“Harper,” she said, her voice smooth and sharp.

“Or should I call you Lila’s daughter?”

My heart stopped, but I kept my face completely still.

“Harper is fine,” I said.

She pulled a pair of black leather gloves from her hands, finger by finger.

“You’ve been busy,” she said, gesturing toward the back office.

“You and your little lawyer friend.”

She walked past me toward the booths, her coat swirling around her ankles.

“Sit down,” she said, pointing to the leather booth behind her.

“We have a lot to discuss.”

I did not move.

“I prefer to stand,” I said.

She turned back to face me, a faint, cold smile appearing on her lips.

She opened her leather handbag, reached inside, and pulled out a thick envelope.

The paper was clean and white, unlike the yellowed files I had found the night before.

She laid it on the table between us.

“Let’s not waste each other’s time,” she said.

“Inside that envelope is two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in cashier’s checks,” Seraphina said.

She tapped the white paper with a manicured fingernail.