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out with a confession at any moment. “Everything about last night is my business.”
    “I’m not answering any more questions without a lawyer present.”
    Mosely smiled, but there was a hard—and strangely self-satisfied—glint in his eye. “Very well,” he said, pushing back his chair and standing up. “It should take about a week for legal counsel to be arranged and all the paperwork properly filed. I will have you transferred to the Riker’s Island Detention Center while the arrangements are being made.”
    Nadia hugged herself, shivering. “You can’t do that,” she said, though not with any certainty. “My father is—”
    “A citizen of Paxco, subject to the same laws as every other citizen of Paxco. As are you.”
    In theory, perhaps, but everyone knew how unequally the laws were applied. Still, if they thought she’d had something to do with Nate’s murder, then her family connections couldn’t protect her. Nadia’s pulse was racing, and dread was a cold lump in her stomach. She didn’t want to imagine what it would be like to spend a full day—much less a full week—at Riker’s Island. And never mind the kind of taint being sent there would cast on her and her family. You didn’t have to be guilty of anything to be socially ruined.
    “Fine,” she said, her stuffy head aching. She blew her nose for the millionth time. “I’ll answer your questions.”
    Mosely smiled at her. “I knew you could be reasonable. Now, tell me exactly what happened between you and Nathaniel last night.”
    Nadia took a deep breath, organizing her thoughts before she spoke, planning her words to avoid any outright lies. “Nate wanted to have sex,” she said, her cheeks heating with a blush as she stared at her hands. A true statement, even if it wasn’t her he’d wanted to have sex with. “I turned him down. I knew when he asked me to leave the party that he meant to, um, take liberties. I just didn’t know he was going to try to take things that far.”
    “What happened after that?”
    “Nate threatened to do something scandalous if I didn’t give in. I wouldn’t let him manipulate me, so I left.”
    “Something scandalous? Be more specific.”
    “He threatened to do it with or without me.” Her cheeks burned even more as she let Mosely draw the natural conclusion that Nate had threatened to go find another woman.
    Mosely raised an eyebrow. “And you called his bluff?”
    Nadia nodded. If she hadn’t called Nate’s bluff, if she hadn’t left him and Bishop to their own devices, would they both be alive and safe right now? Was whatever had happened to them her fault?
    “You are a remarkable young woman,” Mosely said with an oily smile. “You would rather your presumed husband-to-be sleep with another than give up your own virtue? Such admirable strength of character.”
    Nadia wanted to throw her snot-covered tissue right in Mosely’s smug face, but she was in quite enough trouble already. “I didn’t think he would actually do it.”
    She realized with a start that that was true. As reckless as Nate was, Nadia hadn’t believed he’d take the risk of hooking up with Bishop during the party if he didn’t have her around to make sure they weren’t caught. He took a risk every time he and Bishop were together, but nothing like doing it under the noses of the entire Executive class of Paxco and all the visiting dignitaries.
    “During your disagreement with Nathaniel, did you by any chance see his valet, Kurt Bishop?” Mosely asked.
    Nadia’s palms began to sweat, and once again she wondered if Mosely had somehow known all along exactly what had happened last night. “He was there,” she answered cautiously. “Nate wanted someone to serve as a lookout.”
    “And was he still with Nathaniel when you made your grand exit?”
    She ground her teeth. Mosely’s lips twitched with amusement, and Nadia hated that she’d given him the satisfaction.
    “Yes. Yes, he was. And you already knew