Page 91 of Analysing Her Assets

“I don’t think it’s a good idea, Yehuda. The more contained this is, the better. ISA will want to keep it tight, not alert the suspects,” N cautioned.

“You came to me. I’m the CEO. As I pointed out, you’re leaving. You have very little say in all of this from now on.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck. Tamar shuffled closer to N, knowing she was all alone in this, despite N’s presence. She wondered who they were waiting for. Yelena’s boss, the head of compliance probably. And Shay, the head of brokerage, if he was around today.

But the two men who entered were Danny and Nir. Tamar stared at Danny, who stared right back. As usual, he looked arrogant and confident.

“Tamar here says you and Nir are playing with share prices to help your clients,” Keynan said, and Tamar gaped at how unsophisticated he was. Not even trying to conduct an orderly investigation or fish for facts in a roundabout way.

“That’s bullshit,” Danny said. Tamar detected a note of fear in his voice.

“Tamar...?” Keynan said.

“You helped Lusson.”

Nir gasped. Danny looked at him sharply, and Nir quieted.

“Bullshit. Do you have proof?”

“Yelena has everything,” Tamar said and immediately wanted to bite her tongue. Why would she drag her friend into this.

Keynan pressed a button on his desk.

“Sonya, ask Yelena. Who is she?” he asked Tamar. “Where does she work?”

“Compliance,” Danny answered. “And she has nothing because there is nothing! But Tamar is right. We are approached sometimes to do exactly what she said we’re doing. It doesn’t happen a lot. Most people are honest, but just as recently as a couple of weeks ago a firm approached me.”

“Which one?” Keynan asked.

“Berdiplast,” Danny answered, his cold blue eyes trained on her. “You better call Gideon Sela here. It’s his company.”

“What?” N asked.

“Gideon Sela’s real name is Berdichevsky, and he’s the owner of Berdiplast.” Danny smirked.

“His family owns it. Not him,” Tamar said and wanted to bite her tongue. Again.

“I wasn’t going to say anything, not wanting to get people, friends, in trouble.” Danny’s smile was so oily it made her nauseous. “But since Tamar has brought this up...”

Keynan spoke to his desk phone.

“Sonya, call Gideon Sela, ask him to get in here.”

44. Gideon

Gideon checked Tamar’s desk, but she wasn’t there. A quick peek into N’s office revealed that it was empty as well. He was late to the meeting he and Tamar had requested with N by over forty minutes. He’d arrived here after waking up at in his old bedroom at his parents’ house.

Last night was awful. After finally leaving his den, Yehoshua drank two whiskeys in a row, then slumped next to a side table, barely speaking to anyone.

Gideon spent the rest of the evening trying to minimize the damage, but the rumor mill was working, trying to decipher his father’s unusual conduct.

He stayed until the last guest left, paid the caterers, and fell asleep around four am.

Despite swallowing two aspirins and drinking a hurried coffee, his head pounded, and his mouth was as dry as if he’d eaten felt. He looked at their share. The market had just opened, and Berdiplast’s share was already down 1.5%. If he were a guest at his parents’ party, one look at the wasted CEO, and he would have sold them too.

Omri, his next cubicle neighbor, told him that both Tamar and N looked for him. He took out his phone and only then noticed another text from Tamar.

I’m at Keynan’s.

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