Page 12 of Her Dark Salvation

He slid a manila folder across his desk. I took it and leafed through the papers inside.

“Read carefully. I require a signature agreeing to full cooperation before we proceed. If you are unwilling or unable to meet the terms, I will take my business elsewhere. If at any time during the contract you violate the terms, the contract with CMG will be terminated, and I will take my business elsewhere. Understood?”

Intimidated by a tone that brokered no debate but irritated by the implication I lacked the professionalism to adhere to an NDA, I nodded and started to read.

Boilerplate legalese filled the first two pages, content I’d seen before in my partnerships with industry while at the university—use of identifying names, titles, and data sets in publications or presentations strictly prohibited—standard and unsurprising. I flipped to the third page whereAdditional Mandatory Clauseswas printed across the top, bold and uncompromising. Below the heading, titles were listed with spaces for my initials. I frowned and flipped through the remaining pages. Six in total, the final of which contained a declaration of compliance with a blank line for my signature and the date. I puffed out my cheeks, exhaled, and turned back to the first page.

My eyebrows lifted at the first title.

No Pictures

What an odd requirement for a finance NDA. And the paragraph that followed didn’t make the clause any less strange.

The signatory agrees to refrain from any and all use of digital or analog photography, videography, and audio recordings, including those functions provided by cellular telephones, while on any property owned or operated by DEI. The signatory agrees to refrain from taking digital or analog photographs, videos, and audio recordings of the DEI Chief Executive Officer, Marco Luciano DeVita, at any time while under contract or thereafter.

My eyes scanned the other bold titles. They had just as little to do with data breaches and intellectual property violations asNo Pictures.

Do Not Name DEI as Your Current Employer

Do Not Discuss Your Contract with Other DEI Employees

All Personal Travel Must be Preapproved for the Duration of the Contract

What the hell?

“Excuse me, but I don’t understand how my personal travel plans have any bearing on my ability to discreetly fulfill the responsibilities of the contract. Is this clause really necessary?”

“Every clause in the NDA is necessary. It’s your choice whether or not to sign it.”

My jaw tightened with the realization I’d asked the wrong question. Of course, he thought the clause was necessary; he wrote it. What I should have asked was why. But after his terse response and given the set of his impassive features, I knew asking the question would be pointless.

I had a choice. I could either agree to the terms or find another opportunity. But there was no way my pride was going to let me off the hook. I wanted to prove Tim Fletcher wrong, prove I could handle whatever bizarre situation the corporate finance world might throw at me, even if I was only proving it to myself. Not to mention, I really wanted to know the details of this job and the modeling it required. I hadn’t been this excited about work in a long time, and if it wasn’t as interesting as I hoped, I could always back out. Jeff had given me that luxury.

Tick, tock, Anna.

I initialed, signed, and dated the ridiculous NDA and placed the envelope back on his desk.

He eyed me suspiciously, picked it up, and pulled out the papers. He scanned them and must have decided they were in order, because he tapped the papers along their edge, placed them back in the envelope, and slid it into his desk drawer. He sat back in his chair, steepled his fingers, and regarded me with a dark, penetrating stare. I squirmed in my seat under the intensity of his undivided attention.

“I suspect one of my employees is stealing from me.”

My head snapped back, and I blinked. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected, but it certainly hadn’t been corporate larceny. “Why—” No, that wasn’t the right question. I gathered my thoughts. “What does that have to do with Cambridge Management Group? I’m not a private investigator.”

He rocked his head from side to side. “Debatable.”

I shook mine in genuine confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“My European properties are taking significant financial losses, and it’s starting to impact the rest of my business. Based on the performance of my properties in the States and Canada, Europe should be doing at least as well. My COO assures me the difference is due to culture, expectations, and spending habits of the European consumer, but—” He paused, and a muscle in his jaw twitched. “I lived in Italy for years. I don’t think that’s it.”

“You think someone is skimming your profits.”

“And doing so in a way that isn’t obvious to my accounting department.” He canted his head. “Or someone in my accounting department is involved. Either way I need to find the leak. And fast. I recently signed the deed on a new property in Tuscany, and profits from my European office were earmarked to cover the acquisition and renovations. Now, I have to use Terme di Boston capital. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, but I’m in talks with city hall to purchase a significant amount of real estate in the financial district. I have it on good authority there’s another interested party.” His eyes darkened, and the twitchy muscle in his jaw ticked. “And I can’t let them outbid me.”

I nodded like everything he said sounded perfectly normal and not completely paranoid. Something about the heaviness of his mood and the weight in his words told me I shouldn’t question his suspicions. A nervous seed formed in my belly.

“Was Mr. Levitt appraised of your situation?”

“Yes. Mr. Levitt and I have a standing, two-way NDA.”

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