

Xavier sat down.

“You’re early,” he said.

“Left the office at 5,” she said. “Vincent let us go early. Something about Q3 review completion.” She set her phone face down. “First time that’s happened in eight months.”

“Vincent letting people leave early,” Xavier said.

“Don’t make it a thing,” she said. “He’s not that bad.”

“He texted me about your face,” Xavier said.

She looked at him. “What?”

“After Millhaven,” he said. “She looks at you differently from how she looked at you before. His words.”

Selene stared at him for a moment.

Then she picked up her menu with the expression of someone who had decided the conversation needed a brief pause to process that information.

“He texted you that,” she said. From behind the menu.

“Yes,” Xavier said.

“Vincent Hale,” she said. “Sent you a text about how I look at you.”

“Yes,” Xavier said.

She put the menu down. Looked at him with the expression that sat between mortified and genuinely amused and was currently closer to the latter.

“I work for that man,” she said.

“I know,” Xavier said.

“He’s my employer,” she said.

“I know,” Xavier said.

She looked at him for another moment. Then she shook her head slightly and picked up the menu again.

“Order something,” she said. “I’m not discussing this on an empty stomach.”

Xavier almost smiled and opened his menu.

They ordered. The food came — Selene’s usual halibut, Xavier’s lamb, the shared bread that had become a standing element of Thursday evenings without either of them deciding it should be.

Over the main course she set her fork down.

“Xavier,” she said.

“Selene.”

“The direction thing,” she said. “That you said on the plane.”

“Yes,” he said.

“Is it still going in that direction,” she said.

He looked at her across the table.

“Yes,” he said.

She looked at him steadily. The composed surface not doing any of its usual work — just her, looking at him, in the corner table of her restaurant on a Thursday evening.

“Okay,” she said. She picked up her fork. “Good.”

Good, he noted. Same word she’d used the first time he’d answered that question. Different weight behind it this time. The weight of 85% and everything between the lift and this table.

He checked the gauge quietly.

Selene Adler — 85%.

Still 85%, he noted. The dinner hadn’t moved it yet.

Give it time, he thought.

They finished eating. The conversation moved — her week, the Q3 review, a case at Hale & Associates she couldn’t detail but described in shape. Xavier listened and asked the right questions.

At one point she laughed properly — not the almost smile, the real one, at something he said about the Q3 review process that landed sideways — and Xavier looked at her laughing and filed the thought that arrived alongside it.

Later, he thought. There’s a version of this that’s still coming.

He paid when the bill arrived.

[ REBATE SYSTEM ]

Transaction Detected: $1,380 spent on dinner — Selene Adler

Weekly Binding Activation — Selene Adler

Standard Binding — 5x on targeted spend

Total Return: $6,900

[ Net Balance: $76,748,603.00 → $76,756,883.00 ]

[ Weekly activation used ]

5x, he noted. $1,380 returning $6,900.

Standard Binding, he thought. 15% to Maximum Bond. When it gets there the mechanics change significantly.

He looked at the notification one more time.

Worth building toward, he thought.

They walked out together into the Thursday evening city.

At the point where their routes diverged Selene stopped.

Turned.

Looked at him with the expression that had been incrementally getting more honest since the boarding gate of a different week.

“Xavier,” she said.

“Selene.”

“Tell Vincent,” she said, “that if he texts you about my face again I will personally restructure his entire Q4 reporting schedule.”

Xavier looked at her.

“I’ll tell him,” he said.

“Good.” She turned and walked toward her building.

Xavier watched her go.

He pulled out his phone and opened Vincent’s message thread.

Xavier: Selene says she’ll restructure your Q4 reporting schedule.

A minute passed.

Vincent: she found out.

Xavier: yes.

Vincent: I expected that. Worth it.

Xavier looked at that message for a moment.

Worth it, he thought. From Vincent Hale.

He pocketed the phone and walked to the Panamera.

[ REBATE SYSTEM ]

Daily Cycle Complete — Thursday

Donations processed: Rural Healthcare Initiative, Women’s Empowerment Fund, Digital Access Initiative, Child Nutrition Foundation

Total Spent: $100,000

Total Returned: $200,000

[ Net Balance: $76,656,883.00 → $76,756,883.00 ]

[ $200,000 buffer retained ]

$76,756,883, he noted. Thursday done. Selene at 85%. Standard Binding 5x activation used. 15% to Maximum Bond.

The direction, he thought. Still going in it.

He started the engine and drove home.

_ _

Patricia called at 11:23AM the next day.

It was on a Friday morning.

Xavier was at his desk running the morning donation cycle when her name came up on the screen. He finished the transaction before answering — the habit of never interrupting a cap cycle for anything that could wait thirty seconds.

[ REBATE SYSTEM ]

Transaction Detected: $800,000 spent on donation — Global Education Trust

Base Multiplier (Tier 2): 2x

Total Return: $1,600,000

[ Net Balance: $75,956,883.00 → $76,756,883.00 ]

He picked up.

“Patricia.”

“Xavier.” Her voice had the particular quality it got when she was delivering something significant. Not urgent — significant. “I just received confirmation from the Kenvale District Financial Intelligence Unit. Formal investigation opened into the seven company structure. All four directors were named. Aldgate Legal Services flagged as a person of interest.” A brief pause. “They’re calling it one of the most clearly documented financial crime referrals they’ve received from a private source in three years.”

Xavier said nothing for a moment.

Most clearly documented referral in three years, he noted. From public records alone. No Vincent. No security contact. Just attention paid.

“Good,” he said.

“Xavier,” Patricia said. “The investigator who called me asked how the documentation was assembled. I said my client had an eye for financial patterns.” Another pause. “She asked if your client was available for a follow up consultation.”