Page 95 of Analysing Her Assets

“Pepperoni?” Tamar asked and smiled. Pepperoni pizza made her happy, apparently, no matter the circumstances.

“Sit, Giddy, this isn’t for you. He’ll fart his head off if you give him any,” she told Marina.

“We also have four cheeses,” Noga said. “Is Giddy lactose tolerant?”

Marina slipped Giddy two small pepperonis and handed Tamar the abused triangle. She uncorked the wine and poured three glasses.

“That fucking Danny talked to everyone!” Noga said with her mouth full of pizza. “He told everyone he hates to gossip, but... the best analyst in Peaks was a fraud. He told everyone ‘in secret,’” Noga made a quote sign with her free hand, “that you asked him to skew the competition results for you.”

Her reputation was finished, not only in Peaks but in the whole Israeli financial market.

“Do you want to get drunk? Let’s get drunk!” Marina suggested.

“I don’t want to get drunk,” Tamar said. “Did Danny say anything about Berdiplast?”

“No. He wouldn’t. Otherwise, ISA would be involved, they would start an investigation, and Danny doesn’t want that.”

“Did you tell your sister?” Marina asked, and Tamar shook her head. She dreaded the talk with Tally. There was only so much a person could absorb in one day.

“That fucking Yelena,” Marina said. “Some friend! That Danny is going to use her and throw her away once he’s done. She’s such a fucking debilka.”

Marina drained her glass of wine and poured more for herself. Noga got up and uncorked the second bottle of wine.

“And we only have one Russian here today...” she muttered.

“I heard that, Noga!”

“I know you did,” Noga said, while Marina stretched her arm and she poured more wine for her. “Tell Tamar the other bad news. Come on, it’s your fucking friend...”

“I have more bad news, Tamar,” Marina said. “Danny told Keynan that Yelena was behind the brokerage project and that you hardly contributed. Keynan told her boss to give her a raise and her own team to lead in Investment IT.”

“It’s what she wanted all along,” Tamar said. How could she have been so wrong about Yelena? Yes, she was ambitious. Yes, she had liked Danny, but to turn on her teammates like that?

“Yelena heard from us about the meeting at Ilan’s, noticed your downloading of new data, and told Danny about it,” Marina said.

“I should never have gone to Ilan’s,” Tamar lamented. “I should have gone to Nathanela instead, right from the beginning.”

“Not sure you’re right,” Marina said. “N’s heart is in the right place, but I think, eventually it would have ended the same. Keynan is Danny’s bitch.”

“Have you talked to Gideon?” Noga asked. “Is it true that you guys broke up?”

“Yes,” she massaged her sternum, suppressing a familiar ache. She gulped down her tears. “My fault because I didn’t tell him about Berdiplast. I wasn’t sure myself, Danny usually meddles with smaller companies. Berdiplast has larger volumes that are harder to manipulate. It isn’t like Lusson, or Israweed. Plus, we said he was a person of interest. But I should have trusted him and talked to him.”

She checked her phone. Gideon didn’t text her back.

“What am I going to do?” she asked Marina and Noga.

Marina’s phone pinged.

“I can’t believe that fucking Yelena!” she said.

“Yelena?” Noga said. “She texts you? Now?”

“She wants to meet. To say she’s sorry. Cleanse her conscience or something,” Marina said. “I’m telling her to go fuck herself.”

“Wait!” Tamar walked to the fridge and took her mother’s list from underneath its magnet. The ninth rule had never made much sense to her: “Forgive your fellow ladies, never hold an unnecessary grudge.” But now maybe it sort of did.

“I don’t think she could do more harm than she already has,” Tamar said. “Let’s meet her, the worst thing that could happen...”

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